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 December 08, 2011
“Dieting is the triumph of mind over platter”

“Dieting is the triumph of mind over platter” is a pun on “mind over matter.” The old diet joke has been cited in print since at least 1933-34.
 
   
1 June 1933, Riverside (CA) Daily Press, “Tower of Jewels,” pg. 18, col. 7:
Sales
Resistance
Is the
Triumph
Of mind
Over
Platter.
 
10 September 1934, North Adams (MA) Transcript, pg. 16, col. 1 ad:
Uncle Si says, “Dieting is the triumph of mind over platter.”
But you want to be sure your platter is filled with something good if you want to enjoy the best of your life.
(Bateman’s Market—ed.)
 
13 October 1934, Lowell (MA) Sun, “Lowell Woman Dietitian at Famed Walter Reed Hospital in Capital; Miss Helen C. Burns Directs Most Important Department Catering to 800 Patients,” pg. 10, col. 4:
“The end which we of our profession would like to see achieved can be summed up in these few words,” explained Miss Burns, lifting a calendar from the desk, with the name of a local printing firm attached to it. The words to which she smilingly pointed read, “Dieting is the triumph of mind over platter.”
     
27 February 1935, Lowell (MA) Sun, “In New York” by Paul Harrison, pg. 18, col. 1:
Johnny Green, brightest of the younger composers, has been swamped with “How did you do it?” letters since he reduced 20 pounds in a month. He says it’s just a triumph of mind over platter.
 
6 March 1938, New York (NY) Times, “Asks Health Drive for ‘Men Over 40,’” pg. 35:
Dr. Deaver said that the only form of exercise that might help would be that of pushing away from the table three times a day. The study of the proper diet, he insisted, should be based on the theory of “mind over platter.”
(Dr. G. G. Deaver, instructor in the School of Education at New York University—ed.)
   
9 February 1940, Omaha (NE) World-Herald, “No Cheesy Crack, This Confucius Gag Wins Buck,” pg. 2, col. 3:
“Slimming is triumph of mind over platter.”—Caroline E. Marshall, 5311 Jackson street.
 
Google News Archive
17 August 1940, The Afro American, pg. 24, col. 7:
MIND OVER PLATTER seems to be the recipe used by Isadore Oglesby to shelve his excess tonnage. He swears he lost eight pounds quicker than it took Hitler to take France.
 
Google News Archive
7 August 1949, Milwaukee (WI) Journal, “Funny Business: Radio Chuckles,” Screen-Radio-Television, pg. 15, col. 1:
Staying on a diet is a triumph of mind over platter.—Bob Hawk.
 
Google News Archive
2 August 1953, Windsor (Ontario) Daily Star, “Pertinent…And Impertinent,” pg. 4, col. 2:
Who said dieting is the triumph of mind over platter?
     
Google Books
February 1955, Boys’ Life, “Think and Grin,” pg. 8, col. 2:
Daffynishion: Dieting — Triumph of mind over platter. — Dave Stegman, Silver Spring, Md.
 
23 December 1956, Chicago (IL) Daily Tribune, “Radio TV Gag Bag” by Larry Wolters, pt. 8, pg. F7:
Paul Fogarty says: “Diet is just a triumph of mind over platter!”
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Mind over platter; a new and different psychological approach to the problem of how to stick to your reducing diet and then maintain your proper weight.
Author: Peter G Lindner
Publisher: Hollywood, Calif., Wilshire, 1963.
Edition/Format:  Book : English
 
Google News Archive
12 April 1963, St. Petersburg (FL) Evening Independent, “Lose Weight—With Nationwide Support,” pg. 3B, col. 1:
Dieting is just mind over platter.
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Instant willpower! : mind over platter in a flash!
Author: Vicki Park
Publisher: Pleasant Grove, AL : Peppertree Press, ©1998.
Edition/Format:  Book : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Positive shrinking : a story of mind over platter : proven techniques that will change your relationship with food ‘forever’
Author: Kevin Laye
Publisher: London : Hay House, 2010.
Edition/Format:  Book : English
Summary: Helps you to achieve control over both your weight and your relationship with food. This work features a story of two friends who have battled with weight for most of their lives.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityFood/Drink • Thursday, December 08, 2011 • Permalink


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