[Dixielandjazz] Hokey pokey

[TBW504 at aol.com]

I do not know what it has to do with jazz but mention in postings of "hokey 
pokey" leads me to point out that hokey pokey has nothing to do with the dance 
performed by those born within the sound of Bow Bells ie Cockneys, the Hokey 
Cokey. (You put your left leg in, etc.) Hokey pokey was the name given to cheap 
ice "cream" sold by itinerant Italian ice-cream vendors in the 19th century 
and came to mean anything cheap, or a swindle and, according to Eric Partridge 
the doyen of British slang, came from "hocus pocus" which dates from the 17th 
century. No-one seems certain about the song / dance, but the following seems 
most likely:
Gerald William (aka asJerry with a J) Hoey (1895-1979) was a well-known 
bandleader. He was a cellist on the S.S. Olympic, conducted a band in the Grill 
Room of the Piccadilly Hotel for 14 years, toured during the war with a 
production Piccadilly Playtime, and became deputy manager of the Hotel Grosvenor, 
Swanage.  From about 1924 he was living at 103, Delamare Mansions, Maida Vale, but 
moved in about 1931 to live locally at (the newly built) 3, Parkview Road. He 
and pianist Charlie Kunz married two sisters, and in 1939 together opened the 
New Country Club at Middleton-on-Sea. Charlie Kunz's youngest son Gerald 
(Gerry with a G) was named after him, and his eldest son Joseph (born in the USA 
from a previous marriage) was taught the saxophone by him. Writing to the 
British "Daily Mirror", apparently in 1971, Jerry Hoey states that in 1940 he 
introduced the Hoey-Oka, basing it on a Canadian nursery rhyme, and claims that much 
later Campbell Connolly and Co. Ltd added a verse and published it as the 
Cokey Coke. There's a BBC website kindly providing the full (?) lyrics should you 
so wish
Brian Wood