Eliot Hudson 
Of ancient and unknown origin, April Fools Day seems to have been celebrated as long as there have been fools and Aprils. In the past few hundred years, Hudson County has seen its fair share of both, and residents have enjoyed indulging in the shenanigans and mischief. From the gullible to the lovable, The Hoboken Girl is bringing you Hudson County’s April Fools’ classics, the diabolical, the curmudgeons, and the light-hearted. Everything from banana peels to exploding cigars — both of which were real April Fools’ jokes. Read on for more about April Fool’s historical roots in Hudson County, New Jersey.
The Classics: Fool’s Gold
Many pranks seem so cliché that it’s hard to believe they were ever a popular gag.
On April 1st, 1900, poor William R. Little fell for the ol’ banana peel gag, literally. Living at 1202 Madison Street in Hoboken, the 38-year-old was hobnobbing at a nearby saloon when someone called him aside. The Jersey City News recounts: “In returning to the saloon, he accidentally slipped on a banana peel and broke his left leg. He was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in the city ambulance.”
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Another popular ruse was the “kick-the-hat” gag. In 1910, the Newark Star-Eagle explained: “It has been handed down for generations, and like wine seems to improve with age. It proved one of the most successful joke mediums of the day. All that is necessary is to get a hat—a tall one is preferable—and place beneath it a Belgian block paving stone or two, if one can crowd them beneath. Then place the hat with the quarry beneath in [sic] a traveled road. Who is there that can resist the temptation to take a shy at that hat? And the howls of the victim are met with the howls of delight of onlookers.”
The advent of the telephone introduced an entirely new method of pranks. On April 1st, 1910, the Newark Star-Eagle reported: “Telephone operators never worked harder than they did today…The most popular out-of-town call was the New York Aquarium, where there was a persistent and appealing call for ‘Mr. Fish.’”
Of course, the Prank Call tradition continued in Jersey City well into the 1970s, when two Jersey City kids became so infamous that their hijinks became incorporated into a running gag on The Simpsons, with Bart routinely prank calling the Jersey City-inspired Moe’s Tavern.
Improbable as it seems, even the exploding cigar was a real trick. In addition to “loaded cigars,” stores also sold exploding cigarettes and matchboxes — though the cigars did not always detonate.
In 1909, elected officials at the New Jersey General Assembly attempted to prank Assemblyman Anios H. Radcliffe of Passaic. The Morning Call reported: “a number of his friends purchased a ‘loaded’ cigar and presented it to him to be smoked in the house, where the anti-smoking rule has been violated so long that it is now forgotten. At least it was the belief of the jokers that the cigar was loaded…however, [they] had evidently forgotten the ‘load,’ for Mr. Radcliffe smoked it to the butt without anything happening, and as it was a really good cigar the joke was on the other side of the house.”
In order to withstand the day, The Newark Star-Eagle issued the following recommendations:
Don’t call up the Aquarium and ask for “Mr. Fish.”
Don’t kick viciously at a hat on the sidewalk; it may conceal a brick.
Don’t pick up a penny on the sidewalk; it may be red-hot.
Don’t bite into a luscious appearing bonbon; it may be filled with sawdust.
Don’t believe everything you hear on the telephone.
Don’t trust the friend who hands you a cigar; it may be filled with scrap-iron.
Don’t dive for a seemingly plethoric pocketbook for thereto may be attached a string.
Don’t be credulous of anything today.
Rather than avoid the day’s hazards, in 1930, The Courier-Post suggested to double down on the day’s foolery: “Make it a success…eat the trick candy, smoke the trick cigars, look at the hole in your trousers, kick the hat, pick up the penny and grab for the pocketbook. You may escape injury; you are certain to make some simple soul glad.”
The Diabolical: I Pity the Fool
Sometimes, April Fools Day jokes seem to push the limits of comedy. Before telephones became a household item, fire alarm call buttons were distributed across the city, yet kept under lock and key to prevent horseplay. But on April 1st, 1903, some harlequins purloined a key and set off the fire alarms all across Jersey City:
“In some way…they got possession of a release key and from some box yet unknown sent out alarms from other boxes that brought every fire apparatus in the city and sent the police reserves flying through the streets in patrol wagons. Alarms were sounded from Box No. 5 at Summit and Sip avenues, Box No. 6 at Communipaw Avenue and Whiton Street, Box No. 123 in Bay Street, Box No. 86 at Ege and Ocean Avenue, and Box No. 121 at the foot of Exchange Place. No one is supposed to carry release keys but the Chiefs, assistant chief, battalion chiefs, and the Commissioners.”
Then, a joke was played about poor Policeman Harry Harrison of Hoboken. In 1905, he was called to 13th Street and Hudson to pull the body of a man tied up in a bag from the Hudson River: “Harrison was a trifle nervous over what he believed was a murder mystery for him to solve…He slowly untied the bag while a crowd of people looked on. Little by little, he unfolded the bag until there, before him, he saw the “body” of an Indian, such as is used in front of cigar stores. It was then Harrison saw that he was fooled and what he said would not look well in print.”
Lastly, in 1921, there was an Ocean’s 11-style caper. A gang of safecrackers burgled their way into the safe of a trucking company owned by the Invernizzi Brothers at 18 Central Avenue in the Heights. As an April Fools Prank, all that remained was a torn $5 bill.
The Curmudgeons: Suffering Fools Gladly
Not everyone can take an April Fools joke. On April 1st, 1900, 18-year-old Herman Kinder thought it would be fun to use a string to trip unsuspecting pedestrians on the corner of 1st and River Streets in Hoboken. The victim, John Behrman of 5th and Washington, did not find the prank amusing and insisted the young man be punished and imprisoned. The Judge decided: “I’ll let you go this time, but don’t play any more dangerous pranks on April 1.”
Another Judge was played for a fool when he was asked to officiate a wedding ceremony on April 1st, 1905. After waiting two hours, “it dawned on him…With a spirit of vengeance deep in his heart, he started out to ascertain who were the perpetrators of the joke. The judge is not satisfied, however, and is still investigating. The Justice of Peace is now wearing gum shoes and searching for the offenders.”
The Light Hearted: Fool’s Paradise
Then, of course, are the light-hearted pranks, like when a number of Hoboken residents received the following letter in March of 1895:
“Dear Sir—I have the pleasure to let you know that the Recorder has considered your case and finds that you are a good citizen, and he will refund your fine at his office at 8:30 A.M.
Yours truly,
- S. Lispa, Clerk.”
Half a dozen bewildered men arrived at City Hall to collect their nonexistent checks as onlooking policemen chuckled in merriment.
That was not the only fun to be had by government officials. In 1909, Assemblyman Davidson was intent on passing a bill to fix Hoboken’s water main when he was interrupted and informed that such a bill was already on the books. The prankster then picked up a dictionary and recited the fake bill to the perplexed Assemblyman. The hijinks did not stop there, because, according to The Morning Call, “The committee on commerce and navigation reported a number of imaginary bills, such as the providing for the appointment of a board of guardians for the legislature, the composing of a book in all the languages Speaker Price is able to speak, and the preventing of the use of gasoline by automobilists.”
We can only assume no progress has been made on Hoboken’s water main since.
April Fool Poem
Perhaps T. S. Eliot was right when he wrote, “April is the cruelest month.” If so, it would only be fitting to end on a poetic note, with Walt Mason’s poem entitled “April Fools,” which ran in Hackensack’s The Record in 1929:
The humorists prevail this day,
They surely have the right of way.
They send me off on errands vain,
With messages that are insane,
They deal in stratagem and trick
Until I’m looking sick.
…
And so I fall for ancient games
That bothered long dead men and dames,
Who sat on chairs that weren’t there,
And cursed the jokers in despair.
…
Along the streets I proudly swing
And think I’m looking like a king,
And I imagine men admire
My learning and my braw attire;
I feel I’m cutting lots of grass—
But they are grinning as I pass.
And lovely damsels who should deem
My smile a blessing, writhe and scream;
And children on their way to school
Are loudly crying, “April fool!”
Some joker’s pinned upon my back
A placard with the legend black,
“Please kick me once, or kick me twice
If one swift kick will not suffice.”
Now wrath is sizzling in my brains,
The blood is boiling in my veins,
I feel that I should run amuck
And put some jokers out of luck
But custom makes its stern demands,
And I unclench my warlike hands,
And strive to look quite gay and cool,
And smile on hearing “April fool!”
The Hoboken Girl‘s Past April Fools Jokes
Over the years, we’ve had our fun playing pranks on our local readers. Almost ten years ago, in 2016, we broke the (fake) news that Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris were moving to Hoboken. Then, in 2019, we played a similar prank by sharing that the husband and wife duo, Justin and Hailey Bieber, decided to make UFC in the Mile Square their neighborhood gym as they were officially becoming Hobokenites. This April Fools’ joke is reshared by Hoboken Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher almost every year.
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The Newspaper Articles Cited
“April First In Hoboken.” 1 April 1895, Jersey City News, 4; “An April Fool Joke.” 2 April 1900, The Jersey Journal, 4; “End of His April Fool.” 2 April 1900, The Jersey City News, 3; “A Villainous Joke.” 2 April 1903, The Jersey City News, 1; “Practical Jokers Worry a Justice.” 3 April 1905, Jersey Observer and Jersey Journal, 7; “Policeman Pulled Body out of Water.” 25 July 1905, Jersey Observer and Jersey Journal, 3; “Davidson Was Worried.” 2 April 1909, The Morning Call, 12; “April Fool’s Day Spells Trouble for Unwary Folk.” 1 April 1910, Newark Star-Eagle, 3; “April Fools Joke Is Not On Cracksmen.” 2 April 1921, Jersey Observer and Jersey Journal, 7; “Brick May High Hat You Today But You’ll Get Kick Out Of It.” 1 April 1927, The Morning Call, 2; “April Fools.” 1 April 1929, The Daily Record, 6; “April Fool—I Ain’t No Cop.” 1 April 1930, Courier-Post, 2.
