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 December 05, 2010
“I’m proud to pay taxes; I could be just as proud for half the money”

Arthur Godfrey (1903-1983) made a fortune in hosting radio and television talent show. The October 1951 Reader’s Digest quoted Godfrey: “I’m proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is—I could be just as proud for half the money.” A June 1953 newspaper article said that Godfrey’s quotation was given “in a broadcast some time ago,” but transcripts for Godfrey’s shows of this period aren’t available.
 
Gadfrey’s message against high taxation became popular in the 2000s among politicians such as Mike Huckabee.
   
   
Wikipedia: Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey (August 31, 1903 – March 16, 1983) was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead. No television personality of the 1950s enjoyed more clout or fame than Godfrey until an on-camera incident undermined his folksy image and triggered a gradual decline; the then-ubiquitous Godfrey helmed two CBS-TV weekly series and a daily 90-minute television mid-morning show through most of the decade but by the early 1960s found himself reduced to hosting an occasional TV special.
   
Google Books
The Yale Book of Quotations
Edited by Fred R. Shapiro
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
2006
Pg. 313:
Arthur Godfrey
U.S. entertainer, 1903-1983
“I’m proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is—I could be just as proud for half the money.”
Quoted in Reader’s Digest, Oct. 1951
   
20 December 1951, National Road Traveler (Cambridge City, IN), pg. 10, col. 2:
Arthur Godfrey: I’m proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is—I could be just as proud for half the money.
   
1 March 1953, New York (NY) Times, “The Ides Approach” compiled by Frances Rodman, pg. SM47:
“I’m proud to pay taxes in the United States. Only thing is—I could be just as proud for half the money.”
Arthur Godfrey.
 
11 June 1953, Panola Watchman (Carthage, TX), “Comments from the Nation’s Capital” by Congressman Brady Gentry, pg. 3, col. 3:
In a broadcast sometime ago, Arthur Godfrey said, “I am proud to pay my taxes. But, I could be just as proud for half the money.”
 
12 July 1954, New York (NY) Times, “The Business Bookshelf” by Burton Crane, pg. 31:
The volume is easy reading and is leavened with quotations such as this from Arthur Godfrey: “I’m proud to pay taxes in the United States. Only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money.”
   
Google Books
The Forbes Book of Business Quotations:
10,000 Thoughts on the Business of Life

By Ted Goodman
New York, NY: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers : Distributed by Workman Pub. Co.
2006
Pg. 592:
I’m proud to be paying taxes to the US The only thing is — I could be just as proud for half the money.
ARTHUR GODFREY
 
Google Books
Do the Right Thing:
Inside the Movement That’s Bringing Common Sense Back to America

By Mike Huckabee
New York, NY: Sentinel
2008
Pg. ?:
As legendary broadcaster the late Arthur Godfrey once said, “I’m proud to pay taxes in the United States, but I could be just as proud for half the money.”
 
I’m with you Arthur! I’m with you!

Posted by {name}
New York CityGovernment/Law/Military/Religion /Health • Sunday, December 05, 2010 • Permalink


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.