A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

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:
“Instead of ‘British Summer Time’ and ‘Greenwich Mean Time’ we should just call them ‘Oven Clock Correct Time’...” (3/28)
“Has anyone here ever drank a pint of tequila? I know it’s a long shot” (3/28)
“A pint of tequila? That’s a long shot” (3/28)
“The U.S. should add three more states. Because 53 is a prime number. Then they can truly be one nation, indivisible” (3/28)
“My love for the truth outweighs my fear of offending you” (3/28)
More new entries...

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z


Entry from July 07, 2012
“I drink to make other people interesting”

“I drink to make other people (more/seem) interesting” is a quotation cited in many drinking quote collections. The saying has been printed on T-shirts and improperly credited to the writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961).
 
George Jean Nathan (1882-1958), an American drama critic known for his wit, wrote in the magazine The Smart Set in April 1923:
 
“In the words of a friend of mine, I drink to make other people interesting.”
 
Nathan never identified the friend, but it’s unlikely to have been Hemingway.
 
 
Wikipedia: George Jean Nathan
George Jean Nathan (February 14, 1882 – April 8, 1958) was an American drama critic and editor.
(...)
Quotations
“I drink to make other people interesting.”
 
Google Books
April 1923, The Smart Set, “Repetition Generale” by George Jean Nathan and H. L. Mencken, pg. 35, col. 2:
Notes from an Unwritten Autobiography.
(...)
12. In the words of a friend of mine, I drink to make other people interesting.
     
Google Books
The Autobiography of an Attitude
By George Jean Nathan
New York, NY: A. A. Knopf
1926
Pg. 143:
ATTITUDE TOWARD ALCOHOL
§1 In the words of a friend of mine, I drink to make other people interesting.
 
Google Books
The World of George Jean Nathan
By George Jean Nathan
New York, NY: Knopf
1952
Pg. 216:
ON ALCOHOL
In the words of a friend of mine, I drink to make other people interesting.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityFood/Drink • Saturday, July 07, 2012 • Permalink


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.