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

[Garson O'Toole]

Many thanks to all the respondents (especially Victor Steinbok
offlist). Here is an instance of the subphrase: "live fast and die
young" in 1870.

Cite: 1870 March, The New England Farmer: A Monthly Journal, Volume 4,
Issue 3, Extracts and Replies, Section: Clarksburg, Mass. -
Concentrated Fertilizers, Start Page 147, Quote Page 148, Boston,
Massachusetts. (ProQuest American Periodicals)
[Begin excerpt]
In these fast days of steam and electricity, mankind, and particularly
Young America, have become electrified, and they must "get up and
get," or there is no enjoyment. Live fast and die young is the
principle.
[End excerpt]


There is evidence for another similar expression "live fast and die
fast" some years earlier. In the 1855 newspaper article below the
phrase was used to describe the aristocracy. (Yet, I suspect that
aristocrats probably lived longer than average.)

Cite: 1855 June 5, Daily Ohio Statesman, A Definition: Aristocracy,
Page 1, Column 7, Columbus, Ohio. (GenealogyBank)
[Begin excerpt]
They live fast and die fast.
[End excerpt]

Here is an example attribution to James Dean in 1990. (The earlier
post included a 1974 attribution (unverified).)

Cite: 1990 August 19, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Pop culture gods -
immortal myths that we crave by Nancy Shulins, [Associated Press],
Page 4-H, Column 5, Cleveland, Ohio. (GenealogyBank)
[Begin excerpt]
"Live fast, die young, have a beautiful corpse," was a favorite saying
of Eternal Teen-ager James Dean.
[End excerpt]

A 1997 biopic "James Dean: Race with Destiny" was also called "James
Dean: Live Fast, Die Young" as shown in the artwork of the DVD box.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126973/

Garson

On Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 3:35 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Motto: live a fast life, die young and be a beautiful corpse
>              (Irene L. Luce 1920 August 25)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Apr 14, 2012, at 3:23 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
>> At 4/14/2012 11:41 AM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>>> ...
>>> 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]
>>
>> I'd be more ready to credit the letter-writer if it were not Irene L.
>> but Clare Booth.  Or Dorothy Parker.
>> :-)
>> Joel
>>
> Well, if Clare Boothe Luce intended any such thing, her intentions were certainly thwarted.
>
> LH
>
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