What does this mean never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room?

“Talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey” is one of my favorite expressions and I often use it in sales training courses. Its meaning is “talk to the decision-maker, don’t waste your time with someone who just works there”.

What is an organ grinder monkey?

[British] someone who is closely associated with a powerful person and acts on their behalf, but has no real power themselves.

Are you familiar with the parable of the organ grinder’s monkey?

“‘Are you familiar with the parable of the organ grinder’s monkey,’ Hearst asks Mank as he begins to walk him toward the door. ‘Now, the organ grinder’s monkey is tiny in stature, and having been taken from the wild, he’s naturally overwhelmed by the enormous world around him.

Am I talking to the monkey or the organ grinder?

Usage notes. Most often used with speak to or talk to: “I want to speak to the organ grinder, not the monkey!”

Where does the phrase the organ grinder and the monkey come from?

Street organs started out as the musical accompanyment for puppet theaters in Italy. But eventually, itinerant Italian street musicians took them to other parts of Europe and to England, and they eventually started using monkeys who would scamper around and collect change from the audience.

What does Churchill say that he has to offer the government and people of Britain?

Former British prime minister Winston Churchill is featured on a new banknote alongside his famous declaration “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” (Bank of England/Courtesy Reuters).

Did Churchill say a nation that forgets its past has no future?

A nation that forgets its past has no future. Possibly muddled from “…if we open a quarrel between the past and present we shall find that we have lost the future” (18 June 1940, CBH 24).

Why did the organ grinder close?

Kitchen equipment was mysteriously being sold out the back door to cover debts to the “bad guys” and there were frequent cash shortages. Bills and taxes weren’t being paid and ultimately, the Denver Organ Grinder was forced to close and its assets were sold at a sheriff’s tax auction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eWlrRfWhgA