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.

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Entry from June 22, 2011
“Comedy is tragedy plus time” (theatre adage)

Entry in progress—B.P.
   
21 July 1958, Bakersfield (CA) Californian, pg. 21, col. 1:
Allen (Comedian Steve Allen—ed.) also has another formula for laughs: “Tragedy plus time plus the will to be amused equals comedy. If you don’t have the will to laugh, you won’t be amused—whether it’s by a Chaplin or anyone like him.”
 
23 November 1962, Salisbury (MD) Times, pg. 23, col. 3:
“They say that comedy is tragedy plus time. After getting the bills, I believe it.”
(Comedian Bob Newhart—ed.)
 
Google Books
Show: The Magazine of the Arts
Volume 3
1963
Pg. 116:
To her (Carol Burnett—ed.), “Comedy is tragedy mellowed by time.”

Posted by Barry Popik
New York City • Music/Dance/Theatre/Film/Circus • Wednesday, June 22, 2011 • Permalink


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