[Ads-l] Groucho--really?

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Stephen Goranson wrote:
> Nice finds, Bill.

Yes. It's wonderful to see citations tracing the evolution of the
joke. Thanks Bill.
Garson


> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <...> on behalf of MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US) <...>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2017 11:15 AM
> To: ...
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Groucho--really?
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> _Binghamton [NY] Press_ 2 Dec 1948 p 21 col 6 [fultonhistory.com, newspapers.com]
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> From Phil Willon's column, "All in Fun"
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> "Outside of a dog, a policeman is a boy's best friend. Inside of a dog, a boy isn't likely to meet one anyhow."
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> _Binghamton [NY] Press_ 6 Sep 1950 p 25 col 3 [fultonhistory.com, newspapers.com]
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> From Phil Willon's column, "All in Fun"
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> "Outside of a dog, of course, a diamond is a girl's best friend.  Inside of a dog, you can't see it anyhow."
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> [Nashville, TN] _The Tennesseean_ 23 Nov 1952 p 8 col 1 [newspapers.com]
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> From Red O'Donnell's column, "Top o'the Mornin'"
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> "Clever comic Jimmy Husson's observation:  "Book is man's best friend, outside of a dog.  Inside, it's too dark to read anyhow."
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> _Somerset (PA) American_ 29 Aug 1953 p 4 col 8 [newspaperarchive.com]
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> "A book is man's best friend, outside of a dog and inside a dog it's too dark to read."
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> Comedian Jimmy Husson worked a lot in the Pennsylvania area in the 1940s-1950s; this cite could have originated with him as well.
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> First Groucho cite:
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> _Philadelphia Daily News_ 5 Apr 1973 p 25 col 3 [newspapers.com]
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> "Groucho Marx on friendship:  "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.  That's because inside a dog, it's too dark to read." "
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>> -----Original Message-----
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>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of ADSGarson O'Toole
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>> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2017 4:37 PM
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>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>> Subject: Re: Groucho--really?
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>>
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>> ----
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>> John Baker wrote:
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>> > Of course, as previously discussed on ADS-L, "Inside of a dog it's too
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>> > dark to read" is not an authentic Marxism either; as far as we know,
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>> > it came from Jim Brewer, a kid who contributed it to Boys' Life in
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>> > 1954 (well, the contribution was probably in 1953).  And "Why a duck"
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>> > was spoken by Chico (though written by George S. Kaufman).  "I do not
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>> > care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members" was
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>> > attributed to Groucho personally in 1950, so seems reasonably
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>> > plausible as an authentic quotation.
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>> LH initiated the discussion of the Groucho attributed remark "Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read" back in 2010. I created a QI entry and
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>> credited "Top-notch researcher, John Baker" for locating the "Boys' Life" citation.
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>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__quoteinvestigator.com_2010_09_08_dog_&d=DwIGaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=-y_H8oq_E7hQJsyNz20HD3z9S52SNr1xK_M-IQ9WFwQ&s=VQdZE4dk3IKp6bmNkC6cShbG9XaeKCcFMCcBFissygI&e=
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