[Ads-l] "Tossed aside lightly/thrown with great force"

Bill Mullins amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM
Sun May 7 04:39:22 UTC 2023


Garson has investigated this quote, often attributed to Dorothy Parker, on his Quote Investigator page:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/03/26/great-force/

He did not find it prior to 1958, and sees no reason to attribute it to Dorothy Parker.

I recently ran across it in Frank McDonell's sports column in the Detroit Times​ in 1929.  He was writing about a recent book by Bill Miller, To You I Tell It​, a collection of columns written by Miller in the Manilla P.I Daily Bulletin​, where he had been sports editor.  Miller includes a list of endorsements in the book.  McDonell says "[Miller] wrote the recommendations himself", so it's not clear if the recommendations are legitimate, or are made-up in the names of those quoted.  The book is humorous, so either is certainly possible.  The "recommendations" come from names i recognize (Ed Sullivan, Damon Runyon, John J. Pershing), and others I don't.  The one under discussion here is from Frank Dolan, who was a writer for the NY Daily News.

1929 Detroit Times 14 Dec 11/1 (geneaologybank)

Frank Dolan, New York -- Not a book to be lightly thrown aside.  It should be thrown with great force.

There's a copy of the book for sale on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/fi-en/listing/794241145/1929-to-you-i-tell-it-hardback-by-bill

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