Maggie's Farm

New York Times Archives 1960-1965 indicates some news of the famine coming out of China. Refugees to Hong Kong indicate famine: ChiCom government denies. China will accept gifts of grain.

There was very little real news coming out of China at the time in the local papers. This blackout worked both ways. I recall articles about John Downey, a Catholic priest the ChiComs had imprisoned. Free Father Downey, the newspapers said. Years later, it was revealed that he was a CIA agent. Twenty one years after he was captured, he was released the year after Nixon went to China. I do not recall any articles about the China famine, but I recall articles about “Father Downey.” [I was interested in China at the time, and started to read Edgar Snow's whitewash of Mao, but it was too heavy for my child's mind. So if the local paper had mentioned famine in China, I believe I would have remembered.

I doubt the “Eat : children in China was starving” referred to Mao's famine. China and famine had been associated with each other for a long time in American eyes, given the political turmoil in China during the 20th century, and the long-term missionary presence in China.

Such exhortations were common in American kitchens in the postwar era, and before. "Eat. People in Europe are starving." "You look like a starving Armenian." What your mother said was just a variation.

IIRC, I saw a cartoon that joked about "Eat: People in ...are starving" in a book of old visual humor that my parents had. That suggests the line went back way before the post WW2 era.

Fairly harmless thieving drunks with violins, aren't they all? Gypsies will never bring down a civilization.
Let's not forget guitar.
[That were an Eye-Talian on the violin. I heard Stefan Grappelli play when he was about 85. As good as 85 as he was at 40.]