"Why is this man laughing?"

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   From Saturday's NEW YORK TIMES obituary of David Newman (who wrote the
movie BONNIE AND CLYDE):

In 1960 he joined Esquire as an editor, where he and Mr. Benton created
several features, among them the still-surviving Dubious Achievement Award, for
which he coined the phrase, "Why is this man laughing?" The phrase accompanied a
photograph of a mirthful Richard M. Nixon. The two also collaborated on a
column, "Man Talk," which ran from 1964 to 1974 in Mademoiselle magazine, and on
"Extremism: A Non Book" (Viking, 1964).


   "Why is this man laughing?" probably follows "Why is this man smiling?"  I
think the latter phrase was used in a print ad of some sort.  I'll check the
databases tomorrow, but these dubious phrases are probably not worth Fred
Shapiro's recording.