Motto: live a fast life, die young and be a beautiful corpse (Irene L. Luce 1920 August 25)
Garson O'Toole
adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Mon Apr 16 15:05:15 UTC 2012
Great thanks to Jon and Fred for their kind comments. I located
something else recently that might interest quotation mavens. There is
evidence supporting the remark attributed to the celebrated French
painter Pierre Auguste Renoir: I paint with my prick.
Sometime today or tomorrow I'll attempt to gather some relevant data
and post it.
Garson
On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 6:24 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Motto: live a fast life, die young and be a beautiful corpse
> (Irene L. Luce 1920 August 25)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Yes, spectacular sleuthing by Garson. Yet another indication that even quotations that are firmly thought to have a specific literary or political coinage often turn out to have been kicking around long before that.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2012 12:32 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Motto: live a fast life, die young and be a beautiful corpse (Irene L. Luce 1920 August 25)
>
> _Knock on any Door_ is an outstanding urban novel in the Farrell tradition.
> It's utterly forgotten, like Budd Schulberg's naturalistic boxing novel,
> _The Harder They Fall_. (It can't be because Bogart starred in the screen
> versions of both.)
>
> Great sleuthing, Garson!
>
> JL
>
> On Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 12:25 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 11:41 AM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>>
>> > 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!"
>>
>> This reference to "Knock on any Door" shows up in various places on the =
>> web, e.g. =
>> http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2010/02/real-origin-of-live-fast-die-young-=
>> and.html, which also observes this trivium concerning the respective =
>> ethnicities of Motley and his (anti-)hero, Nick Romano (played by Bo's =
>> father John Derek in Ray's movie, with an attorney played by Bogart): =20=
>>
>> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>> Back then, it was unusual for an African-American author to write a book =
>> in which the central characters were white. But Motley was ahead of his =
>> time in terms of color-blind thinking and the book became a popular =
>> bestseller.
>> When some color-sensitive critics complained about a =93Negro=94 writing =
>> about white folks, Motley responded: =93My race is the human race.=94
>>
>> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>>
>> As for the variations in the line, I find the "leave a =
>> good-looking/beautiful corpse" more natural (as well as more familiar) =
>> than its apparently more authentic "be" or "have" variants. I think of =
>> my future corpse (regardless of its beauty quotient) as something I'll =
>> be leaving rather than being or having. It is a metaphysical question, =
>> to be sure, and relates to the fact that it's notoriously difficult to =
>> attach tense markers to pronouns.
>>
>> LH
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> =20
>>
>> >=20
>> > Here are some earlier instances of the general expression.
>> >=20
>> > 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]
>> >=20
>> > 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=3DEBQuAAAAYAAJ&q=3Dcorpse#v=3Dsnippet&
>> > [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]
>> >=20
>> > 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]
>> >=20
>> > 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]
>> >=20
>> > 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]
>> >=20
>> >=20
>> > In May 1925 the phrase "live well" was substituted for "live a fast
>> > life" in a variant called "Patty's creed".
>> >=20
>> > 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]
>> >=20
>> >=20
>> > By July 1925 the shorter phrase "Live fast" was sometimes used instead
>> > of "Live a fast life".
>> >=20
>> > 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]
>> >=20
>> >=20
>> > A variant in 1930 substituted "live hard" for "live fast".
>> >=20
>> > 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]
>> >=20
>> >=20
>> > 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.
>> >=20
>> > 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]
>> >=20
>> >=20
>> > In 1949 the expression appeared in advertisements for the movie based
>> > on the book.
>> >=20
>> > 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]
>> >=20
>> >=20
>> > 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.
>> >=20
>> > 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]
>> >=20
>> > Garson
>> >=20
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>>
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>>
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