Dialogue Origin: “You Look As If There Is a Famine in the Land” “You Look As If You Are the Cause of It”

Posted byquoteresearch

George Bernard Shaw? G. K. Chesterton? Alfred Hitchcock? Lord Northcliffe? Alfred Harmsworth? Apocryphal?

Abstract artwork representing two different shapes from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: A slim person and a portly person engaged in the following sharp exchange:

“You look as if there were famine in the land.”
“You look as if you were the cause of it.”

The participants in this anecdote and the precise phrasing of the dialogue varies. Typically, the skinny person was the famous Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. The rotund person was one of three possibilities: English author G. K. Chesterton, English filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, or British publishing magnate Lord Northcliffe. Would you please explore the provenance of this anecdote?

Reply from Quote Investigator: This tale is difficult to trace because of its variability. The earliest match found by QI appeared in a newspaper in Decatur, Alabama on August 10, 1931. Boldface added to excepts by QI:1

A fat man and a thin man were having an argument.
“From the looks of you,” said the fat man, “there must have been a famine when you were born.”
“And from the looks of you,” replied the thin man, “you must have caused it.”

The earliest instances did not mention any specific individuals. QI conjectures that the anecdote began as a joke with unnamed archetypal participants. To heighten the humor the two roles were later assigned to well-known pairs of individuals who were slender and plump. Hence, QI hypothesizes that the anecdotes featuring George Bernard Shaw were all fictitious. However, it remains possible that the anecdote was genuine, and the names were initially hidden.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

A newspaper in Biddeford, Maine printed the following version of the joke on August 28, 1931:2

For today’s short story you are invited to read about an argument between a very thin man and a very fat man, which took place in a Main street store the other day. They descended to personalities. “From the look of you,” said the very fat man, “there might have been a famine.” “Yes,” came the retort, “and one look at you would convince anyone that you had caused it.”

During 1932 “The Richmond News Leader” of Virginia repeatedly held a contest in which readers submitted candidates for best story of the day. In June 1932 Albert Pocklington submitted the following tale which won:3

A very fat man met a very thin man in the hall. “Well,” said the first, “by the look of your there might have been a famine.”
“Yes, and by the look of you,” said the latter, “you might have caused it.”

By October 1932 the story had traversed the Atlantic Ocean to reach a newspaper in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales:4

The fat man and the thin man were having a rather heated argument on relative proportions, and finally, having lost patience with each other, they descended into personalities.

“From the look of you,” said the fat man, “anyone would think there had been a famine.”

“Yes,” retorted the spare one; “and a look at you would convince anyone that you had caused it.”

Also, in October 1932 the tale reached a newspaper in Williamstown, Victoria, Australia:5

In Ferguson street the other day a very fat man and a very thin man were having a heated argument. Presently, in their wrath, they descended to personalities. “By the look of you anyone would think there had been a famine!” snapped the fat man. The thin man sniffed haughtily, “And by the look of you anyone would think you were the cause of it!” he replied.

Finally, in October 1938 specific names were attached to the two roles in the joke: George Bernard Shaw and G. K. Chesterton. This version of the tale appeared in “The Ottawa Evening Journal” of Ontario, Canada which acknowledged the German periodical “Die Koralle” in Berlin:6

George Bernard Shaw, tall and thin, is an avowed vegetarian. The late G. K. Chesterton, who was very stout and strong, loved meat. One day these two witty Englishmen met on the street. Said Chesterton: “To look at you a person would think that there was a famine in England.” “And to look at you”, replied Shaw, “he’d think you were the cause of it.”

In November 1938 the tale immediately above appeared in “The Evening News” of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.7

In December 1938 the tale with Shaw and Chesterton appeared in a newspaper in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia.8

In April 1939 the tale continued to circulate when “The Salt Lake Tribune” of Utah printed the following:9

George Bernard Shaw, the tall and very thin young man who has recently joined the ranks of scenario writers, is a vegetarian. The late G. K. Chesterton, who was very stout and full bodied, loved meat. One day these two met at the theater. Said Chesterton: “To look at you, a person would think there was a famine in England.” “And to look at you,” replied Shaw, “he would think that you were the cause of it.” —Seven Seas.

In September 1942 columnist Irving Hoffman of “The Hollywood Reporter” in Los Angeles, California printed an instance with director Alfred Hithccock instead of Chesterton. This was the first linkage to Hitchcock found by QI:10

As almost everyone knows, spindly-legged George Bernard Shaw is an avowed vegetarian. Once he met rotund Alfred Hitchcock, who loves meat — and everything else on the menu. Said Hitchcock: “To look at you, Mr. Shaw, one would think there was already a famine in England.” … “And to look at you,” snapped Shaw, “one would think you had caused it!”

In October 1942 syndicated columnist John Truesdell repeated the anecdote featuring Hitchcock while acknowledging fellow columnist Irving Hoffman.11

In June 1943 syndicated columnist Sidney Skolsky printed the Hitchcock version of the anecdote:12

Alfred Hitchcock tells of the time he had lunch with George Bernard Shaw. The 300-pound director looking at the slim G. B. S. remarked: “Mr. Shaw, you look as though there were a famine in England.” Shaw stared at the 300 pounds of Hitchcock and replied: “And you, Mr. Hitchcock, look as though you started it.”

George Bernard Shaw died in 1950, and in 1951 Blanche Patch who was the long-time secretary of Shaw published “Thirty Years with G. B. S.”. Patch presented an instance of the tale, but she did not indicate when or where it occurred:13

His meals being so light, and eating so frugally, he never weighed much more than nine stone. “One look at you, Mr. Shaw,” the ample Alfred Hitchcock once said to him, “and I know there’s famine in the land.” “One look at you, Mr. Hitchcock,” Shaw riposted, “and I know who caused it.”

In 1951 a review of the book by Patch appeared in the “Sunday Mercury” of Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. The reviewer shared the version of the anecdote featuring Hitchcock.14

In 1956 “The Desert Sun” of Palm Springs, California published the following:15

Every time I see a Hitchcock presents show I think of the first meeting of Skinny George Bernard Shaw and Fat Alfred Hitchcock. Referring to Shaw’s abhorrence of meats, Hitch said, “The way you eat, you’d think there was a famine in England.” Shaw replied, “The way you look, you’d think you were the one that caused it.”

In 1970 literary critic Louis Kronenberger published a collection of “witty insults and wicked retorts” titled “The Cutting Edge” which contained the following entry:16

When Alfred Hitchcock met Shaw he said: “One look at you and I know there’s famine in the land.” “One look at you, Mr. Hitchcock,” Shaw answered, “and I know who caused it.”

In 1971 “The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations” included an instance of the dialogue with Lord Northcliffe instead of Chesterton or Hitchcock. This was the first linkage to Northcliffe found by QI:17

LORD NORTHCLIFFE: The trouble with you, Shaw, is that you look as if there were a famine in the land.
G.B.S.: The trouble with you, Northcliffe, is that you look as if you were the cause of it. [Attr.]

In 1980 the “Sunday Sun” of Newcastle upon Tyne, England printed the following dialogue:18

Lord Northcliffe to Shaw: “Trouble with you Shaw, is that you look as if there were a famine in the land.”
Shaw: “Trouble with you Northcliffe, is that you look as if you were the cause of it.”

In 1985 “The Guardian” newspaper of London published a letter from a man who stated that his great-uncle witnessed the anecdote when it occurred:19

Said Chesterton: “To see you, Mr Shaw, one would think there was a famine in the land.” To which Shaw replied: “And looking at you, Mr Chesterton, one would know who to blame.”

I first heard the story from a great-uncle of mine who knew both Shaw and Chesterton and actually attended the meeting at which the exchange took place.

In 1990 the compilation “British Literary Anecdotes” contained the following instance:20

The portly novelist G.K. Chesterton thought he had scored when he told the stringbean of a vegetarian, “Looking at you, Shaw, one would think there was a famine in England.”
“Looking at you,” Shaw replied, “one would think you caused it.”

In conclusion, this comical dialogue between two anonymous people labeled “fat man” and “thin man” appeared in August 1931 in an automobile advertisement in Decatur, Alabama. QI believes that the interaction was exaggerated and fictitious.

By October 1938, the two roles were assigned to George Bernard Shaw and G. K. Chesterton. It is conceivable that two figures reenacted the joke, but QI believes that this instance of the anecdote was probably concocted. By September 1942, the two roles were assigned to George Bernard Shaw and Alfred Hitchcock. QI also believes this was instance was apocryphal. Similarly, the instance with Lord Northcliffe remains unsupported.

Image Notes: Abstract artwork representing a balance between two different shapes from Victoria Knopf at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to BBC broadcaster and quotation researcher Nigel Rees who discussed this topic in his books “Sayings of the Century” (1984) and “Why Do We Quote?” (1989). Rees identified the important 1951 citation in Blanche Patch’s book. Rees also found the interesting 1985 citation in “The Guardian” together with other helpful information.

  1. 1931 August 10, The Decatur Daily, The Loud Speaker, (Advertisement for Morgan County Motor Company of Decatur, Alabama, Ford Automobiles), Quote Page 3, Column 4, Decatur, Alabama. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
  2. 1931 August 28, Biddeford Daily Journal, The Town at a Glance, Quote Page 10, Column 3, Biddeford, Maine. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
  3. 1932 June 3, The Richmond News Leader, What Fat Man Said to Thin Man Basis of Day’s Funniest Story, Quote Page 17, Column 6, Richmond, Virginia. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
  4. 1932 October 8, The Merthyr Express, Week by Week, Quote Page 13, Column 5, Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales. (British Newspaper Archive) ↩︎
  5. 1932 October 8, Williamstown Advertiser, Jokes of the Week, Quote Page 3, Column 3, Williamstown, Victoria, Australia. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  6. 1938 October 1, The Ottawa Evening Journal, Side-Lights: Shaw and Chesterton (from Die Koralle, Berlin), Quote Page 6, Column 4, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  7. 1938 November 12, The Evening News, By the Way: The Daily Smile, Quote Page 8, Column 6, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. (British Newspaper Archive) ↩︎
  8. 1938 December 19, The Gippsland Times, Current Comment by Harry Millar, Quote Page 4, Column 2, Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  9. 1939 April 8, The Salt Lake Tribune, Last Laugh, Quote Page 18, Column 7, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  10. 1942 September 29, The Hollywood Reporter, Tales of Hoffman by Irving Hoffman, Quote Page 3, Column 4, Los Angeles, California. (Note: “vegetarian” was misspelled as “vegeterian”; “think” was misspelled as “thing”) (ProQuest) ↩︎
  11. 1942 October 4, The Beatrice Times, Your Hollywood by John Truesdell, Quote Page 10, Column 1, Beatrice, Nebraska. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
  12. 1943 June 16, Times Herald, Sidney Skolsky In Hollywood, Quote Page 31, Column 5, Washington D.C. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
  13. 1951, Thirty Years with G. B. S. by Blanche Patch, Chapter 14: Aspiring Methuselah, Quote Page 219 and 220, Victor Gollancz, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  14. 1951 January 14, Sunday Mercury, G. B. Shaw Manuscript Lost in Birmingham by W. H. Bush, Quote Page 6, Column 6, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. (British Newspaper Archive) ↩︎
  15. 1956 February 23, The Desert Sun, Mario Contributes $25,000 by Make Connolly, Quote Page 8, Column 7, Palm Springs, California. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  16. 1970 Copyright, The Cutting Edge by Louis Kronenberger, Chapter: Some Masters, Section: George Bernard Shaw, Quote Page 20, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  17. 1971 Copyright, The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations, Compiled by J. M. Cohen and M. J. Cohen, Section: George Bernard Shaw, Quote Page 211, Column 1, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  18. 1980 June 8, Sunday Sun, Killer Quotes: Here are some you will never forget by Keith Dufton, Quote Page 10, Column 7, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  19. 1985 May 14, The Guardian, Section: Letters To the Editor, Letter Title: Two tell-tale faces of famine, Letter From: Robert Turpin of Peverell, Plymouth, Quote Page 10, Column 7, London, England. (ProQuest) ↩︎
  20. 1990, British Literary Anecdotes, Compiled by Robert Hendrickson, Section: George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Quote Page 239, Facts on File, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎