Toddling

October 1st, 2010 by admin

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Posted in columns, October 2010 | 4 comments

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4 comments on this post.

  1. Geoffrey:

    November 19th, 2010 at 8:57 pm

    I always assumed the lyric “toddlin’” in “Chicago, Chicago” published by Fred Fisher in 1922 was used to infer the term strut, a pompous, self-important gait, meaning Chicago was “It” in the Clara Bow-Elinor Glyn, Roaring 20s sense of the word. The Darktown Strutters Ball and Stomping At The Savoy also come to mind as describing happening, lively places full of action and movement, rather than being quiet, dull or sedate.

  2. Denise Rose:

    June 30th, 2011 at 3:49 am

    Wasnt “The Toddle” a dance of the 20s ? I thought that’s what the word means in the song lyric !

  3. scott anderson:

    November 23rd, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    I was also curious about the origins of “that toddlin’ town”; came across your website, but still no luck. Then I recalled hearing somewhere that the “toodle-oo” in “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” was once pronounced something more like, “toddle -o”. I found this site/page: http://www.jstor.org/3448348?seq=1
    It seems to shed some more light if you don’t mind wading through the scholarly verbiage. Looks like ” toddlin’ “could be a sensual dance/tottering walk/approach to life.

  4. Ben:

    April 21st, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    Just a thought, but as America’s “Second City,” it’s not inconcievable that Fisher imagined Chicago “toddling along” in the shadow of its “fully grown” counterpart in New York.

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