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((More citations needed|date=November 2015))
[[File:Aunt Sally's Policy Players Dream Book 1889 4-11-44.jpg|thumb|right|Aunt Sally's Policy Players Dream Book (1889)]]

'''"Four Eleven Forty-Four",''' or '''"4-11-44"''' is a phrase that has been used repeatedly in [[popular music]] and as a reference to numbers allegedly chosen by [[poor African American]]s for the purpose of gambling on lotteries.  It was a well-known phrase in the 19th and early 20th century in the United States.

== History of usage ==
[[File:Benjamin Wood, Harpers Weekly, August 31, 1861.png|thumb|right|Newspaper editor [[Benjamin Wood (American politician)|Benjamin Wood]] portrayed in the August 31, 1861 issue of ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'', flying a Confederate flag with 4-11-44 on it; Wood owned a lottery.]]

The roots of the phrase can be traced to the illegal [[lottery]] known as "[[policy racket|policy]]" in the nineteenth-century U.S. Numbers were drawn on a wheel of fortune, ranging from 1 to 78. A three-number entry was known as a "gig", and a bet on 4, 11, and 44 was popular by the time of the Civil War.<ref name="nyherald69">(23 November 1869). [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030313/1869-11-23/ed-1/seq-5/ 4-11-44 - The New York Lottery Policy Game], ''The New York Herald''</ref><ref name="tribune60">(2 November 1860). [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030313/1869-11-23/ed-1/seq-5/ Meeting to ratify the nomination of John C. Mather], ''New York Daily Tribune'' (multiple 4-11-44 references)</ref>

The ''New York Clipper'', a sporting and theatrical weekly, ran a serial story by John Cooper Vail in April and May 1862 entitled "'4-11-44!' or The Lottery of Life in the Great City," indicating that the number was already common in gambling. ''The Secrets of the Great City,'' an 1869 book by [[Edward Winslow Martin]], referred to 4-11-44 and attributed the section on policy to "the New York correspondent of a provincial journal", but did not name the writer or give the date of the article, saying only that it had been published "recently".

The combination became known as the "washerwoman's gig"<ref name="wash1956">(26 April 1856). [https://www.nytimes.com/1856/04/26/archives/policy-dealing.html Policy Dealing], ''[[The New York Times]]'', p. 2 (1856 letter to ''The New York Times'' references 4, 11, 44 as the "Washerwomen's Gig")</ref> which was featured on the cover of ''Aunt Sally's Policy Players' Dream Book'', published by H. J. Wehman of New York in the 1880s.  The [[stereotype|stereotypical]] player of the washerwoman's gig was a poor black male.

[[Jacob A. Riis]] wrote in ''[[How the Other Half Lives]]: Studies Among the Tenements of New York'' (1890) that

<blockquote>Of all the temptations that beset him, the one that troubles him and the police most is his passion for gambling. The game of policy is a kind of unlawful penny lottery specially adapted to his means, but patronized extensively by poor white players as well. It is the meanest of swindles, but reaps for its backers rich fortunes wherever colored people congregate. Between the fortune-teller and the policy shop, closely allied frauds always, the wages of many a hard day's work are wasted by the negro; but the loss causes him few regrets. Penniless, but with undaunted faith in his ultimate "luck," he looks forward to the time when he shall once more be able to take a hand at "beating policy." When periodically the negro's lucky numbers, 4-11-44, come out on the slips of the alleged daily drawings, that are supposed to be held in some far-off Western town, intense excitement reigns in Thompson Street and along the Avenue, where someone is always the winner. An immense impetus is given then to the bogus business that has no existence outside of the cigar stores and candy shops where it hides from the law, save in some cunning Bowery "broker's" back office, where the slips are printed and the "winnings" apportioned daily with due regard to the backer's interests.</blockquote>

A song entitled "4-11-44" appeared in ''[[The Major (play)|The Major]]'', a theatrical musical by Edward Harrigan and David Braham. "Four eleven forty-four" was listed in a songbook by H. J. Wehman in 1889. The published song was possibly as performed in an unsuccessful [[musical theatre|musical show]], ''4-11-44'', by [[Bert Williams]] and [[George Walker (vaudeville)|George Walker]], but few details have survived, and this has not been verified. [[Bob Cole (composer)|Bob Cole]] published a song entitled "4-11-44: A Coon Ditty" in 1897 and performed it with the [[Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones|Black Patti Troubadour Company]] in the musical skit "At Jolly Cooney Island" around the same time.

[[Charles Fey]], inventor of the [[slot machine]], called his second machine which he created in 1895 the "4-11-44".<ref name="feyone">[https://www.netbet.org/online-slots/history.html Slots history], Netbet.org, Retrieved 13 December 2017</ref>

===20th century===
The phrase "4-11-44" appeared in the [[coon song]] "[[Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon]]", by [[Will A. Heelan]] and [[J. Fred Helf]], in 1900. The phrase appeared in 1909 in the newspaper comic ''[[Little Nemo in Slumberland]]'', by [[Winsor McCay]], in which the numbers 4, 11 and 44 were shown on a sign hanging from the tail of an imaginary creature.

In 1912, ''[[The New York Times]]'' anticipated superstition surrounding the date April 11, 1944:<ref name="gawkeronit">(12 December 2012). [http://gawker.com/5967784%2Fheres-the-new-york-times-fluff-piece-from-the-last-time-the-date-was-121212 Here's the New York Times Fluff Piece From the Last Time the Date Was 12/12/12], ''Gawker'' (Gawker noted the 12-12-12 article on December 12, 2012, but did not comment on the 4-11-44 discussion)</ref>

((quote|text=
The 4-11-44 that may then be written will of course bring out into the letter writing industry every soul that ever hugged a rabbit's foot, or threw a horseshoe over the left shoulder, or a trembled when he broke a mirror or walked under a ladder.<ref>((cite news | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/12/12/100384710.pdf |title=12-12-12. That's To-day, and It's a Long Time Till Another Strange Date Line |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=12 December 1912))</ref>
|source=''[[The New York Times]]''))

The phrase "4-11-44" was used in many later blues and jazz recordings. In 1925 the phrase was used in "The Penitentiary Bound Blues", by [[Rosa Henderson]] and the Choo-Choo Jazzers. [[Papa Charlie Jackson]] recorded a [[blues]] song entitled "4-11-44" in 1926. Pinetop & Lindberg released a different song with the same title in the 1930s.

A [[jazz]] composition of the same name was composed and recorded in 1963 by the New Orleans saxophone player [[Pony Poindexter]] on his album ''Gumbo'', featuring [[Booker Ervin]] and [[Al Grey]], released by Prestige Records. In 1981, R&B outfit [[Pieces of a Dream (band)|Pieces of a Dream]] had a hit about lottery numbers with the possibly related "Fo-Fi-Fo" (4-5-4). [[Liverpool|Liverpudlian]] [[Pete Wylie]] released his original song "FourElevenFortyFour" on his 1987 album ''Sinful''.  The California band the [[The Blasters|Blasters]] recorded their "4-11-44" for the 2005 album of the [[4-11-44 (album)|same title]]. The musician [[Jawbone (musician)|Jawbone]] (Bob Zabor) released a track entitled "4-11-44" in 2005.

[[The Three Stooges]] short feature ''[[So Long Mr. Chumps]]'' (1941) centers on a convict, #41144, whom the Stooges try to break out of prison.<ref>((cite web|title=''SO LONG MR. CHUMPS'' (1941)|url=https://threestooges.net/filmography/episode/53/MLC|website=Threestooges.ney|access-date=15 June 2023))</ref>

==References==
((reflist))

==Further reading==
* [[Herbert Asbury|Asbury, Herbert]] (1938). ''Sucker's Progress: An Informal History of Gambling in America from the Colonies to Canfield'', New York: Dodd, Mead. ((ISBN|0875850510)).

==External links==
((commons category|4-11-44))
* [http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/Songs/question1.html Every Race has a Flag but the Coon]
* [http://www.heptune.com/lyrics/penitent.html Penitentiary Bound Blues]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060911222703/http://www.uic.edu/orgs/kbc/ganghistory/Ghetto/Blackmafia.pdf Policy and Organised Crime]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070314041143/http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu/gutenberg/etext05/8sgrc10.txt The Secrets of the Great City]
* [http://depts.washington.edu/envir202/Readings/Reading01.pdf How the Other Half Lives]

((Superstitions))

[[Category:American music history]]
[[Category:African-American cultural history]]
[[Category:Superstitions about numbers]]
[[Category:Lotteries in the United States]]

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