“Man is the only animal that can he skinned more than once” is a joke that dates to at least 1920. The joke centers on the slang sense of “being skinned” (being financially taken).
Comedian Jimmy Durante (1893-1980) is often credited with originating the line, but it’s doubtful that he used it by 1920.
Google Books
29 May 1920, The American Artisan and Hardware Record, “Random Notes and Sketches” by Sidney Arnold, pg. 17, col. 1:
My friend Fred Biffar, the Chicago sporting goods man, says that man is the only animal that can be skinned more than once.
Google Books
5 June 1920, The Elgin Dairy Report, pg. 1, col. 1:
Man is the only animal that can be skinned more than once.
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September 1920, The Rotarian, pg. 138, col. 2:
“Man is the only animal that can be skinned more than once.”
14 September 1920, New Castle (PA) News, “Hints and Dints,” pg. 4, col. 3:
Man is the only animal that can skinned more than once.
Google Books
A Short Introduction to the History of Human Stupidity
By Walter Boughton Pitkin
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster
1932
Pg. 434:
As a sharpster wit once remarked, “The human being is the only animal that can be skinned more than once.”
Google News Archive
14 January 1940, Youngstown (OH) Vindicator, “I Spot Crooked Card Players” by Arthur B. Monroe (as told to Lucrece Hudgins), magazine section, pg. 3, col. 1:
That’s my private Monroe Doctrine, and I might add that man is the only animal that can be skinned more than once.
Google News Archive
21 July 1944, Pentwater (MI) News, “Gay Gadgets” by Nancy Pepper, pg. 6, col. 4:
MAN— The only animal that can be skinned more than once.
Google NewsArchive
18 November 1948, Sundance (WY) Times, “Frankly Speaking,” pg. 3, col. 2:
Man is the only animal that can he skinned more than once.
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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