Steve Brodie (bridge jumper)

Steve Brodie (1863–1901) was an American bookmaker from Brooklyn who claimed to have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and survived on July 23, 1886. The newspaper reports at the time gave Brodie lots of publicity, and the New York City tavern he opened shortly afterward was a success.

Hoax or not, Brodie became famous, and his name for a time became slang; to "pull a Brodie" or "do a Steve Brodie" came to be understood to do something flamboyant and dangerous.

According to humorist Al Boliska, Jim Corbett once took his father to Brodie's saloon. The elder Corbett extended his hand and said, "I've always wanted to meet the man who jumped over the Brooklyn Bridge."

"He didn't jump "over" the bridge, Father," Jim said. "He jumped "off" it."

"Shucks," said the older man, turning to go. "I thought he jumped "over" it. Any damn fool can jump "off" it."Fact|date=June 2008

References to Brodie in later generations

In 1933, Brodie was portrayed by George Raft in Raoul Walsh's film "The Bowery". He also appears as a character in the June 4, 1949 Warner Bros. cartoon "Bowery Bugs," starring Bugs Bunny, directed by Arthur "Art" Davis and presenting a fictionalized account of why Brodie wished to jump from the bridge in the first place. Brodie was portrayed as a cigar-chomping, gambling-addicted, hard-drinking, thieving lout. (His name was also misspelled "Brody" in the cartoon.)

In Samuel Fuller's paean to the fourth estate, "Park Row" (1952), the character Steve Brodie is prepped to make the leap, and then becomes the primary focus for the first edition of "The Globe" newspaper.

Years later, an actor used the Brooklyn man's name for his movie stage name; see Steve Brodie (actor).

"Doing a Brodie" is referred to in David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again essay.

The "spinning knobs" once commonly bolted to the steering wheels of farm implements and trucks prior to the advent of power steering were referred to as "suicide knobs," and, by association, "Brodie knobs," as their misuse could lead to loss of control of the vehicle.

Also known later in life as Martin William Dame. Other quotes that can be attributed to Steve and sometimes quoted to Martin are: "You can't handle the truth" and "lets stop for 1 or 5".

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9455746&pt=Steve%20Brodie Steve Brodie biography and photo on findagrave.com]
* cite book
title=A New Dictionary of Eponyms
author=Morton S. Freeman
year=1997
publisher=Oxford University Press US
isbn=0195093542
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=dujiiVP2KJIC&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=%22slang+term%22+brody&source=web&ots=KW-Wup0KjW&sig=RWSwTP4m4vkJomPlchtzdFiRFqI