Quote: [Remark on death of Calvin Coolidge] How can they tell? (antedating Dorothy Parker 1936)

[Garson O'Toole]

[Remark on death of Calvin Coolidge] How can they tell?

This acerbic comment has been attributed to Wilson Mizner and Dorothy
Parker. The Yale Book of Quotations has an attribution to Mizner in
July 1938 and Parker in 1944. I found no matches in the ADS archive or
Barry Popik's website.

Calvin Coolidge died on January 5, 1933 and Wilson Mizner died April
3, 1933 according to Wikipedia. So it is still possible to improve the
cite below, and the creator of the quip is still uncertain.

Here is a 1936 cite attributing the remark to Parker in the volume
"Enjoyment of Laughter" followed by a 1937 newspaper cite that reviews
the book "Enjoyment of Laughter" and also contains the quote:

Cite: 1936, Enjoyment of Laughter by Max Eastman, Page 155, Simon and
Schuster, New York. (Google Books snippet view; Checked on paper in
First reprinting 1970, Johnson Reprint Corporation)

Or Dorothy Parker's remark when told that Calvin Coolidge was dead:
How can they tell?

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZIVZAAAAMAAJ&q=Calvin#search_anchor


Cite: 1937 May 13, The Glasgow Herald, "American Humour: Review of
Enjoyment of Laughter by Max Eastman", Page 2, Colum 4, Glasgow,
Scotland. (Google News archive)

But here one gives the prize to Dorothy Parker, that vitriolic lady
who "can't read Wodehouse." When told that President Coolidge was dead
all she said was, "How can they tell?"

Garson

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