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Alfred Adler Institutes of San Francisco and Northwestern Washington

Adlers, Jungs, & Freuds:

Adlers, Freuds, & Jungs

Six singing psychoanalysts nearly made it to Broadway in the 1933 musical Pardon My English, by George and Ira Gershwin. The linked numbers of "Freud and Jung and Adler" and "He's Oversexed" were also referred to as "The Viennese Sextet". The production was a lavish star vehicle with a highly improbable plot--a spoof on split personality, in which an English nobleman, stricken with amnesia, becomes a speakeasy proprietor. The plot was advanced by a series of frequent blows to the head that caused the leading man to involutarily alternate between two egos. At one point in the story, "The Viennese Sextext" was called in to try and cure him. The scene was introduced during the tryout, but was dropped before the New York opening. This material was discovered in The complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin, edited by Robert Kimball, and published by Alfred Knopf, New York, in 1993.

You can listen to the audio clip using RealPlayer. Make sure you have your speakers on to hear the sound track. Scroll down the page to follow the lyrics as you listen.


Pardon My English

A music CD titled "Pardon My English," (Nonesuch; ASIN: B000005J2N, track 8) described as a studio recorded soundtrack, is available at www.amazon.com . (Our thanks to Karl Witte, from Germany, for this information.)

"Freud and Jung and Adler"

VERSE

Two Doctors:

If a person starts to quiver
Through cirrhosis of the liver,
We can't be bothered with that sort of
thing at all.

Two Others:

But how eagerly do we go
To an egg who has an ego
Or a brain that's scrambled way
beyond recall.

Two Others:

We don't cure appendicitis
Or the mumps or laryingitis --
That is not the kind of service that we
sell.

All:

But we're always on location
When its mental aberation,
For that pays twice as well!

Nurses:

You must know that when a
Doctor's from Vienna --
That pays twice as well!

REFRAIN 1

Doctors:

Doctor Freud and Jung and Adler,
Adler and Jung and Freud --
Six Psychoanalysts we!
Just let us make one diagnosis --
We'll know what loss is!
Doctor Freud and Jung and Adler,
Adler and Jung and Freud.
Visiting hours, nine to three.

If you ever had the dream that Mrs.
Grundy's
Always keeping her eye on you on
Sund'ys,
And you suddenly find your standing
in your undies --
We are positive that you'd better see
Doctor Freud and Jung and Adler,
Adler and Jung and Freud --
Six sex psychos, we!

"He's Oversexed"

A

Drs. Adler:

He's oversexed!

Drs. Jung:

He's undersexed!

Drs. Freud:

He hasn't any sex at all!

All:

This sort of thing commences
When children scribble on fences!

Drs. Adler:

He's oversexed!

Drs. Jung:

He's undersexed!

Drs. Freud:

It happened when he was that small!

All:

His mind is in confusion;
There's only one conclusion:
He's oversexed,
He's undersexed,
He hasn't any sex at all!

B

Drs. Adler:

It's father love!

Drs. Jung:

It's mother love!

Drs. Freud:

We're sure it isn't love at all!

All:

His thoughts they should be purty,
But they are probably dirty!

Drs. Adler:

It's father love!

Drs. Jung:

It's mother love!

Drs. Freud:

It happened when he was that small!

All:

His head so badly cracked is,
The analytical fact is:
He's oversexed.
He's undersexed,
He hasn't any sex at all!

REFRAIN 2 (of "Freud and Jung and Adler")

Doctors:

Doctor Freud and Jung and Adler,
Adler and Jung and Freud --
Six Psychoanalysts we!
Just let us make one diagnosis --
We'll know what loss is!
Doctor Freud and Jung and Adler,
Adler and Jung and Freud.
Visiting hours, nine to three.

If you've any mental problem that
perplexes --
If there's anything that's wrong with
your reflexes --
If you're really not certain as to which
your sex is --
We are positive that you had better see
Doctor Freud and Jung and Adler,
Adler and Jung and Freud --
Six sex psychos, we!


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