Passing It On: The Folklore of St. Louis - Its Traditions, Superstitions, Rituals and Folk Beliefs

In this book on local lore, Oldani probes the area s proverbs, superstitions, customs, legends and even insults. From childhood jump-rope rhymes and riddles to holiday customs, ethnic sayings and modern-day graffiti and internet quips, Oldani captures the city s lore. Dr. John L Oldani is to folklore what pepperoni is to pizza: he brings out the flavor of all the lore, says former KMOX radio personality Jim White, who contributes a foreward to the book. Oldani, longtime professor of American Studies, catalogues folk food favorites like brain sandwiches and toasted ravioli as well as St. Louis ethnic terms like the scrubby Dutch.

Dr. John L. Oldani Dr. Jack to his students is a native of St. Louis and the city s unofficial ambassador. With a Ph.D. in American Studies from Saint Louis University, he was a professor for thirty years, primarily at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and Visiting Professor at the University of Florida, Gainesville, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Zagreb, Croatia. Dr. Jack s passion, study, and mission have been the folklore of St. Louis. He has collected it for decades throughout the region and has taken it with him to other parts of the country, even the world, to validate and verify. Dr. Oldani had a syndicated newspaper column, American Folksay, and served as the only writer for Johnny Cash s radio program, American Folklore, producing 550 scripts. He has received numerous teaching awards and was inducted into the Great Professor Hall of Fame. He is also the author of Sweetness Preserved, The History of the Crown Candy Kitchen, a St. Louis icon. He resides in St. Louis with his wife, three children and their spouses. But his grandchildren, Gemma Oldani, Josie and Ceci Hendrickson, and Charlie Oldani are now his subjects of study and give the greatest meaning to his life and new research. But after all these years of studying folklore, Dr. Oldani has not discovered the folk cure for baldness and is still searching.