“Buying hay for a dead horse” is spending money for no present or future benefit. “Money spent in prohibition enforcement now is like buying hay for a dead horse” was printed in a 1933 newspaper.
“Paying alimony is like buying hay for a dead horse” was printed in a Kansas newspaper in 1934; no author was stated. The alimony saying has frequently been credited to New York-born actor and comedian Groucho Marx (1890-1977) since 2000, but there is no evidence that Marx said it as early as 1934.
28 June 1933, Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, “As It Appears to The Cavalier,” pg. 8, col .4:
Money spent in prohibition enforcement now is like buying hay for a dead horse.
26 April 1934, Collyer (KS) Advance, pg. 3, col. 1:
Paying alimony is like buying hay for a dead horse.
15 November 1939, Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, “As It Appears to The Cavalier,” pg. 10, col. 7:
Paying the debts of yesterday’s war must now seem to England and France like buying hay for a dead horse.
1 March 1940, Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, “As It Appears to The Cavalier,” pg. 14, col. 7:
Lending Finland money is like buying hay for a dead horse.
6 March 1945, The News-Chronicle (Shippensburg, PA), “One Line Stories” by Don C. Estes, pg. 3, col. 4:
Paying alimony is the same as buying hay for a dead horse.
Google Books
“These shoes are killin’ me.”
By Duke of Paducah
New York, NY: Radco Publishers
1947
Pg. 50:
I don’t believe in alimony — it’s too much like buying hay for a dead horse.
Google Books
Laugh Off:
The Comedy Showdown Between Real Life and the Pros
By Bob Fenster
Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing
2005
Pg. 49:
Movie comic Groucho Marx: “Alimony is like buying hay for a dead horse.”
Twitter
Edgar Barrera
@ebarrera
“Alimony is like buying hay for a dead horse.” -Groucho Marx
5:27 PM - 8 Apr 2008
Google Books
The Little Book of Humorous Quotes
Edited by Malcolm Kushner
Little Quote Books
2011
Pg. 39:
Alimony is like buying hay for a dead horse. ~ Groucho Marx
Google Books
Las Vegas’ Golden Era: Memoirs 1954-1974
By Esper Esau
Indianapolis, IN: Dog Ear Publishing
2016
Pg. 25:
Movie star Mickey Rooney was at his zenith when he played the Riviera backed by the Renee Molnar dancers. During his act he referred to paying alimony to his many ex-wives as “buying hay for a dead horse.”
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
•“Welcome to growing older. Where all the foods and drinks you’ve loved for years suddenly seem determined to destroy you” (4/17)
•“Date someone who drinks with you instead of complaining that you drink” (4/17)
•“Definition of stupid: Knowing the truth, seeing evidence of the truth, but still believing the lie” (4/17)
•“Definition of stupid: Knowing the truth, seeing the evidence of the truth, but still believing the lie” (4/17)
•“Government creates the crises so it can ‘rescue’ you with the loss of freedom” (4/17)
More new entries...
Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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