“Don’t stand outside and be miserable—come inside and be/get fed up!” is a one-line food joke that appeared in restaurant windows across the country by 1965. The joke is of unknown origin.
Google News Archive
23 July 1965, Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, ‘This Would Drive Us Buggy” by Buck Herzog, pt. 1, pg. 11, col. 1:
And Joe Kaye reports a sign on a Lake Geneva (Wis.) restaurant reads: “Don’t stand outside and be miserable. Come in and get fed up.”
12 November 1965, Ada (OK) Evening News, “Today’s Chuckle,” pg. 1 (box):
Sign in a cafe window: “Don’t stand outside and be miserable—come inside and be fed up.”
16 November 1965, Mason City (IA) Globe -Gazette, “Standing on the Corner” by Ken E. Berg, pg. 17, col. 2:
Best sign we’ve seen of late (in a Montana cafe window): “Don’t stand outside and be miserable—come inside and be fed up.”
21 November 1965, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Roundabout with Art Ryon,” pg. B45:
One of the parking attendants at Jack’s at the Beach wears a big button that reads: “Don’t Stand Outside and Be Miserable. Go Inside and Get Fed Up.”
8 December 1965, Chicago (IL) Tribune, sec. 1, pg. 20:
In a cafe window: “Don’t stand outside and be miserable; come inside and get fed up.”
18 April 1968, Los Angeles (CA) Times, pt. 1, pg. 4:
At both Du-Par’s and the Salem House: “Don’t stand outside and be miserable- come inside and be fed up.”
Google Books
August 1984, Boys’ Life, pg. 68, col. 1:
Sign outside a restaurant: Don’t stand outside and be miserable. Come inside and be fed up.— Rod Young, Jasper, Ind.
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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