tragedy plus time

[Victor Steinbok]

Yes, Jon beat me to the punch of Woody Allen (I missed it by seconds,
even though I decided to post the whole thing later and do a little more
editing, once Jon's post went up). So there is legitimate evidence for
Woody Allen (albeit very late and in a script, rather than just saying
it), Carol Burnett--who attributes the quip to her mother (but using
"mellowed by" initially rather than "plus"), Lenny Bruce (also fairly
late, but before Allen, and with both "humor" and "satire"), and Steve
Allen--so far the earliest, but also adding "plus the will to be amused"
(and the addition is important because he also makes a counterpoint
about lack of such will). The years are, respectively, 1989, 1963 (with
"mellowed") and 1972 (with "plus"), 1972 (with "humor") and 1975 (with
"satire"--but referring to an earlier statement), 1958. All of them
clearly used the phrase, with Bruce and Burnett even adopting it as a
signature expression of their approach, even though Steve Allen was the
earliest of the bunch, but perhaps still not the creative genius behind it.

I'm going to throw in one more--Bob Newhart in 1962. This may explain
Carol Burnett's "memory" of her mother's expressing the sentiment,
although the timing is a bit sketchy. Burnett and Newhart first appeared
together on The Entertainers from September to December 1964, with
Newhart leaving the show at the turn of the year and the whole show
folding shortly thereafter. But there must have been contacts between
the starts prior to the airing of the first episode on September 25.
Still, it's a little odd that Burnett credited a version of the phrase
to her mother (in 1963) right around the time she started working with
Newhart. There is no chance for her mother picking up the phrase from
Steve Allen, as she died before the aforementioned account of Allen's
creativity was printed in 1958. Of course, this does not preclude
Burnett getting the phrase from Allen or through an intermediary without
her mother ever having uttered the words. The actual interactions are
difficult to track down. Both Burnett and Newhart appeared on a lot of
TV shows in 1962-4, but IMDB is missing virtually all of them, including
The Entertainers. Wiki has some information, but it lacks sufficient
detail. In any case, this is not an important enough issue to worry
beyond what's already here. We simply know that Allen, Newhart, Burnett,
Bruce have used the phrase as their own material (in that order).

http://goo.gl/1yeYz
The Florence [Alabama] Times [Daily]. Nov 22, 1962
Bob Newhart Hopes to End Gypsy Ways. By Bob Thomas, AP Movie-Television
Writer. Section 4. p. 4/5
http://goo.gl/bWUHP
The Evening Independent (St. Peterburg). Nov 24, 1962.
Newhart Punctures Romantic Foible. By Bob Thomas [AP]. p. 5-B/2-3
> This story has a conclusion that will please those romanticists we
> mentioned above. Newhart is planning a January wedding to Virginia
> Quinn, 22-year-old daughter of character actor William Quinn. Newhart
> waited until he was 33 to take the step.
> "I'm sure I can get a couple of monologues out of it," he cracked
> (gallows humor?).
> He added: "I've already gotten a routine out of the interior
> decorating job on our apartment in Westwood. They say that comedy is
> tragedy plus time. After getting the bills, I believe it."

There are two reasons why this one is important. First, it's the exact
formula later adopted by everyone else (notwithstanding
comedy/humor/satire distinction). Second, unlike other versions where
the line comprises the entire joke, in Newhart's version it sets up a
distinct punchline.

Also note the use of "gypsy" in the Florence Times headline. The hed
actually picks up a line from the body of the piece, so it's not an
editorial addition. This is yet another variation of "gypsy" that I
mentioned in the Galliano post of March 1. I am including the relevant
text from that post below Jon's.

The additional twist is that the usage here is not merely of "nomad" or
"wanderer", but a more focused secondary metaphor, "bachelor", perhaps
"free spirit", but still "wanderer" as the underlying base. And, of
course, it's attributive.

     VS-)

On 3/15/2011 4:11 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Well, I was wrong about the "Humor" part. Today's Mark Twain claim employed
> "humor" instead of "comedy."
>
> But writer and director Woody Allen did make Alan Alda say "Comedy is
> tragedy plus time" in _Crimes and Misdemeanors_ (1989).
>
> I didn't say he invented the idea.
>
> JL

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