Tracing Quotations
Groucho Marx? Ernest Bevin? George S. Kaufman? Cotton Ed Smith? Franklin P. Adams? Alan Hale? Walter F. George? Oscar Levant? Question for Quote Investigator: A comment which acknowledges criticism has been coupled with a harshly comical riposte. Here are three examples: Would you please explore the provenance of this type of exchange? Reply from Quote …
Continue reading “Dialogue Origin: “I Am My Own Worst Enemy” “Not While I’m Alive””
Sam Levenson? Oscar Levant? W. C. Fields? Helen Gorn Sutin? Dave Berg? Ann Landers? Erma Bombeck? Grace Kelly? Question for Quote Investigator: Many parents concur with a very funny quip that reverses the traditional notion of inheritance: Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your kids. This joke has been attributed to the newspaper columnist …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Insanity Is Hereditary. You Can Get It from Your Children”
Dorothy Parker? Oscar Levant? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A famously trenchant wit was once asked to describe the daily routine followed after arising: I wake up in the morning and brush my teeth, and then I sharpen my tongue. These words have been attributed to the writer Dorothy Parker and to the pianist comedian …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: First I Brush My Teeth and Then I Sharpen My Tongue”
Oscar Levant? Edmund Fuller? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I see on the website that you looked into a quotation credited to the pianist, actor, and wit Oscar Levant and showed that someone else probably said it first. But I am confident that the following quote was originally said by Levant, and it fits the …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: An Epigram is Only a Wisecrack That’s Played Carnegie Hall”
Oscar Levant? Ed Gardner? Henry Morgan? Question for Quote Investigator: Every time I hear Hollywood referred to as Tinseltown it reminds me of the following quote: Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you find the real tinsel underneath. I have read this phrase in several places but was unsure who first created it. …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Beneath the Phony Tinsel of Hollywood You’ll Find the Real Tinsel”