"Thanks! I Needed That!"

Wed Aug 25 11:56:00 UTC 2010

Unless a new theory is presented, the existence of the phrase as an allusive
"proverb" is based on its melodramatic association with a slap or a punch as
a bracing thing. In other words, without some kind of well-known cultural
reference, the phrase would be of no interest.

Concerning the coincidence between Gann & Uris.  Conceivably (and it's
merely conceivable), both cases were inspired by two widely reported
incidents in 1943 when General Patton struck a weeping or
traumatized private in a hospital and called him a coward.  It was supposed
to be for his own good.

Neither soldier is reported to have said, "Thanks! I needed that!"

Certainly those face-slappings would have fed into the vague
"recognizability" of the situation in the Mennen commercials, and they may
have influenced the novelists/scenarists as well.

JL

_
On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 2:54 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Thanks! I Needed That!"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  Posted two links earlier with some comments. I want to update this a bit.
>
> > Street&Smith's Astounding Science-fiction, [Vol. 21, Issue 4, 1945]
> contains the line--
> >
> > http://bit.ly/9yotCl
> >
> > "The hull plates are of magnesium-beryl------ Thanks, Josh. I needed
> that, I guess. I'll try my best to stop being silly." (allegedly, p. 14--not
> verified on paper ...)
>
> A bit more digging revealed that the tag is screwed up, but not in the
> worst possible way. In fact, the scanned volume includes only parts of
> Volume 21 and 22 from 1938, and nothing from 1945. The expression is
> clearly sarcastic--"Thanks for the useless technical information." Other
> hits that refer to drinks--stiff or otherwise (cold water, coffee) are
> not. They really express the speaker's gratitude for the drink (or any
> other comforts that are offered).
>
> > http://bit.ly/9Vm06M
> > Munsie Magazine. Volume 92. 1927 [p. 430]
> > "Thanks--I needed that!" Lorne chuckled--and perhaps William did sigh
> > lightly, perhaps it did seem to him that that wallet would have been
> > small enough recompense for what he had suffered.
>
> In this case, the intent is not entirely clear to me. There is some
> sarcasm in the expression, but it's because the person making the remark
> (Lorne) has just extorted a wallet from the other person (William).
> AFAIK all the other expressions I found on GB around these dates (and
> everything prior to 1950, actually) is just straight use of the phrase
> (thanks for a drink, thanks for a blanket, thanks for waking up, etc.).
>
> Now, the reason *I* remember the line has little to do with Mennen
> commercials--I don't recall the slapstick being run by 1981 when I was
> first exposed to Mennen spots. My recollection is that it was in Animal
> House--a sentiment expressed by John Belushi in response to a bottle of
> booze being tossed to him. The quote being memorable enough, I
> dispatched to the IMDB. Sure enough, the search for "memorable quotes"
> reveals 5 hits, including Animal House and remake of Sabrina (only one
> of the other three--Dark Angel TV series--has the requisite line):
> http://imdb.to/9ZWVgK
> >
> > Linus Larrabee: [David is indisposed so Linus meets up with Sabrina
> > instead and romances her] Oh, I almost forgot. [he kisses her]
> > Linus Larrabee: The rest of the message from David.
> > Linus Larrabee: [Sabrina slaps him] Thanks, I needed that.
>
> And the other:
> >
> > Bluto: [after chugging a whole bottle of Jack without a pause for air]
> > Thanks. I needed that. [chucks the bottle behind him, which shatters
> > on the hood of the car behind him]
>
> These, of course, are long /after/ the Skin Bracer spots. And the
> original Sabrina contains nothing of the kind.
>
> Also of note is the fact that one blogger pointed out that "Thanks. I
> needed that." was a signature John Wayne line.
>
> http://bit.ly/bo33D5
> > And, of course, no Wayne film could be complete without a "Thanks, I
> > needed that."
>
> He gives no examples. And IMDB has none as well.
>
> Ed McMahon and Johnny Carson pulled the stunt on at least one occasion.
> There is no date, but McMahon wrote in his autobiography that "it was in
> a time when there was a commercial for shaving lotion in which a
> gorgeous blonde gave a man a bracing slap on the face and he said,
> 'Thanks! I needed that!' " (http://bit.ly/bcUwQ7) McMahon might have
> been mistaken--the original slap (the John Goodman commercial) has the
> man slap himself with the after-shave. There is a later version in the
> boxing ring with the same result. (I posted links to YouTube versions of
> both earlier.) There might have been one with a blonde as well, but it
> does not appear to be available, if it existed. But also note that
> McMahon distinctly used the word "bracing" in describing the slap.
>
> One more thing on the Skin Bracer ad campaign. It appears to have won
> the Clio prize in 1975:
>
> http://bit.ly/9yB0FF
> > “Thanks, I needed that.”
> > — Harry Webber, co-creator
> >
> > “Thanks, I Needed That” campaign
> > Mennen
> >
> > From the classic film line from Robert Stack in “The High and the
> > Mighty” to John Belushi in Animal House to countless skits on Saturday
> > Night Live, the phrase “Thanks, I Needed That” has worked its way into
> > the American lexicon. The high point of the campaign was waiting at
> > ringside for the victor of the Ali-Frazier flight with a check for $1
> > million from Mennen Skin Bracer for the winner to slap himself silly.
> >
> > agency: Case & Krone creative director Helmut Krone, Gene Case
> > copywriter: Gene Case
> > art director: Helmut Krone, Harry Webber
> > award: Clio 1975
>
> Still more on the ad campaign.
>
> http://bit.ly/9cWkef
>  From Family Weekly supplement (p. 23) to the Anchorage Daily News for
> Sunday, April 16, 1972 (and other newspapers).
> > When does a vicious punch in the gut or a fast slap in the face /not/
> > hurt? When it's Teri McComas who's taking it--or teaching it. At 21,
> > Teri is a pretty, vivacious girl who enjoys falling headfirst from
> > 30-foot buildings, being thrown from galloping horses and receiving
> > powerful slaps across her freckled face. She's no masochist, she's a
> > Hollywood stunt girl. She learned her trade from veteran stunt men and
> > she's an expert. Recently she was hired to teach some tricks of her
> > trade to actors who slap and get slapped in the "Thanks, I needed
> > that" TV commercials for shaving lotion. Teri teaches timing and the
> > angle of slaps, which won't rattle teeth but are nevertheless
> > convincing on camera. Slapping lessons, anyone?
>
> This should put to rest the question of whether the slap was a central
> fwature of the campaign or not.
>
> VS-)
>
>
> On 8/25/2010 12:26 AM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
> >    On 8/24/2010 10:18 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>  >> To Victor: if it was idiomatic by 1953, I think we'd have seen a
> precise ex.
> >> ("Thanks! Ineeded that!") long before ca1970.  Though they come close,
> >> neither Gann nor Uris use the cliche phrase.
> > --
> >
> > One can find the precise phrase much earlier, but I think the expected
> > usual context would include a stiff drink rather than a slap.
> >
> > Possibly I haven't paid close enough attention to the thread, but has it
> > been considered that the slap may not have been conceived as the central
> > feature, or that the commercial may not have been intended to invoke the
> > stereotypical hysteria-countering slap?
> >
> > The word "bracer" at the time of the ad would have had the primary
> > meaning "[stimulating/fortifying] drink [of hard liquor]", I think.
> > Sudden vigorous application of skin tonic would call for a slap
> > (although it's a different slap from that used to get the attention of a
> > raving hysteric), and it may be that this was intended to parallel the
> > sudden vigorous application of an internal tonic, i.e., knocking back a
> > slug of (say) whiskey or brandy.
> >
> > It's not so much "calm down" as "wake up", maybe.
> >
> > Just a casual thought.
> >
> > -- Doug Wilson
>
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