diff --git a/backbone.js b/backbone.js
index 99713a8b..dd6f0195 100644
--- a/backbone.js
+++ b/backbone.js
@@ -1124,6 +1124,18 @@
       return this;
     },
 
+    // For hooking into small amounts of DOM Elements, where a full-blown template isn't
+    // needed, use **make** to manufacture elements, one at a time.
+    //
+    //     var el = this.make('li', {'class': 'row'}, this.model.escape('title'));
+    //
+    make: function(tagName, attributes, content) {
+      var $el = Backbone.$('<' + tagName + '>');
+      if (attributes) $el.attr(attributes);
+      if (content != null) $el.html(content);
+      return $el[0];
+    },
+
     // Ensure that the View has a DOM element to render into.
     // If `this.el` is a string, pass it through `$()`, take the first
     // matching element, and re-assign it to `el`. Otherwise, create
@@ -1133,8 +1145,7 @@
         var attrs = _.extend({}, _.result(this, 'attributes'));
         if (this.id) attrs.id = _.result(this, 'id');
         if (this.className) attrs['class'] = _.result(this, 'className');
-        var $el = Backbone.$('<' + _.result(this, 'tagName') + '>').attr(attrs);
-        this.setElement($el, false);
+        this.setElement(this.make(_.result(this, 'tagName'), attrs), false);
       } else {
         this.setElement(_.result(this, 'el'), false);
       }
diff --git a/test/view.js b/test/view.js
index 76f0f1db..5635c937 100644
--- a/test/view.js
+++ b/test/view.js
@@ -26,6 +26,22 @@
     strictEqual(view.$('a b').html(), 'test');
   });
 
+  test("make", 3, function() {
+    var div = view.make('div', {id: 'test-div'}, "one two three");
+
+    equal(div.tagName.toLowerCase(), 'div');
+    equal(div.id, 'test-div');
+    equal($(div).text(), 'one two three');
+  });
+
+  test("make can take falsy values for content", 2, function() {
+    var div = view.make('div', {id: 'test-div'}, 0);
+    equal($(div).text(), '0');
+
+    div = view.make('div', {id: 'test-div'}, '');
+    equal($(div).text(), '');
+  });
+
   test("initialize", 1, function() {
     var View = Backbone.View.extend({
       initialize: function() {