[Ads-l] Joke: Television: It's called a medium because it=?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=99s_?=never well done (UNCLASSIFIED)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks, Bill. That is great. The citation you found certainly fits
into this set of wordplay jokes although I do not quite follow the
humor. Inspired by your efforts I found a version of the joke that I
do understand in November 1949.

[ref] 1949 November 22, The San Francisco Examiner, Day and Night with
Radio and Television by Dwight Newton, Quote Page 16, Column 8, San
Francisco, California. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]
https://www.newspapers.com/image/458737600/?terms=medium

[Begin excerpt]
TAG LINES: Ed "Archie" Gardner on "Duffy's Tavern"--"Television is a
medium where if anything is well done, it's rare."
[End excerpt]

I will add the citation you found to the QI article and acknowledge
you soon, Bill.

I came across the "Easy Aces" when I was researching "Time Wounds All Heels"
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/09/23/heels/

Garson

On Thu, Jul 25, 2019 at 5:46 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY
CCDC AVMC (USA) <0000099bab68be9a-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu>
wrote:
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> Somewhat related:
>
> _Milwaukee [WI] Journal_ 30 Jul 1950 Sunday magazine section p 30
> "Television is called a medium because it's so rare. -- Easy Aces"
>
> "Easy Aces" was a TV show (formerly a radio show) on the Dumont network.  Both the radio and TV version starred Goodman Ace (see the 1953 cite in your article).
>
> Fred Allen probably used the version you quote him as saying in 1950 on the radio broadcast _The Big Show_ which premiered on Nov 5.  See this review of the show:
>
> https://archive.org/stream/broadcasting391unse#page/n671/mode/1up
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
> > ADSGarson O'Toole
> > Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2019 9:13 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: [Non-DoD Source] Joke: Television: It's called a medium because it’s
> > never well done
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----
> >
> > Here is another version of the wordplay joke in the subject line:
> > Television is called a medium because it is neither rare nor well done.
> >
> > Comedian Goodman Ace wrote a letter to Groucho Marx containing an
> > instance of the subject line quip in 1953. In 1973 “The Filmgoer’s Book of
> > Quotes” by Leslie Halliwell credited the joke to comedian Ernie Kovacs.
> >
> > Many references attribute the joke to Goodman Ace or Ernie Kovacs while
> > presenting one of these citations (or no citations), e.g.:
> >
> > The Macmillan Dictionary of Quotations (1989) The Best Guide to Humorous
> > Quotations (2011) Encarta Book of Quotations (2000) Oxford Dictionary of
> > Humorous Quotations (2008) The Yale Book of Quotations (2006)
> >
> > The Quote Investigator website now has an entry on this topic with a
> > 1950 citation ascribing the joke to Fred Allen.
> >
> > https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/07/24/tv/
> >
> > Feedback welcome
> > Garson
>
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org