“A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking” is a jocular saying that has been printed on many images. New York City-based syndicated entertainment columnist Earl Wilson (1907-1987) included the saying in his column on June 3, 1959.
Earl Wilson usually got his “Earl’s Pearls” quips from others, but no one was credited for this quotation.
Wikipedia: Earl Wilson (columnist)
Earl Wilson (May 3, 1907 – January 16, 1987), born Harvey Earl Wilson, was an American journalist, gossip columnist, and author, perhaps best known for his 6-day a week nationally syndicated newspaper column, It Happened Last Night.
3 June 1959, Winona (MN) Daily News, “It Happened Last Night” by Earl Wilson, pg. 4, col. 5:
EARL’S PEARLS…A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.
19 May 1967, Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, “At Random” by Harold V. Cohen, pg. 14, col. 2:
A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.
Google Books
The Joke Teller’s Handbook:
Or, 1,999 Belly Laughs
By Robert Orben
Los Angeles, CA: Wilshire Book Company
1976
Pg. 193:
You know what a vacation is. That’s what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking all along.
Twitter
That guy in Denver
@Watrfrnt
A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking. - Earl Wilson
9:31 PM - 3 May 2007
Google Books
Peace in the Face of Cancer
By Lynn Eib
Carol Stream, IL: Tynedale Mainstream
2017
Pg. 169:
A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.
EARL WILSON, syndicated newspaper columnist
Google Books
The Happy Traveler:
Unpacking the Secrets of Better Vacations
By Jaime Kurtz
New York, NY: Oxford University Press
2017
Pg. ?:
Or as journalist Earl Wilson put it, “A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.”
Twitter
Johanna Hussey
@Jollelol
A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking. - Earl Wilson
8:05 AM - 19 Jul 2018
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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