This book is what is known in the printing trade as "a real cut and paste job." The title seems to be an attempt to copy or circumvent the better known "Madam Fu-Futtam's Dream Book," but it may also refer to the traditional Congolese and Ghanian food dish called Fu-Fu -- a regional variation on mashed potato dumplings -- because Madam Fu-Fu, with her head wrap and red neck scarf, does resemble a pleasant cross between a Black Gypsy fortune teller and a happy cook such as Aunt Jemima or the "Mammy" figures found on American cookie jars of the 1940s. The text pages presented by Madam Fu-Fu are as confused as the cover: Various portions of the interior are set in different type fonts and sizes, with the majority of the pages actually laid out in nicely reduced typewriter type, into which the typesetting has been dropped here and there to round out short pages or replace old, defunct advertisements that probably were incorporated into an earlier edition. Still, despite the low quality of the book's organization, it has strong aesthetic appeal and you certainly do get a tremendous amount of sheer content for your money.
There are approximately 64 pages of dream keywords with several three-digit numeral combinations for each dream, plus a predictive interpretation or forecast. Interestingly, this portion of the Madam Fu-Fu book appears to be identical to the text upon which the dream interpretations -- but not the number picks -- in Stella's Lucky Seven Star Dream Book were based, and although it has fewer pages than the latter book, the type is smaller and there are many, many more dreams listed.
The dreams are given
interpretations in the following format:
CEMETERY -- 953. You will regain your losses -- 864
To be lost in a cemetery -- 864. Walk in -- 851.
In addition to the dream interpretations and lucky dream numbers, there are 12 pages of monthly number dates consisting of "Monthly Suggestions" and "3-5-7 Selections;" 1 page of "Monthly Super Specials for 3-5-7 Races;" and 1 page with a "3-5-7 Mutuel Race Calender: Monthly Calender -- Good for all 'Totals'".
Tucked in and around the dream interpretations and numbers are a dizzying assortment of cut-and-pasted typeset lists, some of them full pages, others half- or quarter-page layouts. Most seem to be unique to this book, but a few can be found in other dream books as well. Among these inclusions are:
1 page of "Occupation Numbers;" "Your name is Your Fortune," an alphabet chart to turn your initials into a set of lucky number picks; 1 page of "Miscellaneous" dream images with no interpretations including some odds ones like "Dog Mess-up" and "Cat Mess-up" and antiquated urban occupations such as "Coal Man" and "Ice Man" that seem to have come from a much older book; 2 lists of "Ladies' Clothing" (including Bloomers, virtually never worn after the 1920s) and "Gents' Clothing;" a 1 page "Deck of Cards" list with numbers for each pip and face card; 1 page of "Months of the Year and Birth Stones," "Days of the Week," "Holidays," and "If You Attend" (functions such as a funeral, cock fight, or circus); 1 page of "Automobiles" (which is exactly the same as the post-1960 list found in "Stella's Lucky Seven Star Dream Book"); 1 page titled "Dream Book Numbers" (an odd assortment of numbers whereby "when you cannot find your dream interpretation in your dream book," you may select the name of your favourite dream book, such at The H. P. Dream Book by Professor Konje , and you will get two 3-digit selections); 1 page of "Lucky Zodiac Birthday Horascope [sic] Numbers and Lucky Days" and "The Three Wisemen 'Fast Luck' Specials;" 1 sideways-printed page of "Lucky Zodiac Birthday Horoscope Numbers and Lucky Days" with an entirely different set of numbers than the "Horascope" page; 1 page of "Things You See and Hear;" and 1 page of "998 -- Hunches -- 889" which includes the hoodoo-related terms "Evil Spells," and "Get Tricked."
Finally, although many of the cut-and-pasted sections within this book contain images that harken back to the past, there are also some signs of the future as well, pointers to the pathetic and senseless form taken by a number of modern dream books, in which essentially meaningless and non-relational series of typeset numbers are presented to the reader with no explanation as to why they should be used in lottery or race track betting. Anyone familiar with the current crop of number picks coming out since the 1990s will see Madam Fu-Fu carrying the thin edge of the wedge of gibberish dream book enumeration in the 1 page of 3-digit combinations laid out in 5 columns by 17 rows titled "Looking Ahead;" the 1 page of otherwise unexplained numbers titled "Hot With Hits;" and the several partial pages of unexplained numbers in columns titled "Heavy Hitters," "Night Train Special," and "Paymaster Combo's." As an old-style oracle fan, i personally despise such number-lists, especially those set in heavy, bold Helvetica type. What are you supposed to do with them? -- tear them out of the book, line a canary cage with them, and pick the number where the "birdie do"?
The real name of the author of Madam Fu-Fu's Dream Book is not known to me and,
due to the cut-up nature of the contents, the
original date of publication is also almost impossible to determine.
The cover art shows a smiling
Black Gypsy fortune teller
wearing a turban and scarf, a style of art not seen much after the 1960s civil rights movement
(which, i suppose, might make this book popular with those who collect black memorabilia);
that lettering is in a Speedball pen style popular from the late 1930s through the early 1950s; and
the interior text contains references to clothing styles of the 1910s,
to illegal liquor of the 1920s Prohibition era, and
to obsolete occupations of the 1930s, but does not mention post World War Two
television or atomic bombs -- so we seem to be looking at a composition date no later than
the 1940s. However, due to the cut-and-paste nature of the layouts, we also find within the book a list of
automobile brand names lifted from
"Stella's Lucky Seven Star Dream Book" which contains both Corvair and
Valiant -- models that were first sold to the public in 1960. Therefore the best estimate i can give
for the original composition of this volume is the late 1930s, with the present
"Successful Up-Dated Edition" appearing around 1965.
More general information about dream books, policy wheels, and lottery betting will be found in the page about "Aunt Sally's Policy Players Dream Book"
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