Something for everyone

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Thu Aug 19 12:03:38 UTC 1999


"Something for everyone--a comedy tonight."
--Stephen Sondheim, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (1962).

     I ran across a large advertisement in the NEW YORK TIMES, 24 September
1956, pg. 13: "'Something for Everyone' Is The Keynote Of New Season On
Channel 4."  The Periodicals Contents Index turned up 6 hits between 1953 and
1956.  The earliest record before 1953 is "Something for Everyone at Atlantic
City" in the NEA BULLETIN, Jan. 1938, pg. 23.
    The earliest "something for everybody" on the PCI is "Something for
Everybody," in the Broadcast Drama section of the LISTENER, Nov. 1937, pg.
1144.
     It must be an early catch phrase.  The Making of America database has it
in quotes in the MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE (1867), pg. 242:

     ...the publishers say it will be their aim to present in its pages
"something for everybody," but those who are fond of reading advertisements
have more than their proper share.

     There was a book SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY (1846) by Richard Carlton.  I
haven't seen it yet.  Did P. T. Barnum popularize this phrase?  The American
Museum opened in New York City in 1841.



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