An old hotel pun goes:
Q:What do you call a ghost at a hotel?
A: An inn spectre.
“Why is a Hotel Ghost like a policeman? Because it is an Inn-spectre” was told in the humor magazine Punch, or the London Charivari in 1866. Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) told the “inn-spectre” joke in 1869.
Google Books
1 December 1866, Punch, or the London Charivari, pg. 226, col. 2:
Why is a Hotel Ghost like a policeman? Because it is an Inn-spectre.
1 December 1866, The Commonwealth (London), pg. 3, col. 5:
Why is an hotel ghost like a policeman? Because it is an inn-spectre.
12 January 1867, Warren (PA) Mail, pg. 1, col. 7:
Why is a hotel ghost like a policeman?—Because it is an inn-spectre.
Chronicling America
3 April 1867, The Daily Phoenix (Columbia, SC), pg. 4, col. 2:
Why is a hotel ghost like a State constable? because it is an inn-spectre.
Chronicling America
7 November 1867, The Daily Phoenix (Columbia, SC), pg. 2, col. 4:
Why is a hotel ghost like a policeman? Because it is an inn-spectre.
Google Books
Phantasmagoria and Other Poems
By Lewis Carroll
London” Macmillan and Company
1869
Pg. 21:
And as the inns, where it is found,
Are his especial hunting–ground,
We call him the ‘Inn-Spectre.’
Chronicling America
16 May 1876, New Orleans (LA) Republican, pg. 2, col. 1:
A hotel ghost comes under the official head of inn spectres.
Twitter
PuterPrsn
@PuterPrsn
Last #pun for the night: Since there was a ghost at the hotel, they called for an inn spectre.
11:09 PM - 25 Apr 2009
Twitter
The Crystal Jon(s)
@jonsinger
There was a ghost at the hotel, so they called for an inn spectre. #badjokemonday
9:54 AM - 27 Apr 2009
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of One-Liners
By Geoff Tibballs
London: Constable & Robinson Ltd.
2012
Pg. ?:
What do you call a ghost at a hotel?
An inn spectre.
Twitter
JuicyCanvas
@JuicyCanvas
Q. What do you call a ghost at a hotel?
A. An inn spectre. #puns
2:31 PM - 31 Jul 2013
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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