Among the papers of Alfred Rees at the Economists’ Papers Archive at Duke and of Milton Friedman at the Hoover Institution Archives, one finds stapled copies of a skit written by graduate students at the University of Chicago with the title “Alice in Stationary State”. The cover page includes a list of 18 contributors to the skit either as librettist and/or as a performing member of the cast/chorus. Carl Christ who was to leave Chicago and join the faculty of the Department of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University in 1950 was named as a member of the cast/chorus. The mimeographed manuscript bears no date, but in Christ’s paper “The Cowles Commission’s Contributions to Econometrics at the University of Chicago, 1939-1955 (Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. XXXII, March 1994, pp. 30-59) two songs from the manuscript are quoted by Christ, one to the tune of “The American Patrol“. Since he dates the skit to about 1949 and we know his whereabouts for 1950, I think it is safe to trust his memory as to the 1949 date he mentions. Note the slight discrepancies with presumably a later, recycled version of the lyrics.
Other parodies of Gilbert and Sullivan that have been transcribed for Economics in the Rear-View Mirror include: “When I was a Lad“, “The Major General’s Song” and “I’m Called Little Buttercup” . Non-Gilbert-Sullivan material transcribed from the skit are the Song for an Entrepreneur (to the tune of “Jingle Bells”) and “First Epistle unto the entering students” .
Here is a link to a YouTube clip from the Mikado for those of us whose familiarity with Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics is not quite up to mid-20th century Chicago levels.
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DECONTROL SONG
(to the tune of “My Object all Sublime from Patience (sic*))
*Actually from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado.
| A more humane economist never Did in Chicago exist; To nobody second, He’s certainly reckoned, A true philanthropist. ‘Tis his most human endeavor To make to some extent Each individual Tenant pay the Equilibrium rent. |
A more humane Mikado never Did in Japan exist, To nobody second, I’m certainly reckoned A true philanthropist. It is my very humane endeavor To make, to some extent, Each evil liver A running river Of harmless merriment. |
| CHORUS:
His object all sublime |
CHORUS:
My object all sublime |
| The addle-pated Who aggregate the unrelated data And find instead of The alpha they seek A beta even greater. The Keynesians and all their ilk Who seek to find Nirvana…He’ll fix them all, He’ll fix them all, He’ll ship them to Urbana! |
All prosy dull society sinners, Who chatter and bleat and bore, Are sent to hear sermons From mystical Germans Who preach from ten till four. The amateur tenor, whose vocal villainies All desire to shirk, Shall, during off-hours, Exhibit his powers To Madame Tussaud’s waxwork. |
| CHORUS:
His object all sublime |
CHORUS:
My object all sublime |
Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Albert Rees Papers, Box 1, Folder “Personal”. Identical copy also found at The Hoover Institution Archives, Milton Friedman Papers, Box 79, Folder 6 “University of Chicago Miscellaneous.”
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Second, revised version
MEMBER OF THE FACULTY:
(to the tune of “My object all sublime” from the MIKADO)
| A more humane economist never In Chicago did exist; To nobody second, I’m certainly reckoned, A true philanthropist. It is my most human endeavor To make to some extent Each individual Tenant pay the Equilibrium rent. |
A more humane Mikado never Did in Japan exist, To nobody second, I’m certainly reckoned A true philanthropist. It is my very humane endeavor To make, to some extent, Each evil liver A running river Of harmless merriment. |
| My object all sublime I might achieve in time, Convince the planners of their crime, The planners of their crime. Make those of Leftist bent Unwillingly represent A source of innocent merriment Of innocent merriment. |
My object all sublime I shall achieve in time — To let the punishment fit the crime — The punishment fit the crime; And make each prisoner pent Unwillingly represent A source of innocent merriment! Of innocent merriment! |
| The addle-pated Who aggregated unrelated data And found instead of The alpha they sought A beta even greata. The Keynesians and all their ilk Who seek to find Nirvana…I’ll fix them all, I’ll fix them all, I’ll ship them to Urbana! |
All prosy dull society sinners, Who chatter and bleat and bore, Are sent to hear sermons From mystical Germans Who preach from ten till four. The amateur tenor, whose vocal villainies All desire to shirk, Shall, during off-hours, Exhibit his powers To Madame Tussaud’s waxwork. |
Source: The Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 79, Folder 6 “University of Chicago Miscellaneous.”