[Ads-l] Anecdote Origin: Will You Have Sugar and Cream in Your Nose?

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The October 2024 issue of the newsletter published by quotation expert
Nigel Rees contains an entertaining anecdote about the prominent
banker J. P. Morgan. This inspired me to explore this topic, and now
there is a Quote Investigator article:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/10/24/sugar-nose/

The earliest match for the tale appeared in a piece by U.S. writer
Mary Roberts Rinehart published in "The Saturday Evening Post" in
1928. Rinehart did not precisely identify either the financier or the
hostess, but later versions of the anecdote did point to John Pierpont
Morgan and hostess Elizabeth Cutter Morrow.

[ref] 1928 January 14, The Saturday Evening Post,  Volume 200, Number
29, Just a Touch of Celebrity by Mary Roberts Rinehart, Section: The
Imp of the Perverse, Start Page 6, Quote Page 84, Column 4, The Curtis
Publishing Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Google Books Full
View) [/ref]

Here is a link to The Saturday Evening Post article:
https://books.google.com/books?id=Csk2z7Ct5V8C&q=%22have+sugar%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
Sometimes I feel as distracted as the small boy's mother, when a great
financier was coming to Sunday luncheon. Now this financier had a very
large and bulbous nose, and Johnnie was warned neither to stare at it
nor to mention it. Nor did he, but when the coffee came on and Johnnie
was finally excused, his distracted mother turned to the guest and
said:
"Mr. Blank, will you have sugar and cream in your nose?"
[End excerpt]

More citations and more details are presented in the QI website
article mentioned at the beginning of this message.
Feedback and citations welcome
Garson O'Toole
QuoteInvestigator.com

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