[Ads-l] Did Mae West invent it?

[Peter Reitan]

"Go peel a grape" was already a dismissive insult in 1928.  Modesto News-Herald November 13, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9303007/modesto_newsherald/
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Sent: ‎3/‎3/‎2017 10:12
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Subject: Re: Did Mae West invent it?

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The accompanying illustration depicts a buxom woman on a chaise lounge
talking to a servant. I wonder if the woman is supposed to represent
Mae West. Maybe the line was used by West during an earlier stage
production.

The illustration is in several newspapers including the August 18,
1929, The San Bernardino County Sun, San Bernardino, California.

Garson


On Fri, Mar 3, 2017 at 12:37 PM, Michael Quinion
<michael.quinion at worldwidewords.org> wrote:
> It is universally said that Mae West originated the line "Beulah, peel me
> a grape" in the movie "She's No Angel" of 1933. But casting about in
> idleness (I'm recuperating from an operation) I found the variant
> "Meadows, peel me a grape" in a cartoon in the Laredo Times of Texas on 18
> Aug 1929, attributing it to the "N.Y Medley". Is there more to this than
> commonly thought? Did Mae West borrow it, or was it already circulating?
>
> See
> https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/laredo/laredo-times/1929/08-18/page-1
> 3?tag=peel+me+a+grape&rtserp=tags/?pep=peel-me-a-grape&psb=dateasc/--
> Michael Quinion
> michael.quinion at worldwidewords.org
> http://www.worldwidewords.org
>

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