Tracing Quotations
Marilyn Monroe? Sheilah Graham? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Beauty icon Marilyn Monroe’s film career was jeopardized in the 1950s when scandal-mongers reported on her past as a risqué calendar model. Interestingly, her popularity and fame actually grew. When she was questioned about the calendar she responded with a clever and hilarious remark about a …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: It’s Not Quite True I Had Nothing On: The Radio Was On”
Samuel Goldwyn? Herbert Fields? June Provines? Sheilah Graham? Alva Johnston? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn was famous for his creative and idiosyncratic use of the English language. Hollywood legend asserts that Goldwyn participated in a complex, protracted, and tense corporate negotiation in the 1930s. But he was unhappy with the final …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Gentlemen, You May Include Me Out”
F. Scott Fitzgerald? Sheilah Graham? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, on the blog of a teacher I saw a quotation about the humanities that was attributed to one of the best American writers of the previous century. It began: That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are …
Samuel Goldwyn? Michael Curtiz? Sheilah Graham? Jones? Scones? Louis Cukela? Fictional? Question for Quote Investigator: There is an unintentionally hilarious remark credited to the movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn. He sent an assistant on an important errand and was angry when the task was badly botched. In exasperation Goldwyn created this classic rebuke: The next time …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: The Next Time I Send a Damn Fool for Something, I Go Myself”
Dorothy Parker? Clare Boothe Luce? Sheilah Graham? Snooty debutante? Little chorus girl? Question for Quote Investigator: I think Dorothy Parker should be credited with the wittiest comeback ever spoken. She was attempting to go through a doorway at the same time as another person and words were exchanged. According to the story I heard the …
Continue reading “Dialogue Origin: “Age Before Beauty” “Pearls Before Swine””