Smiling sandman

Question

What's the meaning of the expression "I'll bring it the smiling sandman" It is taken from the 1951 movie "Tomorrow is another day" (film noir)Context: A man called Joe enters a cheap restaurant near Easton, PA. at 4:10 AM.Waiter: No sirloin tonight, Joe. T-Bone OK?Joe: It'll do.Waiter: It's tough.Joe: If it is, then I don't want it.Joe: Can you get some music on there?Waiter: Sure. I'll bring it the smiling sandman.Joe: Two cups of coffee.Waiter: Two coffees, right.(The waiter turns on the radio)

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I really wonder whether you heard it correctly.

I'll bring it . . . does not seem like a likely phrase here.

Can you double check?

Clive

Gamboler · Answer

This time it's not only my guess, Clive.

The aforementioned sentence is written in the original English subtitle.

I copied and pasted the lines from the srt file.

I also double checked the audio, and I'm pretty sure he says "I'll bring it the smiling sandman". Maybe it's related to some music group of the fifties, maybe it's the name of a comic or movie character... I don't know because it seems something related to the American culture and I am from Spain, so I need some help of a native (better if he's from he USA or Canada, and he's 50 or older).

Clive · Answer

HI,

That's me, but I don't know.

I don't kno of any singers called that, for example.

Are you sure the subtitles were witten by a native speaker?

Perhaps someone else may have a suggestion.

Clive

Gamboler · Answer

Sure, Clive. They are the original subtitles of the DVD. It's released in the U.S.A.

What about if we take out the word "it"? Does it have any sense the rest of the sentence?

Context: After drinking his coffee, the customer leaves the restaurant.

"Two coffees, right?" is the last sentence of the waiter. Can it be colloquial or slang of the fifties to indicate some kind of music?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

The sentence is much better without 'it', but zi still don't know what the phrase means.

Clive

CalifJim · Answer

The sandman is the man that brings sleep, or at least that's what children are told. It has to do with the fact that you sometimes wake up with 'sand in your eyes'.

Here's a popular song that was probably known at the time of the movie:

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream
(Bung, bung, bung, bung)
Make him the cutest that I've ever seen
(Bung, bung, bung, bung)
Give him two lips like roses and clover
(Bung, bung, bung, bung)
Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over

Sandman, I'm so alone
Don't have nobody to call my own
Please turn on your magic beam
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

_______________

I agree that the 'it' is puzzling (bring it to the ... makes more sense), but what is even more puzzling is why Joe appears to enter the restaurant alone, but orders two coffees. Is he trying to resist falling asleep, i.e., trying to keep the 'sandman' away?

As you see, the passage contains a number of mysteries.

CJ

Canadian45 · Answer

I'll bring in the smiling sandman. ??

Maybe the Smiling Sandman is a radio DJ.

Gamboler · Answer

Thanks, CalifJim, but I doubt that in this case the song "Mr Sandman" (we also know it here in Spain) has anything to do with the strange sentence, because The Chordettes composed it in 1954, and the movie was released in 1951, 4 years before they invented the aforementioned song.

I googled the web and found this information in wikipedia:

"The Chordettes were a female popular singing quartet, usually singing a cappella, and specializing in traditional popular music. The Chordettes were one of the longest lived vocal groups with beginnings in the mainstream pop and vocal harmonies. Although the arrangements owed more to The Andrew Sisters than doo-wop they did, unlike many of their peers, prove fairly adaptable to the rock and roll era. First establishing themselves with the huge hit record "Mr Sandman" in 1954, they continued to chart in the last half of the 1950s and the early 1960s."

I knew that the Sandman is what we call in Spain "El hombre del saco" (The man who carries a sack) or "El Coco", some kind of phantom that in the popular tradition takes with him little boys and girls that don't want to sleep. But, what's the relationship with this fugitive? I don't see any.

I'll telll you why he orders two coffees. It's not a mystery. His girlfriend is about to come (she's in the car outside the road restaurant).

Notice some curious details:

- The man's name is not Joe (the waiter calls him Joe generically, but it's the first time he sees him)

- He is not smiling. He's worried.

- This is the only time that the waiter appears in the movie.

- There is another man in the restaurant (a truck driver), but he doesn' speak at all. He's eating a sandwich.

- The waiter turns on the radio, it's some music (not by the Chordettes, of course!) and inmmediately you hear the news of the 4:AM. The weather, a fire downtown, the police is looking for the killer of a Lieutenant Detective... When the customer hears this part, he drinks his coffee (one cup) and leaves the restaurant at once. He's afraid of being recognized (by the way, he's not guilty of the crime, it was an accident).

Any other opinion about the meaning of "smiling sandman" in this context?

Canadian45 · Answer

Any other opinion about the meaning of "smiling sandman" in this context?

The above is not a sentence; it has no verb.

(Is there)(Does anyone have) any other opinion.........

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Have I got this right?

The actors speak in English.

And the movie has subtitles in English?

Have you actually listened very carefully to the spoken words? No doubt at all about what he says?

Clive

Smiling sandman

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