American critic Alexander Woollcott (1887-1943) wrote in While Rome Burns (1934):
“You haven’t lived until you died in New York.”
The one-line saying has been included in lists of New York City quotations.
Wikipedia: Alexander Woollcott
Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (January 19, 1887 – January 23, 1943) was an American critic and commentator for The New Yorker magazine and a member of the Algonquin Round Table.
While Rome Burns
By Alexander Woollcott
New York, NY: Grosset & Dunlap
1934
Pg. ?:
You haven’t lived until you died in New York.
Twitter
Algonquin Hotel
@algonquinNYC
“You haven’t lived until you died in New York.” - Alexander Woollcott #RoundTable Member #ViciousCircle #Quote #NYC
8:36 AM - 17 Sep 2014
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Parcel
@fromparcel
“You haven’t lived until you’ve died in New York.” — Alexander Woollcott
10:08 AM - 18 Feb 2015
Time Out New York
17 quotes every New Yorker should live by
By Will Pulos
Posted: Thursday July 16 2015, 2:52pm
(...)
15. “You haven’t lived until you died in New York.” —Alexander Woollcott
Google Books
Architecture’s Odd Couple:
Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson
By Hugh Howard
New York, NY: Bloomsbury Press
2016
Pg. ?:
Perhaps he (Frank Lloyd Wright—ed.) also took the challenge posed by a new friend, a unique New York character named Alexander Woollcott (1887–1943), the theater man who ironically observed, “You haven’t lived until you died in New York.”
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.