Samuel Goldwyn? Charlie Chaplin? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: Samuel Goldwyn, the Hollywood studio chief, was famous for his creatively humorous speech errors. A famous actor once asked if he could be in one of Goldwyn’s new productions. But Goldwyn did not like the actor, and he supposedly said:
I can answer you in two words, “Im Possible.”
Well, that is the story. Is it true?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Many funny lines of this type are attributed to the movie mogul, and collectively they are known as Goldwynisms. The quip above has been linked to Goldwyn for many years; however, he probably never said it. Charlie Chaplin claimed that he deliberately pinned this saying on to Samuel Goldwyn according to the biographer Alva Johnston.1
Writing in The Great Goldwyn (1937), Johnston says that the joke is “almost the cornerstone of the Goldwyn legend.” But, it appeared in a 1925 humor magazine, and it was not initially attributed to Goldwyn. A more precise citation for this 1925 appearance is apparently unknown.
The date of the earliest citation that QI has located is 1928. A column about Hollywood in the University of Illinois periodical, the Daily Illini, contains the comical utterance, and it is attributed to an unnamed movie producer:2
Director trying to calm excitedly gesturing producer, who disproves (sic) of a newly-built set. Producer answering: “What’s the matter with it? In two words I can tell you what’s the matter with it: It’s im-possible.”
A 1931 theatrical production contains a fictional movie company president named Phil Mashkin who employs the saying. A review of the play in Time magazine indicates that the remark is already a Hollywood legend in the 1930s:3
The story of the would-be dentist cajoled into brief stardom is Hollywood legend. So is Phil Mashkin’s remark: “In two words, im-possible.” Well acted, cleverly directed, Wonder Boy is a live & funny play.
Update History: On March 13, 2025 the format of the bibliographical notes was updated.
- 1937, The Great Goldwyn by Alva Johnston, Page 27, Random House. Google Books snippet view) link ↩︎
- 1928 January 26, Daily Illini, Screen Life In Hollywood by Wade Werner, Page 7, Col. 2, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. (Google News Archive, Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection full view) link ↩︎
- 1931 November 2, Time magazine, The Theatre: Other Plays in Manhattan, Time Inc., New York. link ↩︎