Many people think President Kennedy called himself a jelly doughnut when he spoke in Berlin, but this is an urban legend, a hoax.
See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_berliner and http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/jfk_berliner.htm
The earliest mention of the jelly doughnut story in print was in the early 1980s. In the 1983 spy novel "Berlin Game," by Len Deighton, the character Bernard Samson is told that he is berlinerisch. His reply:
"'Ich bin ein Berliner,’ I said. It was a joke. A Berliner is a doughnut. The day after President Kennedy made his famous proclamation, Berlin cartoonists had a field day with talking doughnuts."
Len Deighton, Berlin Game, reprinted in Game, Set, Match (1986), page 85 .
"Berlin Game" was a work of fiction. In the preface to the reprint, Deighton notes that the novel is told in the highly subjective voice of the character of Bernard Samson, "who is inclined to complain and exaggerate so that we have to interpret the world around him." The author wrote that "Readers who take Bernard’s words literally are missing a lot of the intended content."
In a related novel, Deighton reminded his readers that the views of the characters were not necessarily those of the writer. "Winter" (1987), page preceding page 1, quoting James Jones: "...readers should remember that the opinions expressed by the characters are not necessarily those of the author..."
No doughnut cartoons have yet been found in the Berlin newspapers of the next day.
So my question is this: did Len originate this story?
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regna
Berliner jelly doughnut
Date: 2006-07-16 12:52 am (UTC)See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_berliner and
http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/jfk_berliner.htm
The earliest mention of the jelly doughnut story in print was in the early 1980s. In the 1983 spy novel "Berlin Game," by Len Deighton, the character Bernard Samson is told that he is berlinerisch. His reply:
"'Ich bin ein Berliner,’ I said. It was a joke. A Berliner is a doughnut. The day after President Kennedy made his famous proclamation, Berlin cartoonists had a field day with talking doughnuts."
Len Deighton, Berlin Game, reprinted in Game, Set, Match (1986), page 85 .
"Berlin Game" was a work of fiction. In the preface to the reprint, Deighton notes that the novel is told in the highly subjective voice of the character of Bernard Samson, "who is inclined to complain and exaggerate so that we have to interpret the world around him." The author wrote that "Readers who take Bernard’s words literally are missing a lot of the intended content."
In a related novel, Deighton reminded his readers that the views of the characters were not necessarily those of the writer. "Winter" (1987), page preceding page 1, quoting James Jones: "...readers should remember that the opinions expressed by the characters are not necessarily those of the author..."
No doughnut cartoons have yet been found in the Berlin newspapers of the next day.
So my question is this: did Len originate this story?
Vince Treacy, Washington DC
vtreacy@msn.com