The Quick and The Dead

[Victor Steinbok]

I posted earlier a brief version of this note on "The Quick and the
Dead". In more recent years, the phrase has appeared quite a
bit--apparently with both the original and the more common
interpretation, sometimes exclusive, sometimes in conjunction (as a pun,
I suppose).

There are a number of films and books that go under the title "The Quick
and the Dead". The most commonly known film is likely the Sam Raimi
schlock from 1995 (with Gene Hackman). This was preceded by a 1987 TV
film with Sam Elliot, a car racing documentary One by One (1976) that
was released under the same title, and a 1963 WWII "lost patrol" drama
with Majel Barrett. There is little doubt that to make it into the film
title in 1963, "the joke" could not have been particularly new.

Book searches produce a very different distribution.

A quick GB scan shows at least three books published in 1931-33 with the
same title. A 1917 article "The Quick and the Dead on the Border" can be
found in Vol 33 of The World's Work magazine (No. 3, Jan 1917 , p. 295).
I found at least a dozen books, articles and book chapters with a
similar title published between 1880 and 1920. I did not read any of
them carefully enough to identify the reason for such a title, aside
from the 1917 article above.

The phrase, of course, is Biblical in origin, as it appears in several
passages in KJV:
Acts 10:42
> And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it
> is he which was ordained of God *to be the Judge of quick and dead*.
1 Peter 4:5:
> Who shall give account to him that is ready to *judge the quick and
> the dead*.
2 Timothy 4:1
> I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
> shall *judge the quick and the dead* at his appearing and his kingdom.

Most other--particularly modern--translations that I found have "living"
in place of "quick" (with the exception of the 1384 Wycliffe NT text,
according to BibleGateway.com).

The same language appears in English statements of Apostles' Creed,
Nicene Creed and many other church documents, as well as most liturgical
texts.

The earliest non-Biblical and non-liturgical use that I found on
GoogleBooks (admittedly, not the most accurate for any pre-WWII period,
but likely most efficient method) was an 1830 Congressional Record, more
specifically, the Senate debate on Indian Affairs of 17 April 1830. (p.
357 of  Vol. 6 of Debates in Congress, Comprising the Leading Debates
and Incident of the First Session of the Twenty-First Congress)
> By an official communication from Governor Clark, the superintendent
> of Indian affairs, we learn that the most powerful tribes, west of the
> Mississippi, are, every year, so distressed by famine, that many die
> for want of food. The scenes of their suffering are hardly exceeded by
> the sieges of Jerusalem and Samaria. There might be seen the miserable
> mother, in all the tortures that hunger may inflict, giving her last
> morsel for the sustenance of her child, and then fainting, sinking,
> and actually dying of starvation! And the orphan! no one can spare it
> food--it is put alive into the grave of the parent, which thus closes
> over *the quick and the dead*!

The meaning of "quick" here is obviously the same as in KJV and there is
no sign of the pun.

Between 1800 and 1920, there are all sorts of poems, essays and chapter
titles that reflect the same phrase without much of an explanation and
they appear in texts published both in England and in the US. And, of
course, there are numerous occurrences in Church histories and sermons,
etc., but these are obviously mostly direct quotations from religious
texts. Most--if not all--of them appear to be reflections of the
Biblical meaning. There are three occurrences that I found that appear
to defy this pattern.

Life and Achievements of Admiral Dewey from Montpelier to Manila, by
Murat Halstead, 1899, p. 207 (Google copy from the UC libraries)
> There are, as Lord Salisbury has announced, two sorts of nations--the
> quick and the dead. The quick are those that rejoice in their
> strength, willing to be held to judgment for it, and alert to expand,
> moved by the same instinct of gaining new possessions that sent the
> swarming tribes of Asia to overrun the forests and instruct the
> barbarians of Europe long before Europe found the Americas for her
> overflow. The "dead" are not willing to admit that their days and
> generations of expansion are over, and they affect land hunger when
> their passion is a mere fancy.

This one seems to admit to the traditional interpretation, yet, it is
possible that Lord Salisbury was already trying to make the pun that
ended up in the military ranks more than half a century later.

Even more ambiguous was the caption of a caricature in Punch magazine
that reflect the Stanley expedition scandal--that over the behavior of
officers Barttelot and Jameson. The caricature seems to be of Stanley
appealing to Justice (although not blind) with the graves of Barttelot
and Jameson next to the statue, with the caption "Between the Quick and
the Dead". The picture appears on p. 247 of Punch (London) for 22
November 1890.

Finally, the obvious antecedent of the LA pedestrian joke is also
British in origin. The line comes from The Critic magazine (vol 49 No.
3, Sep 1906, p. 203):

> Apropos of Automobiles. Some one--"Arthur Pendenys, perhaps"--has
> classed people who walk or drive on the roads into two divisions,
> namely, those who get out of the way and those who don't; or, in other
> words, *the quick and the dead*!

The latter leaves no doubt as to the intended pun. "Arthur Pendenys" is
cartographer Arthur Lee Humphreys (1865-1946). Aside from a couple of
antiquarian books, the main reference to Pendenys that I found was a
frequently repeated quotation: "A good meal makes a man feel more
charitable toward the whole world than any sermon." Who's Who in
Literature (1925) leaves no doubt to the identity--editor and founder of
Books of To-day and Tomorrow.

     VS-)







But, of course, the turn of phrase is a classic one form the KJV. For
example, in Acts 10:42,

> And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it
> is he which was ordained of God *to be the Judge of quick and dead*.

Most other versions that I found have "living" in place of "quick" (with
the exception of the 1384
Wycliffe NT text, according to BibleGateway.com). The same expression
appears in 1 Peter 4:5:

> Who shall give account to him that is ready to *judge the quick and
> the dead*.

And again in 2 Timothy 4:1

> I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
> shall *judge the quick and the dead* at his appearing and his kingdom.

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