"City of Men"

The play"City of Men"is by Dan Almagor and based upon the stories by Damon Runyon. Matti Caspi wrote and arranged the music for the play. The known song from it isLittle Pinkasperformed by Sassie Keshet (with Avirama Golan as Her Royal Highness).
“Little Pinkas” was also incorporated in Sassie Keshet’s first album that year.

The names of the songs as appeared on the record released by Phonodor in 1971:

"City of Men" - the company
Do Re Mi - Sassie Keshet and the girls
Tomatoes - Rachel Hanoch, Avirama Golan, Tzlilla Stern
Little Pinkas - Sassie Keshet
Truce - Sassie Keshet, Menachem Zilberman, Reuven Shenar, Dory Ben Zeev
Joe the Joker - the company
Maxi Likes Horses - Sassie Keshet and Rachel Hanoch
I Want to Go Back - Menachem Zilberman
Who’s the Real Gangster - the company

Shlomo Gronich participated in the recording playing the piano.

Little Pinkas
Dan Almagor/Matti Caspi

Little Pinkas was only a bellboy, thin as a pretzel
Little Pinkas loved her royal highness loved her so much
Her royal highness was really a most beautiful dancer
Her royal highness didn’t know that there was a little Pinkas in the world
She never glanced at him
But he didn’t care
He dreamed about her always
Between the floors in the elevator
Because she was so beautiful
Her royal highness
One day came Jack the gambler, a pretty dangerous fellow
He hit her royal highness right in the face
Her royal highness fell down the stairs till the end
Who is the first that came to lift her up? It’s little Pinkas
She never glanced at him
But he didn’t care
He didn’t know why she was hit
Yet he rushed to help her
Because to him she always was
Her royal highness
The doctor looked at her and decided it’s over, there’s nothing left to do
Because with a spine like that she couldn’t be able to move nor stand
All the citizens left her alone, well who has the time
Who’s the only one left beside her, it’s little Pinkas
She never glanced at him
But he didn’t care
And into his narrow narrow room
He gently dragged her
Because to him she was still
Her royal highness
Little Pinkas served devotedly her royal highness for years
All his savings ran out rapidly there wasn’t one penny left
Anything she ordered him a bracelet or earrings he gave immediately
On the street he pushed the wheelchair that’s little Pinkas
She never glanced at him
Not even one kind word
On her head already there was gray hair
She was a complete wreck
But to him she was still
Her royal highness
One day she announced: I’m cold Pinkas, let’s go to the warm south
- The road is long and there’s no money for the journey
- Push me there
He pushed by foot thirteen hundred miles and never complained
He pushed by foot the wheelchair that’s little Pinkas
She never glanced at him
And he marched for many days
With the wheelchair
From village to village without words
Because to him she was still
Her royal highness
When they arrived and stopped right near the beach she suddenly said
Go down on both knees little Pinkas because the day has come
As from today you shall be a knight for her royal highness because it’s time
I’ve loved you she whispered, come and kiss me little Pinkas
And he kissed her softly
On her chipped lips
And dried the tears
Off her hollow cheeks
And so she passed away
That’s her royal highness
The next day they wrote something strange on the newspapers
Little Pinkas went into a hotel and suddenly hit a tourist
He broke his back with a crowbar as someone possessed
And everyone wondered what the hell happened to little Pinkas
But he didn’t look down
Even as he was brought to court
And never revealed that the tourist
Was the same gambler
Who knocked down
Her royal highness
And when he stepped lightly
On the electric chair
He went quiet and smiling
And didn’t explain why and what about
Because he remembered the kiss
Of her royal highness