In Popular Culture
- The first book in author William Kennedy's Albany series, Legs, follows Diamond to his death.
- Diamond is the subject of director Budd Boetticher's 1960 film The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond starring Ray Danton and Warren Oates. The film was nominated for AFI's Top 10 Gangster Films list. A 1988 musical based on the movie starred Peter Allen, but it lasted just 64 performances and is regarded as one of Broadway's legendary high-profile flops.
- On October 20, 1960, Diamond was played by Steven Hill in the episode "Jack 'Legs' Diamond" of the ABC crime drama The Untouchables starring Robert Stack.
- On May 12, 1961, Diamond was played by Robert Ellenstein in the episode "The Jack (Legs) Diamond Story" of the NBC crime drama The Lawless Years starring James Gregory.
- The Broadway Show, Legs Diamond Legs Diamond (musical) starring Peter Allen ran briefly in late 1988 and early 1989.
- Wu-Tang Clan-member Raekwon the Chef's debut hip hop album Only Built for Cuban Linx features a mafioso theme in which he and each guest artist assume a "Wu-Gambino" nickname. Raekwon's nickname is "Lex Diamond" in homage to Legs Diamond.
- A Terry Gilliam animation sequence from the British TV show Monty Python's Flying Circus features a gangster chicken by the name of "Eggs" Diamond.
- There is a rock and roll band named Legs Diamond
- Portland, Oregon hip hop artist OnlyOne uses mentions Jack Diamond in his song "Fools Gold", which includes Arnold Rothstein and the Black Sox Scandal
Read more about this topic: Jack Diamond (gangster)
Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, popular and/or culture:
“Popular culture entered my life as Shirley Temple, who was exactly my age and wrote a letter in the newspapers telling how her mother fixed spinach for her, with lots of butter.... I was impressed by Shirley Temple as a little girl my age who had power: she could write a piece for the newspapers and have it printed in her own handwriting.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Fifty million Frenchmen can’t be wrong.”
—Anonymous. Popular saying.
Dating from World War I—when it was used by U.S. soldiers—or before, the saying was associated with nightclub hostess Texas Quinan in the 1920s. It was the title of a song recorded by Sophie Tucker in 1927, and of a Cole Porter musical in 1929.
“With respect to a true culture and manhood, we are essentially provincial still, not metropolitan,—mere Jonathans. We are provincial, because we do not find at home our standards; because we do not worship truth, but the reflection of truth; because we are warped and narrowed by an exclusive devotion to trade and commerce and manufacturers and agriculture and the like, which are but means, and not the end.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)