Question of the Day - 12 October 2017

Good question.

This phrase has been used many times in the past 80 or so years. It’s often attributed to George Raft, an actor and dancer who portrayed gangsters in 1930s and ’40s crime movies, but is perhaps best remembered for his leading role in the comedy Some Like It Hot). According to quoteinvestigator.com, the line appeared in a profile written about Raft in Parade magazine in the Oct. 23, 1966, issue. Raft and the quote were also mentioned in an autobiography by Joe Franklin, the host of a long-running talk show; Franklin wrote that Raft said it in an interview he did with the actor.

Quoteinvestigator also reports that a number of other celebrities have used versions of it, including Tug McGraw (relief pitcher for the Mets and Phillies, and father of singer Tim McGraw) in 1975, British soccer player Stan Bowles in 1995, and Irish soccer player George Best in 2000. 

According to another website, catchphrases.info, the first person to utter the words was the inimitable W.C. Fields, who is supposed to have used it in at least one of his movies in the 1930s.

However, Quoteinvestigator traced the quote back to the earliest version of its use in the August 1936 issue of Reader’s Digest. It was submitted by Channing Pollock.

Channing Pollock was a prolific playwright, screenwriter, and critic from 1904 to 1931. (Channing Pollock was also an actor and magician who was named after the playwright and died in Las Vegas in 2006 at the age of 79; he would’ve been only 10 when the quote appeared in Reader’s Digest.)  

So putting all the pieces together, it’s possible that Channing Pollock the playwright penned the gag for Reader’s Digest, from which W.C. Fields borrowed it. One of Fields’ well-known quotes, after all, is “Thou shalt not steal — except from other comedians.” 

Alternatively, Channing Pollock might have written the line for Fields for one of his movies and later submitted it to Reader's Digest.

Raft, the athletes, the latest Megabucks winner, and no doubt plenty of others borrowed it between then and now.

And we’d like to thank “XY,” one of our favorite LVA correspondents, for his generous assistance with this answer.