Friday, March 14, 2014

From Chic Silber #1



 How about this little ditty!

Posted by Buckles at 3/14/2014 05:59:00 AM

6 comments:

Chic Silber said...


Here's the little ditty

"The Ballad of Outhouse Lil"

Down along the railroad
upon an outhouse door
you'll find a three-sheet standing
where it never stood before

To all the towners passing by
it's just another bill
but to those of us up on the car
it's good old Outhouse Lil

We put that bill of Lil's
on every outhouse we could find
but when Lil found out about it
she almost lost her mind

And then when Mr Ringling
found out it made her sore
he changed our paper order
and that three-sheet we saw no more

Now whenever I post an outhouse
I always put one on the door
in memory of that bill of Lil's
that I shall post no more

Her name was Lillian Leitzel
and she gave 'em all a thrill
but to those of us up on the car
she was plain old Outhouse Lil

14 March, 2014 08:59
Ole Whitey said...

Don't you know the source of this?

14 March, 2014 12:24
Chic Silber said...


Most likely it came from you

Dave but pray tell us

14 March, 2014 13:44
Ole Whitey said...

I suppose the truth can now be told.

In 1961 G Paul Hale, and old Ringling billposter, was with us on the Carson and Barnes advance and he told me the story of Lil and the 3-sheet. Most of the guys from the RBBB car in Lil's days were already dead by then and the story was pretty well forgotten.

On the route the next day as I was driving over the road, I put this little poem together and when I told it to Paul that night he reached in his pocket between beers and handed me a quarter. I suppose that made me a professional poet.

In 1966 Pfred Pfening and I were sitting in the bar of the Elks Club in Baraboo and I recited the little piece for him. He was so amused that he rapped for attention and had me say it again for the assembled fans and Elks.

Okay fast forward a few more years and Stuart Thayer was writing a short article for each issue of Bandwagon which he called "One Sheet." So I sent in an article called "Three Sheet" about the lore connected with this great utility bill, which incidentally fit on the side of an standard outhouse. Naturally I included the ballad. I said that it was something handed down from the old billposters of yore but that was just to give it a little prestige. As you and I have found out, old things get more respect.

Apparently over the years it has gone into public domain as I have seen and heard it quoted several places.

14 March, 2014 20:39
Chic Silber said...


Well at least you received a

twenty five cent piece for it

That's 25 cents more than the

fellow who designed the yellow

smiley face that became such

a universally recognized symbol

14 March, 2014 22:43
Chic Silber said...


Maybe you could get Paul Simon

to write a melody for it

14 March, 2014 22:45

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