Society for the Prevention of Disparaging Remarks About Brooklyn

The NYPR Archive Collections | Jan 1, 2000

This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.

An interview with Sydney H. Ascher, president of The Society for the Prevention of Disparaging Remarks About Brooklyn. The interviewer is not identified.

They discuss movies and stories in which Brooklyn and Brooklynites are negatively represented. The segment begins with a short skit.

Ascher particularly resents the image of Brooklynites as a "dumbbell and a fella who says 'dees,' 'dems,' and 'does.'" He says soldiers became members when they were away from home, and would write for street signs and pictures of their neighborhoods. The Society fills all of these requests.

Ascher describes "The City of Churches" and says in Brooklyn there are more God-fearing people than in any other part of the city. People in Brooklyn are out-of-this-world; friendly. The Bronx tried to start a similar organization but failed. Ascher says they didn't have the community spirit that the people in Brooklyn do.

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

WNYC archives id: 2954
Municipal archives id: LT440

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