Motto: live a fast life, die young and be a beautiful corpse (Irene L. Luce 1920 August 25)

[Garson O'Toole]

The motto: "Live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse" is
often connected to the actor James Dean who died at 24. The Yale Book
of Quotations and The Quote Verifier both cite a 1947 book by Willard
Motley containing the statement: "Live fast, die young, and have a
good-looking corpse!"

Here are some earlier instances of the general expression.

Cite: 1920 August 25, Riverside Daily Press, Did Not Want to Be
Bothered with Husband, [Dateline: Los Angeles, Aug. 25], Page 2,
Column 4, Riverside, California. (GenealogyBank)
[Begin excerpt]
Letters from Mrs. Irene L. Luce, to Oscar B. Luce, won a divorce for
the husband here today.
"I can't be bothered with a husband," one letter said.
"I intend to live a fast life, die young and be a beautiful corpse,"
Mrs. Luce wrote.
[End excerpt]

Cite: 1921, University of Washington Plays: First Series, Selected and
Edited by Glenn Hughes, "These Wild Young People" by J. M. O'Connor,
Jr., Start Page 49, Quote Page 59, (Quote also found on pages 53,
55-56, and 60), University of Washington Press, Seattle. (Google Books
full view)
http://books.google.com/books?id=EBQuAAAAYAAJ&q=corpse#v=snippet&
[Begin excerpt]
Cyrillo. What do you consider wild?
Patricia. Oh, to play around and be petted a lot, smoke in public and
all that. I read in a paper once about a man who got a divorce from
his wife on the strangest grounds. She said she couldn't be bothered
with a husband, intended to lead a fast life, die young, and be a
beautiful corpse. I think that's a fascinating philosophy. It's my
program.
[End excerpt]

Cite: 1924 January 9, Monmouth College Oracle [Newspaper of Monmouth
College], Creed of a College Man, Page 4, Column 2, Monmouth,
Illinois. (NewspaperArchive)
[Begin excerpt]
Creed of a College Man.
Live a fast life, die young, and have a good-looking corpse.
[End excerpt]

Cite: 1924 July 08, The Kingston Daily Freeman, The Office Cat by
Junius, The Young Folks' Creed, Column 4, Page 7, Kingston, New York.
(NewspaperArchive)
[Begin excerpt]
The Young Folks' Creed
Live a fast life, die young, and  have a good-looking corpse.
[End excerpt]

Cite: 1924 July 12, The Charleroi Mail, [Freestanding quotation in a
box adjacent to front page banner], Charleroi, Pennsylvania.
(NewspaperArchive)
[Begin excerpt]
THE YOUNG FOLKS' CREED.
Live a fast life, die young, and have a good-looking corpse.
[End excerpt]


In May 1925 the phrase "live well" was substituted for "live a fast
life" in a variant called "Patty's creed".

Cite: 1925 May 2, Riverside Daily Press, Tower of Jewels, Page 14,
Column 7, Riverside, California. (GenealogyBank)
[Begin excerpt]
Little Patty's creed: Live well, die young, and have a good-looking corpse.
[End excerpt]


By July 1925 the shorter phrase "Live fast" was sometimes used instead
of "Live a fast life".

Cite: 1925 July 31, The Rockford Morning Star, Star Dust, Page 10.
Column 2, Rockford, Illinois. (GenealogyBank)
[Begin excerpt]
A CREED
Live fast, die young, and be a good looking corpse.
[End excerpt]


A variant in 1930 substituted "live hard" for "live fast".

Cite: 1930, Only Saps Work: A Ballyhoo for Racketeering by Courtenay
Terrett, GB Page 26, The Vanguard Press, New York. (Google Books
snippet view; Not yet verified on paper; Data may be inaccurate)
[Begin excerpt]
There was an old cowboy proverb (it is probably forgotten in these
lizzie days of pure-bred Herefords, irrigated alfalfa fields, and
Sears, Roebuck riding breeches) that it was glorious to "live hard,
die young, and make a hell of a good-looking corpse."
[End excerpt]


In 1947 the book "Knock on Any Door" by Willard Motley was reviewed in
the New York Times and the philosophy of the main character, Nick
Romano, was reproduced for newspaper readers.

Cite: 1947 May 4, New York Times, Disciple of Dreiser by Charles Lee,
[Book review of "Knock on Any Door" by Willard Motley], Page BR3,
Column 2, New York. (ProQuest)
[Begin excerpt]
How does handsome Nick react? Conscious of what reform school did to
him, conscious of his wicked ways, he is still enamored of easy money
and easy sex. He deliberately rejects conscience, boasts of his creed
- "live fast, die young, and have a good-looking corpse" - achieves
all three objectives.
[End excerpt]


In 1949 the expression appeared in advertisements for the movie based
on the book.

Cite: 1949 May 26, Rockford Morning Star, [Advertisement for film:
Knock on Any Door], Page 27, Column 7, Rockford, Illinois.
(GenealogyBank)
[Begin excerpt]
He knows all the angles, loves all the girls, hates all cops. His
code: Live fast, die young and have a good-looking corpse!
[End excerpt]


In 1974 a biographer of James Dean claimed that Dean used the
expression. The biographer connected the words to the film version of
"Knock on Any Door" directed by Nicholas Ray.

Cite: 1974, James Dean: The Mutant King: A Biography by David Dalton,
GB Page 274, Straight Arrow Books, San Francisco. (Google Books
snippet; Not yet verified on paper; Data may be inaccurate; The quote
does appear in the 2001 edition of the book which is visible in a
Google Books preview)
[Begin excerpt]
Jimmy was also fond of quoting a line from Nick Ray's Knock on Any
Door. "Live fast, die young, and have a good-looking corpse."
[End excerpt]

Garson

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