Prunes are known to be nature’s laxatives. The bumper sticker “Start A Movement—Eat A Prune” (a joke on “bowel movement”) has been cited in print since at least 1973.
Wikipedia: Prune
Health benefits
Prunes and their juice contain mild laxatives including phenolic compounds (mainly as neochlorogenic acids and chlorogenic acids) and sorbitol. Prunes also contain dietary fiber (about 6%, or 0.06 g per gram of prune). Prunes and prune juice are thus common home remedies for constipation. Prunes also have a high antioxidant content.
4 February 1973, The Sun (Baltimore, MD), “State’s legislators face a social 2 weeks,” pg. A14:
“It read: ‘Start A Movement, Eat A Prune.’”
18 August 1973, Nevada State Journal (Reno, NV), pg. 5, col. 1:
Two bumper stickers sighted this week impart profound messages:
Support Mental Health—or I;ll Kill You;
And: Start a Movement—Eat a Prune.
19 May 1974, The Independent Record (Helena, MT), “A bumper crop of stickers,” pg. 17:
START A MOVEMENT
EAT A PRUNE
Google Books
Reporting for the Print Media
By Fred Fedler
Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
1993
Pg. 401:
Another student appeared for an interview dressed in a T-shirt inscribed, “Start a Movement—-Eat a Prune.”
Google Books
Only Begotten Daughter
By James Morrow
San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace
1996
Pg. 149:
At least she was dressed for the heat: denim cutoffs, a Smile Shop T-shirt (start a movement — eat a prune).
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of Humor
Edited by Geoff Tibballs
New York, NY: Carroll & Graf
2000
Pg. 331:
Eat a prune and start a movement.
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.
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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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