Eddie Cantor? Hedda Hopper? Milton Berle? Johnny Desmond? Army Archerd? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: Years of hard work performed in obscurity are usually required before achieving fame. A humorously contradictory saying reflects this viewpoint. Here are three versions:
(1) It took me five years to become an overnight success.
(2) It took her ten years to become an overnight sensation.
(3) It takes twenty years to make an overnight success
This saying has been attributed to U.S. comedian Eddie Cantor and U.S. newspaper columnist Hedda Hopper. Yet, I have not been able to find a solid citation. Would you please explore the provenance of this remark?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest strong match located by QI appeared in the gossip column of Hedda Hopper in November 1945. Hopper specified an anonymous attribution. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Who was it said Hollywood is the place where it takes five years to become an overnight success?
Hedda Hopper was a significant popularizer of this comical saying, but the creator remains unknown. Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Precursors occurred before 1945, but they were not formulated as jokes. In 1928 an unnamed journalist used a precursor while discussing the wealth obtained from oil fields:2
What is luck? Is it waiting 40 years to become rich overnight? Some people may think it is, but 40 years is a long time says Mrs. Anna Laskey.
In 1930 sport journalist Davis J. Walsh used a precursor statement while discussing the unexpected triumph of a baseball player:3
Thurston, a chronic failure for years, becomes an overnight success at the most opportune moment in the pennant race.
In 1935 an unnamed journalist in a Lancaster, Pennsylvania newspaper used a precursor statement when describing a singer:4
Marion Talley, who came out of Kansas City eight years ago to become an overnight sensation as an opera singer, and then created another sensation by retiring to a Kansas farm a few years later, congratulates a new luminary in the opera world …
In 1945 Hedda Hopper employed the saying as mentioned previously. The quip caught the eye of a columnist in “The Film Daily” of New York who reprinted it while acknowledging Hopper:5
CRACK O’ THE DAY: “Who was it said Hollywood is the place where it takes five years to become an overnight success?” — Hedda Hopper
In March 1952 “The Saturday Evening Post” published an article about entertainer Phil Silvers. Fellow comedian Milton Berle praised Silvers, and used the saying:6
As Berle remarked after Silvers’ rave reviews in Top Banana, “It took this boy twenty years to become an overnight sensation.”
In November 1952 the “Livingston County Press” printed a piece about the meeting of a local civic organization:7
Joe Brady commented at the Rotary club ladies’ night that it often takes years to become an over-night success.
In 1953 popular columnist Walter Winchell used an instance of the saying:8
… Geraldine Page, the new star of Broadway (in “Mid-Summer”), who waited 12 years to become “an overnight” success …
In 1955 singer Johnny Desmond who used an instance:9
“It takes about 20 years to become an ‘overnight sensation.’”
That’s the conclusion of Johnny Desmond, who has suddenly hit the jackpot in show business after many years of trying for that big break.
In 1957 the book “Ten Talents in The American Theatre” contained a chapter written by David H. Stevens which tentatively attributed an instance to Eddie Cantor:10
As Eddie Cantor is supposed to have said, “It takes twenty years to make an overnight success.” Or fifteen.
In 1959 longtime “Variety” columnist Army Archerd crafted a variant joke:11
TODAY’S BEST LAUGH: With fewer films being produced in H’wood, it now takes ten years instead of five to become an overnight success.—Army Archerd.
In 1963 “The New York Times” published a profile of theater director Alan Schneider who employed an instance which was credited to Cantor:12
He reacted characteristically, by quoting an aphorism attributed to Eddie Cantor: “It takes 20 years to make an overnight success.”
In 1964 Eddie Cantor died, and a piece in “The Windsor Star” of Ontario, Canada attributed a variant joke to him:13
A young thespian went to Eddie and asked him what he should do to become a success overnight. The Cantor wisdom came with this reply: “Young man, you must work hard for 40 years to become an overnight success.”
In 2007 the compilation “Women Know Everything!: 3,241 Quips, Quotes & Brilliant Remarks” contained the following entry:14
Instead of thinking about where you are, think about where you want to be. It takes 20 years of hard work to become an overnight success.
-DIANA RANKIN • 20TH/21ST-CENTURY AMERICAN WRITER, POET, STORYTELLER, AND PUBLIC SPEAKER
In 2008 “Great Quotations That Shaped the Western World” included this entry:15
It takes twenty years to become an overnight success. Eddie Cantor
In conclusion, the earliest strong match was written by Hedda Hopper in 1945; however, the quip was already in circulation, and Hopper did not know the creator; hence, the attribution remains anonymous. Milton Berle used an instance in 1952. Eddie Cantor received credit by 1957, but QI has not yet found direct evidence supporting that ascription.
Image Notes: Picture of the famous Hollywood sign by Vincentas Liskauskas at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Berish Perlman whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Also, thanks to researcher Barry Popik who has explored this topic. Popik found helpful citations such as “Ten Talents in The American Theatre” and the 1930 precursor.
- 1945 November 15, Daily News, Hollywood by Hedda Hopper, Quote Page 59, Column 2, New York, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1928 December 7, The Capitol Hill Beacon, Forty Hard Years Bring Reward At Last, Quote Page 1, Column 6, Capitol Hill, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1930 August 4, News Banner, Walsh Says Brooklyn Seems to Be Almost Certain Bet in National by Davis J. Walsh (I.N.S. Sports Editor), Quote Page 4, Column 1, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1935 October 28, Intelligencer Journal, The Day’s News in Pictures, (Photo Caption), Quote Page 12, Column 3, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1945 November 21, The Film Daily, Along the Rialto with Phil M. Daly, Quote Page 7, Column 2, New York, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1952 March 15, The Saturday Evening Post, Refugee From Burlesque by Stanley Frank, Start Page 40, Quote Page 41, Column 3, The Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1952 November 26, Livingston County Press, That’s The Way We Heard It, Quote Page 12, Column 6, Howell, Michigan. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1953 February 11, The Evening News, On Broadway with Walter Winchell, Quote Page 19, Column 3, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1955 June 5, Chicago Sunday Tribune, Johnny Desmond Triumphant by Larry Wolters, Quote Page J20, Column 2, Chicago, Illinois. (ProQuest) ↩︎
- 1957 Copyright, Ten Talents in The American Theatre, Edited by David H. Stevens, Chapter 3: A Tale of Two Cities by Alan Schneider, Quote Page 70, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1959 January 27, The Decatur Daily, Joy Harman Gives Up Name Change Idea by Earl Wilson, Quote Page 3, Column 3, Decatur, Alabama. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1963 October 20, New York Times, The A* B** B*** Of Alan Schneider by Alan Levy, Start Page 27, Quote Page 39, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1964 October 14, The Windsor Star, As We See It by W. L. Clark, Quote Page 2, Column 1, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 2007 Copyright, Women Know Everything!: 3,241 Quips, Quotes & Brilliant Remarks by Karen Weekes, Section: Success, Quote Page 412, Quirk Books, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2008, Great Quotations That Shaped the Western World Compiled by Carl H. Middleton, Section: Self-Improvement, Quote Page 706, Paragon House, St. Paul, Minnesota. (Verified with scans) ↩︎