"Thanks! I Needed That!"

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW (probably nothing):

Back in the '40's and probably even earlier, it was common in the
movies for the hero to go upside some hysterical woman's head - well,
"to _turn_ some woman _upside down_ is the better BE term, since there
are many ways in which someone's head might be gone upside, but "to
turn upside down" is only "to slap" (no, the semantics of that phrase
aren't clear to me, either) - to straighten her out. After being
slapped, the woman would make some remark along the lines of

"Thanks. I needed that."

I don't recall whether precisely these words were ever said. But, this
scene was so cliched that, in radio days, it was already possible to
hear it parodied, with a man being the recipient of the slap, and he
*did* say,

"Thanks. I needed that,"

the point of the parody being that, in reality, no *man* would ever
stand for that kind of treatment. Unless he was a pussy.

IMO, the fact that this kind of scene, with exactly those words, had
long since become a cliche of another cliche and was familiar to
everyone (of a certain age, at least) was the whole point of reviving
it for the "after-shave lotion" ad. The "hook" was built-in.

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain


On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 9:52 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: "Thanks! I Needed That!"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> One more data point on this dead (or at least moribund) thread. Â Just
> viewed "The Quiet Man", a 1952 John Ford movie starring John Wayne
> set in rural Ireland. Â There's an extended fistfight at the end
> (played mostly for laughs) between Wayne's character (a "Yank" from
> Pittsburgh who had re-emigrated to the village in Ireland where he
> was born after he had accidentally killed another man in a
> prizefight) and the brother of the local lass (Maureen O'Hara) he has
> wooed and wed. Â At two points during the fight someone throws water
> in Wayne's face to revive him--a kind of face slap--and each time he
> says "Thanks" and pauses. Â I kept waiting for him to continue "I
> needed that", but each time he doesn't say it out loud.
>
> LH
>
> At 2:54 AM -0400 8/25/10, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>> Â 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:
>>> Â  Â 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. Â 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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