Modern Proverb: Be nice to those you meet on the way up. They're the same folks you'll meet on the way down (antedating Walter Winchell 1932 July 8)

[Dan Goncharoff]

Most of what we know about the Mizners comes from the reporting of Alva
Johnston in the New Yorker. She wrote a four-part profile on Wilson
Mizner in 1942, so I would start there.

DanG

On 7/16/2010 5:16 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole<adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Modern Proverb: Be nice to those you meet on the way up. They're
>                the same folks you'll meet on the way down (antedating Walter
>                Winchell 1932 July 8)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet 'em on your way down.
>
> This quotation (with variants) has been attributed to Jimmy Durante,
> Wilson Mizner, and Walter Winchell and others.
>
> The online Oxford Dictionary of Quotations lists the quote under
> Wilson Mizner and cites the 1953 work "The Legendary Mizners".
>
> The Yale Book of Quotations also lists the quote under Wilson Mizner
> and cites the 1949 "The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations" by Evan
> Esar.
>
> Ralph Keyes says "Credit Wilson Mizner for now" in the Quotation
> Verifier. His source notes point to "The Legendary Mizners".
>
> I could not find anything about the expression in the ADS archive or
> at Barry Popik's website.
>
>
> According to a 1932 newspaper account describing a radio broadcast,
> Walter Winchell used the expression over the air in 1932.
>
> 1932 July 8, Pittsburgh Press, "Were You Listening?", Page 21 (GNA
> Page 16), Column 1, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  (Google News archive)
>
> Walter Winchell made only passing reference to Ben Bernie—probably
> admitting that Ben made him look like a sucker in the battle of
> brains. He did give some good advice to bigheaded movie actors: "Be
> nice to those you meet on the way up. They're the same folks you'll
> meet on the way down."
>
> http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22bigheaded+movie%22&
>
> In 1933 Golden Book and Reader's Digest apparently contain the
>
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org