[Ads-l] "Winning is the best deodorant"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Interesting topic, LH. Excellent citation, Ben.
Apparently, John Madden employed a close variant of an existing remark
about success. Below is an instance attributed to thespian Elizabeth
Taylor in 1970.

[ref] 1970 October 19, Lebanon Daily News, The Voice of Broadway by
Jack O'Brian (Syndicated), Quote Page 17, Column 2, Lebanon,
Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
Melina Mercouri quote: "It is easier to live in sin if you have money.
Somehow the world does not think so badly of you." . . . Liz Taylor
said it more succinctly: "Success is a great deodorant." True.
[End excerpt]

An entry in "Simpson's Contemporary Quotations" claims that Elizabeth
Taylor spoke the adage on television on April 6, 1977.

[ref] 1997, Simpson's Contemporary Quotations: The Most Notable Quotes
Since 1950, Revised Edition, Edited by James B. Simpson, Section:
Actors and Actresses, Person: Elizabeth Taylor, Quote Page 437, Column
1, HarperCollins Publishers, New York. (Verified with scans) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
Elizabeth Taylor
8280 Success is a great deodorant.
ABC TV 6 Apr 77
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 2:57 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> Thanks, Ben.  I know Madden gets undue credit for the turducken, so it’s nice if this evens the score.  I would have bet it was around before ’88, but apparently I’d have lost.
>
> LH
>
> > On Dec 19, 2023, at 2:50 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > Looks like Madden gets the credit for this one. Earliest I see on the
> > databases is this:
> >
> > ---
> > "Television's Winning Team / CBS' Madden, Summerall Just Keep Getting
> > Better"
> > Tom Gilmore, San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 12, 1988, p. E2 [ProQuest]
> > [Pat Summerall] asked Madden late in the game if he thought there was any
> > truth to rumors that Bill Walsh might retire. Madden said the rumors may
> > have had validity earlier in the season, especially after the 49ers
> > suffered a 9-3 loss to the Los Angeles Raiders. Things have picked up
> > recently, Madden said. "Winning is a great deodorant. It covers up so many
> > things."
> > ---
> >
> > Other sportswriters quoted Madden similarly over the next few days.
> >
> > --Ben
> >
> > On Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 2:11 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Garson et al.,
> >>
> >> Can anyone push this quote (also cited as “Winning is the great
> >> deodorant”) back before football coach/announcer John Madden or basketball
> >> point guard/coach Jason Kidd, to each of whom it regularly gets
> >> attributed?  Or if not, does Madden (who I’m assuming antedated Kidd on
> >> this) get the credit?
> >>
> >> LH
> >>
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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