“Say ‘Cheese!‘“ is what photographers often say to get people to smile. A popular joke is:
“When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?”
The jocular one-liner was posted to the newsgroup alt.support.dystonia on November 28, 1998 and has been printed on many images. New York-born comedian George Carlin (1937-2008) is frequently credited with the line, but it isn’t his.
GeorgeCarlin.net
George Didn’t Say That! (Part 2: The Bogus Quote List)
Various one-liners, part 5
(...)
10. When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
Google Groups: alt.support.dystonia
Humor
Gene
11/28/98
(...)
When cheese gets it’s picture taken, what does it say?
Google Groups: rec.humor
Things To Ponder
Joke List
12/28/98
(...)
When cheese gets it’s picture taken, what does it say?
9 February 1999, Vancouver (BC) Sun, “City Limits,” pg, B5:
- When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
The Jewish Magazine (March 1999)
When cheese gets it’s picture taken, what does it say?
A Prairie Home Companion - Jokes 1999
March 16, 1999
(...)
When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
Rita Gillmer, Baton Rouge, , LA
30 May 1999, Star-Gazette, (Elmira, NY), “The joke’s on us,” pg. E1:
When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
Google Books
Curtains Up!:
Theatre Games and Storytelling
By Robert E. Rubinstein
Golden, CO: Fulcrum Resources
2000
Pg. 51:
When cheese has its picture taken, what does it say?
Google Books
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Health Fair
Compiled and Edited by Fred Neil
College Station, TX: Virtualbookworm Publishing Inc.
2002
Pg. 177:
When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
YouTube
When cheese gets it’s picture taken, what does it say
phanshows
Published on Apr 2, 2013
Google Books
I Funny TV:
A Middle School Story
By James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
New York, NY: Little, Brown
2015
Pg. ?:
I try another one-liner on him: “When cheese has its picture taken, what does it say?”
Ask Reddit
When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say? (self.AskReddit)
submitted June 24, 2015 by desmictan1213
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.
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.
This site is edited by Barry Popik.