ENtry in progress—B.P.
30 December 1873, National Republican (Washington, DC), “The American Restaurant” (Scribner’s Monthly), pg. 1, col. 6:
When in a second-rate restaurant a guest asks for fishballs and hears his order repeated to the cook by the colored waiter as “sleeve-buttons for one!” and hears his neighbor’s order for pork and beans transformed into “stars and stripes,” he begins to wonder, indeed, whether “civilization” is not “a failure,” and whether “the Caucasian” is not “played out.”
8 January 1874, The Evening Star (Washington, DC), pg. 3, col. 7:
Gotham waiters cry “sleeve-buttons for one?“when you order fish balls.
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
17 April 1875, The New York Clipper (New York, NY), supplement, pg. 2, col. 7:
There come whispers for a plainer and less expensive fare. “Two Sleeve-buttons,” “Two on Horseback,” “Boston Woodcock,” “Mystery,” “West Broadway,” “Links of the Atlantic Cable,” and the like.
Brooklyn Newsstand
3 July 1887, Brooklyn (NY) Daily Eagle, “Restaurant Calls,” pg. 13, col. 1:
“Pair o’ sleeve buttons,” is two fish balls.
3 November 1891, The Evening Repository (Canton, OH), pg. 5, col. 3:
RESTAURANT WAITERS’ SLANG.
(...)
Sleeve buttons is translated into a plate of fish balls.
12 November 1893, Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer, “His Appetite Good: A Tramp Gets Away With Much of Steve Brodie’s Food,” pg. 18, col. 4:
“Now trot out a pair o’ sleeve buttons , (fish balls) and be quick about it,” he said.
(At Steve Brodie’s restaurant on New York’s Bowery.—ed.)
6 October 1895, The Morning Star (Rockford, IL), “Portland (Ore.) Restaurant Talk,” pg. 7, col. 2:
... codfish balls, pair of sleeve buttons; ..
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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•Entry in progress—BP19 (4/24)
•Entry in progress—BP18 (4/24)
•Entry in progress—BP17 (4/24)
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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