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"Four Eleven Forty-Four", or "4-11-44" is a phrase that has been used repeatedly in popular music and as a reference to numbers allegedly chosen by poor African Americans for the purpose of gambling on lotteries. It was a well-known phrase in the 19th and early 20th century in the United States.
The roots of the phrase can be traced to the illegal lottery known as "policy" in the nineteenth-century U.S. Numbers were drawn on a wheel of fortune, ranging from 1 to 78. A three-number entry was known as a "gig", and a bet on 4, 11, and 44 was popular by the time of the Civil War. [1] [2]
The New York Clipper, a sporting and theatrical weekly, ran a serial story by John Cooper Vail in April and May 1862 entitled "'4-11-44!' or The Lottery of Life in the Great City," indicating that the number was already common in gambling. The Secrets of the Great City, an 1869 book by Edward Winslow Martin, referred to 4-11-44 and attributed the section on policy to "the New York correspondent of a provincial journal", but did not name the writer or give the date of the article, saying only that it had been published "recently".
The combination became known as the "washerwoman's gig" [3] which was featured on the cover of Aunt Sally's Policy Players' Dream Book, published by H. J. Wehman of New York in the 1880s. The stereotypical player of the washerwoman's gig was a poor black male.
Jacob A. Riis wrote in How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York (1890) that
Of all the temptations that beset him, the one that troubles him and the police most is his passion for gambling. The game of policy is a kind of unlawful penny lottery specially adapted to his means, but patronized extensively by poor white players as well. It is the meanest of swindles, but reaps for its backers rich fortunes wherever colored people congregate. Between the fortune-teller and the policy shop, closely allied frauds always, the wages of many a hard day's work are wasted by the negro; but the loss causes him few regrets. Penniless, but with undaunted faith in his ultimate "luck," he looks forward to the time when he shall once more be able to take a hand at "beating policy." When periodically the negro's lucky numbers, 4-11-44, come out on the slips of the alleged daily drawings, that are supposed to be held in some far-off Western town, intense excitement reigns in Thompson Street and along the Avenue, where someone is always the winner. An immense impetus is given then to the bogus business that has no existence outside of the cigar stores and candy shops where it hides from the law, save in some cunning Bowery "broker's" back office, where the slips are printed and the "winnings" apportioned daily with due regard to the backer's interests.
A song entitled "4-11-44" appeared in The Major , a theatrical musical by Edward Harrigan and David Braham. "Four eleven forty-four" was listed in a songbook by H. J. Wehman in 1889. The published song was possibly as performed in an unsuccessful musical show, 4-11-44, by Bert Williams and George Walker, but few details have survived, and this has not been verified. Bob Cole published a song entitled "4-11-44: A Coon Ditty" in 1897 and performed it with the Black Patti Troubadour Company in the musical skit "At Jolly Cooney Island" around the same time.
Charles Fey, inventor of the slot machine, called his second machine which he created in 1895 the "4-11-44". [4]
The phrase "4-11-44" appeared in the coon song "Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon", by Will A. Heelan and J. Fred Helf, in 1900. The phrase appeared in 1909 in the newspaper comic Little Nemo in Slumberland , by Winsor McCay, in which the numbers 4, 11 and 44 were shown on a sign hanging from the tail of an imaginary creature.
In 1912, The New York Times anticipated superstition surrounding the date April 11, 1944: [5]
The 4-11-44 that may then be written will of course bring out into the letter writing industry every soul that ever hugged a rabbit's foot, or threw a horseshoe over the left shoulder, or a trembled when he broke a mirror or walked under a ladder. [6]
The phrase "4-11-44" was used in many later blues and jazz recordings. In 1925 the phrase was used in "The Penitentiary Bound Blues", by Rosa Henderson and the Choo-Choo Jazzers. Papa Charlie Jackson recorded a blues song entitled "4-11-44" in 1926. Pinetop & Lindberg released a different song with the same title in the 1930s.
A jazz composition of the same name was composed and recorded in 1963 by the New Orleans saxophone player Pony Poindexter on his album Gumbo, featuring Booker Ervin and Al Grey, released by Prestige Records. In 1981, R&B outfit Pieces of a Dream had a hit about lottery numbers with the possibly related "Fo-Fi-Fo" (4-5-4). Liverpudlian Pete Wylie released his original song "FourElevenFortyFour" on his 1987 album Sinful. The California band the Blasters recorded their "4-11-44" for the 2005 album of the same title. The musician Jawbone (Bob Zabor) released a track entitled "4-11-44" in 2005.
The Three Stooges short feature So Long Mr. Chumps (1941) centers on a convict, #41144, whom the Stooges try to break out of prison. [7]
A fortune cookie is a crisp and sugary cookie wafer made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil with a piece of paper inside, a "fortune", an aphorism, or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese phrase with translation and/or a list of lucky numbers used by some as lottery numbers. Fortune cookies are often served as a dessert in Chinese restaurants in the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries, but they are not Chinese in origin. The exact origin of fortune cookies is unclear, though various immigrant groups in California claim to have popularized them in the early 20th century. They most likely originated from cookies made by Japanese immigrants to the United States in the late 19th or early 20th century. The Japanese version did not have the Chinese lucky numbers and were eaten with tea.
The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, and also known as Iggy and the Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexander. Initially playing a raw, primitive style of rock and roll, the band sold few records in their original incarnation and gained a reputation for their confrontational performances, which often involved acts of self-mutilation by Iggy Pop.
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James Newell Osterberg Jr., known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor, and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band The Stooges, who were formed in 1967 and have disbanded and reunited many times since. Often called the "Godfather of Punk", he was named one of the 50 Great Voices by NPR. In 2010, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of the Stooges. Pop also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, for his solo work.
A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments. The most common regulation is prohibition of sale to minors, and vendors must be licensed to sell lottery tickets. Although lotteries were common in the United States and some other countries during the 19th century, by the beginning of the 20th century, most forms of gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes, were illegal in the U.S. and most of Europe as well as many other countries. This remained so until well after World War II. In the 1960s, casinos and lotteries began to re-appear throughout the world as a means for governments to raise revenue without raising taxes.
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The numbers game, also known as the numbers racket, the Italian lottery, Mafia lottery or the daily number, is a form of illegal gambling or illegal lottery played mostly in poor and working-class neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a bettor attempts to pick three digits to match those that will be randomly drawn the following day. For many years the "number" has been the last three digits of "the handle", the amount race track bettors placed on race day at a major racetrack, published in racing journals and major newspapers in New York.
The Florida Lottery is the government-operated lottery of the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2022, the lottery offers eleven terminal-generated games: Cash4Life, Mega Millions, Powerball, Florida Lotto, Pick 2, Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5, Fantasy 5, Cash Pop, and Jackpot Triple Play. A player must be 18 or older to play.
Frankie and Johnny is a 1966 American Western musical film starring Elvis Presley as a riverboat gambler. The role of "Frankie" was played by Donna Douglas from The Beverly Hillbillies TV series. The film reached #40 on the Variety weekly national box office list for 1966. The budget of the film was estimated at $4.5 million. The director was Frederick De Cordova, who in 1970 went on to become the director and producer of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Peter H. Matthews was an operator of policy games in New York City.
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