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.

Recent entries:
“Shoutout to ATM fees for making me buy my own money” (3/27)
“Thank you, ATM fees, for allowing me to buy my own money” (3/27)
“Anyone else boil the kettle twice? Just in case the boiling water has gone cold…” (3/27)
“Shout out to ATM fees for making me buy my own money” (3/27)
20-20-20 Rule (for eyes) (3/27)
More new entries...

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z


Entry from April 05, 2012
“When I die, bury me in Chicago because I want to remain politically active”

Political humorist Mort Sahl‘s website lists a popular joke of his (referring to voter fraud in the 1960 presidential election):
 
“I’ve arranged with my executor to be buried in Chicago. Because when I die, I want to still remain active politically.”
 
The “bury me in——because I want to remain politically active” joke has also been attributed to Louisiana governor Earl Long (1895-1960) and also to places in Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, New Jersey, North Carolina and Texas.
 
A related term is “cemetery vote” and a related saying is “Dead voters vote Democrat.”
   
             
The Mort Sahl Website 
“I’ve arranged with my executor to be buried in Chicago. Because when I die, I want to still remain active politically.”
     
23 May 1984, Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette, “Hiss-tory brings rub-offs of that crazy Nixon charm” by Mike Deupree, pg. 9A, col. 2:
I’ll bet that when he (Alger Hiss—ed.) dies he’ll wind up buried in Chicago, so he can at least keep voting.
 
Google Books
Jesse Jackson & the Politics of Race
By Tom Landess and Richard M. Quinn
Ottawa, IL: Jameson Books
1985  
Pg. 21:
Indeed, there were those cynics who said that the mayor had resurrected the dead in order to defeat Richard Nixon, prompting one Illinois politician to remark that when she died she hoped to be buried in Cook County so that she could continue to be active in politics.
 
2 November 1986, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), Magazine, pg. 10, col. 3:
In a recent talk to a preservationist group here, Seiberling quoted a line from Mark Russell, the political satirist.
 
“I want to be buried in Chicago, because I want to stay active in politics.”
 
Google Books 
The Supreme Court of the United States:
Hearings and reports on successful and unsuccessful nominations of Supreme Court Justices by the Senate Judiciary Committee, 1916-

Volume 12, Part 1
1989
Pg. 1424: 
Senator HEFLIN. I just wonder, Mr. Staggs, if you are familiar with the old Western Republican prayer, that goes like this: That when I die, if I die, I want to be buried in Phoenix, AZ, in order that I may remain active politically?
Mr. STAGGS. I thought that was the Democrat. I think they got that from Cook County.
 
Google Books
The American Spectator
Volume 26
1993
Pg. 61:
All of which prompted one political figure to announce repeatedly on the chicken-and-pea circuit, “When I die I want to be buried in Telfair County (GA—ed.) so I can remain politically active.”
 
30 November 1994, Charlotte (NC) Observer, “Zeno Ponder,” pg. 16A:
The tales of graveyard voting and ballot-box shenanigans in some western N.C. counties are the stuff of legend. Politicians often say that when they die they want to be buried in Madison County - so they can remain politically active.
   
17 November 2000, Press of Atlantic City (NJ), “Some advice for the players in Florida” by Jim Shea:
The winner is former Louisiana Gov. Earl K. Long: “When I die, I want to be buried in St. Martin’s Parish so I can remain politically active.”
 
Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligencer
In The Northwest: Death is no refuge from privacy-pilfering junk mail
By JOEL CONNELLY, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST
Published 10:00 p.m., Sunday, November 30, 2003
(...)
A wonderful joke out of Idaho used to go something like this: “When I die, friends, please bury me in Shoshone County so I can remain politically active.”
   
JWeekly.com (San Francisco, CA)
Friday, February 20, 2004
Humorist Mort Sahl brings one-liners and sharp wit to Bay Area
by dan pine, staff writer
(...)
He was, in his own intellectual way, a king of one-liners. Among the classic Sahl bon mots posted on his Web site: “I’ve arranged with my executor to be buried in Chicago. Because when I die, I want to still remain active politically.”
 
The Mike Malloy Show
BA_BureauChief
Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:48 am
Pet peeve of mine…
 
The FMR has just about made it gospel that Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago stole the ‘60 election from Nixon. In fact, it’s an old joke to say “Bury me in Chicago so I can remain politically active…” 
 
Google Books
Safire’s Political Dictionary
By William Safire
New York, NY: Oxford University Press
2008
Pg. 107:
More recently, Jack Valenti, LBJ’s longtime aide, who died in 2007, told friends gathered at his annual Christmas dinner the year before, “When I die, bury me in Texas, because I want to remain politically active.”
     
KFFL General Forums
raider bill
07-16-2011 03:28 PM
When I die , bury me in New Jersey…because I wanna remain politically active.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityGovernment/Law/Military/Religion /Health • Thursday, April 05, 2012 • Permalink


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.