Anonymous telegrams

[mmcirvin]

People quoted as saying "If you want to send a message, use Western Union":

Samuel Goldwyn
Louis B. Mayer (frequently spelled "Meyer")
Harry Cohen (or possibly Cohn)
Darryl Zanuck
Jack Warner
Either Jack Warner or Samuel Goldwyn
Harry Warner

Slightly further afield:

D. W. Griffith
George S. Kaufman
A well-known screenwriter
Irving Berlin

Further still:

Jane Yolen, science-fiction author
Benjamin S. Lambeth, air-warfare analyst for the RAND Corporation

This attribution to David Lee Roth is probably not implying originality on Roth's part, but I'm not so sure about this one.

The most believable attribution I've found is this one to producer Joe Pasternak, since it refers to an original article in which he's being quoted directly, and the phrase doesn't seem to have yet achieved its canonical form:

"I should blow $2,000,000 to send a message?" cries the happy Hungarian. "Western Union is cheaper!"

Comments

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

An old page on Suck (http://www.suck.com/daily/2000/04/11/1.html) says that Rex Reed said that it was from George Bernard Shaw.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...And here's an attribution to Frank Capra (http://godspy.com/culture/Why-Do-Heathens-Make-the-Best-Christian-Films-by-Thom-Parham.cfm).

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

And this one suggests Goldwyn's publicist Pete Smith. (http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/awadmail149.html)

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

And here it is attributed to Kit Reed (http://www.littere.com/narrative/madd_file/quills.htm).

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Cecil B. De Mille (http://www.nightshadebooks.com/discus/messages/378/3473.html?1101290793), of course.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Ernest Hemingway (http://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/geis.html).

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

A good book on quote drift that I often recommend Nice Guys Finish Seventh by Ralph Keyes.

[http://users.livejournal.com/erasmus__/]

so, like, what catalyzed your curiousity in this?

Quote drift one-up-manship?

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Oh, samantha2074 saw the line quoted somewhere without attribution, and I said I thought it originated with Louis B. Mayer, then looked it up and quickly saw that it wasn't that clear.

[glitter-ninja.livejournal.com]

The recent biography Goldwyn does claim he said it but, if I recall correctly, they didn't pointedly attribute the original quote to him. I would suspect Goldwyn got it from somewhere else, and by the time he used it the saying was apparently a cliche.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

All these movie-mogul attributions suggest that it might have been a common industry catchphrase prior to the Pasternak quote. In which case its actual origin is probably lost.