Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Rahm Emanuel Proclaims Allan Sherman Day

For citizens of the Windy City, August 31 will now be known as Allan Sherman Day.

Really, Rahm Emmanuel says so.

The Chicago Mayoral Proclamation marks the 50th anniversary the singer’s iconic “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!”, released on the Chicago native’s third album, “My Son, The Nut.” The album became the #1 bestselling album in the country in August 1963.

The official announcement comes at the request of Mark Cohen, author of “Overweight Sensation: The Life and Comedy of Allan Sherman.”

Born in Chicago on November 30, 1924, Sherman rose to fame in 1962 with his first album, “My Son, The Folk Singer,” quickly followed by “My Son, The Celebrity.” His experiences living with immigrant grandparents Leon and Esther Sherman at 3219 West Division Street led him to produce such memorable hits as the “Sarah Jackman” parody of “Frere Jacques, “Won’t You Come Home, Disraeli,” based on “Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey,” and “Harvey and Sheila,” based on — you guessed it — Hava Nagilah.

According to a statement released by Cohen, “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh,” about the teenage woes of a boy stuck at Camp Granada, struck such a cultural nerve that Billboard reported people “actually breaking down doors of record stores.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.