[Ads-l] Dialogue Origin: "You look as if there is a famine in the land" "You look as if you are the cause of it"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

A slim person and a portly person reportedly engaged in the sharp
exchange specified in the subject line. The participants in this
anecdote and the precise phrasing of the dialogue varies. Typically,
the skinny person was the famous Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw.
The rotund person was one of three possibilities: English author G. K.
Chesterton, English filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, or British publishing
magnate Lord Northcliffe.

This tale is difficult to trace because of its variability. This is
the earliest match I found:

[ref] 1931 August 10, The Decatur Daily, The Loud Speaker,
(Advertisement for Morgan County Motor Company of Decatur, Alabama,
Ford Automobiles), Quote Page 3, Column 4, Decatur, Alabama.
(Newspapers_com) [/ref]

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-decatur-daily-thin/184125871

[Begin excerpt]
A fat man and a thin man were having an argument.
"From the looks of you," said the fat man, "there must have been a
famine when you were born."
"And from the looks of you," replied the thin man, "you must have caused it."
[End excerpt]

The earliest instances did not mention any specific individuals. I
conjecture that the anecdote began as a joke with unnamed archetypal
participants. To heighten the humor the two roles were later assigned
to well-known pairs of individuals who were slender and plump. Hence,
I hypothesize that the anecdotes featuring George Bernard Shaw were
all fictitious. However, it remains possible that the anecdote was
genuine, and the names were initially hidden.

Here is an overview with dates:

1931 Aug 10: A fat man and a thin man
1938 Oct 01: George Bernard Shaw and G. K. Chesterton
1942 Sep 29: George Bernard Shaw and Alfred Hitchcock
1971: George Bernard Shaw and Lord Northcliffe

Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/11/04/famine-look/

Interesting material and feedback would be welcome.
Garson

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