“Age doesn’t matter unless you’re a cheese” is a jocular one-line saying that has appeared in many quotation collections, always credited to American actress Billie Burke (1884-1970). “Age, she (Burke—ed.) observes, is nothing at all, ‘unless you’re a cheese’” was cited in the Baltimore (MD) Sun in November 1959, when Burke was age 75.
Wikipedia: Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton “Billie” Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live. Burke was also the wife of Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., of Ziegfeld Follies fame, from 1914 until his death.
8 November 1959, The Sun (Baltimore, MD), “Billie Burke’s Advice To Women” by Helen Henry, pg. A4:
Age, she observes, is nothing at all, “unless you’re a cheese”; it is “not a matter of years but ... of spirit, good health, good fortune.
Google Books
The Reader’s Digest
Volume 82
January 1963
Pg. 78:
ACTRESS Billie Burke: “Age doesn’t matter unless you’re a cheese.”
—Jean Sharlcy in Detroit Free Press
23 February 1963, Boston (MA) Herald, “Marge” by Marjorie Mills, pg. 54, col. 1:
How about Billie Burke’s footnote to that in the January Reader’s Digest? “Age doesn’t matter unless you are a cheese.”
Google News Archive
12 January 1967, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), “Shop with Sue,” pg. 3, col. 7 ad:
Age doesn’t matter unless you’re a cheese.— Billie Burke
OCLC WorldCat record
Age doesn’t matter unless you’re a cheese : wisdom from our elders
Author: Kathryn Petras; Ross Petras
Publisher: New York : Workman, 2002.
Edition/Format: Book : English
Google Books
The 2,548 Wittiest Things Anybody Ever Said
Edited by Robert Byrne
New York, NY: Touchstone (Simon & Schuster)
2012
Pg. ?:
1,241
Age doesn’t matter, unless you’re a cheese.
—Billie Burke (1884–1970)
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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