Another memory from someone who played this game in Toronto. I learned it in the fall of 1961, when we moved to a new subdivision. It was one of the most popular games at recess. You played it with a long length of elastic--the sort my mother used for our clothes. I remember once begging a length of it from her, and having great difficulty explaining what it was for. She'd never heard of the game, and kept thinking I just wanted an inch or two. However, when it was all explained, rules and all, she gave us about a whole package of it, about ten feet.

In the school yard, you needed two girls to take the ends; but, at home, we had a carport and fastened the elastic across the driveway, which meant no one had to wait out a turn. For convenience, the elastic always had a loop knotted at either end so you could put your finger through.

One girl had both ends, one in each hand. The other had the middle of the elastic. It was held so there were two sections running parallel between the them.

Initially, the elastic was held at "foot height", i.e. near the ground. Then ankle, knee, hip, waist, armpit, shoulder, neck (under the chin), ear height, top of the head, and as high up as your arm would stretch.

For each height, all the free players took their turn, then we'd swap round so the girls holding the ends could have a go. Only when everyone had a turn was the elastic moved up to the next height. When you couldn't manage to lift your leg up high enough, you had to drop out. Only one or two would still be going by the end.

At the lower heights, you picked the near elastic up on your toe, and took it over the far side, back and forth, as you sang the song. By about hip height, you wrapped the elastic once round your foot so it wouldn't slip off as you did the routine. Above shoulder height, you were allowed to use one hand to lower the centre of the elastic so you could hook your foot over. People were always keeping an eye out to make sure you didn't pull it down too far--about shoulder height was okay.

The song was similar to the versions reported by other people from Toronto and thereabouts. I see there are differences between all the versions: whatever the original was, it clearly underwent a game of "telephone" as it passed from child to child.

Our version went:

Yogi on the Kaiser
Yogi on the A
Candy in the soda
Calloo! Callay!

In 1963, I went for one year to a different school for a gifted program; and no one there had heard of the game. However, when I went home each day after school, people there still played it. Nor had it been played at my previous school. All these schools were fairly close together geographically, which makes me wonder if the game was fairly new in Toronto at that time.