tragedy plus time

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:13 PM -0400 3/15/11, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>GB only has four hits pre-1983, with three (1972, 1975 and 1983)
>attributing the "humor" version to Lenny Bruce and the fourth being
>anonymous (also 1983).
>
>The Essential Lenny Bruce (1975) puts it a bit differently:
>
>>And that's why my contention is : that satire is /tragedy plus time/.
>
>"Comedy" gets substantially more hits, but many of them spurious.
>
>http://goo.gl/EeePH
>Show: The Magazine of the Arts, Volume 3. 1963
>p. 116
>>To her, "Comedy is tragedy mellowed by time."
>
>The snippet covers two columns and the first one starts, "The first of
>three Burnett specials this year". The second starts with the quotation
>above. The quote is actually more extensive, as it gives an example of a
>childhood experience with penicillin. The date--both intrinsic (from
>search) and extrinsic (WorldCat) appears to be correct and, if
>pagination is accurate, the snippet comes from the February 1963 issue.
>So, at least, when it comes to Burnett, the attribution is not spurious.
>
>Another snippet points to Television Quarterly nearly a decade later and
>includes an exchange between CB and HK (Harvey K????).

Harvey Korman, (almost) no doubt.

LH

>Again, both
>intrinsic and extrinsic indications are that the volume does represent
>TVQ, volumes 9 and 10, which run from Winter 1970 to Summer 1972. The
>snippet does not show the relevant text (but does mention "Harvey"), so
>the text is from the preview.
>
>http://goo.gl/g61PO
>p. 39
>>CB --- A lot of /comedy is tragedy plus time/. HK --- Sure, you break
>>your leg and it's a tragedy at the time but six weeks later. . .
>
>Another hit gives TV Guide 1972. The date is almost irrelevant, but
>attribution is not.
>
>http://goo.gl/aVKuP
>>"I got my sense of humor from my mother," Carol has said. "I'd tell
>>her my tragedies. She'd make me laugh. She said /comedy is tragedy
>>plus time/." (Her father, Jody Burnett, died in 1954, her mother in 1958.)
>
>It's clear that Burnett did not get the expression from Bruce, but it is
>certainly possible that the reverse is not true either--both might have
>got their expression from independent sources, derived from another, yet
>earlier source. I only found one other related GB hits (1972), but it
>was unattributed.
>
>There is an interesting earlier point--Book Review Digest
>[unquestionably] from 1930 [The cover is unambiguous and dating appears
>to be accurate]. The text is taken from the description of a book (so
>far unidentified). Another hit identifies the citation as "Wilson
>Bulletin for Librarians", but shows the same (unrelated) snippet. The
>text is pasted from the two previews, not from snippets.
>
>>"Miss Ertz, who Is a shrewd and clever writer, does not seem herself
>>altogether happy about this background of chronicled fashion. /Comedy,
>>fashion; tragedy, time/, is the formula. It is in effect the choice
>>between time and time's whirligig; and Miss Ertz seems to hover
>>uncertainly between the two.
>
>New York Magazine (Feb 15, 1971) goes in a completely different direction:
>>Once again we cite the equation: /Tragedy plus Time/ equals Acceptability.
>
>There is a whole bunch of similar quotes from 1970-72 (at least,
>according to GB--also repeated in later publications) from a variety of
>publications:
>
>Tragedy plus time can equal comedy.
>True comedy is oftentimes tragedy plus time or distance.
>"Tragedy plus time can lead to humor. Tragedy without enough time can
>produce refined cruelty." [This is the unattributed 1983 cite that
>appears to mask Lenny Bruce as "the author".]
>
>The Railroad Telegrapher from 1958 gives a different formula:
>
>>Dollars plus time is the story of most investment plans, but if there
>>is no time in which to make the accumulation, what becomes of the
>>family? The answer is a bankrupt family, and a bankrupt family is tragedy.
>
>But this seems to be directly borrowed from Trans-communicator, 1951.
>[Both are union publications--neither shows the relevant snippet,
>although the dates appear to be accurate.]
>
>     VS-)
>
>On 3/15/2011 3:07 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>At 1:55 PM -0400 3/15/11, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>>>This is usually attributed to Carol Burnett or Woody Allen, but both
>>>of those attributions are probably apocryphal like the Twain one.
>>>In 2004 Barry Popik posted a citation from the early 1960s here, I
>>>believe.
>>>
>>>Fred Shapiro
>>A good many of the (post-Twain) attributions have "tragedy plus time"
>>as the definition of comedy rather than humor; close, but not quite
>>the same cigar.
>>
>>LH
>
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