“Friends are people who stick together until debt do them part”

People marry until “death do them part.” A saying about friends was attributed to New York City-born character actor Keenan Wynn (1916-1986), as described in this newspaper column about radio on October 30, 1941:
 
“A radio publicity man will go to any lengths to get his client’s name in the paper. Here are a few examples of things that come into the radio desk: ‘Keenan Wynn opines that friends are persons who stick together until debt do them part.’”
 
“Friends: Persons who stick together until debt do them part” was printed in 1943 newspapers. “FRIENDS: People who stick together until debt do them part” was printed in 1945 newspapers.
   
         
25 October 1941, The Daily Times (Davenport, IA),, “Billets” by F. C. B., pg. 3, col. 3:
“Friends,” says K. Wynn, “are persons who stick together until death do them part.”
 
30 October 1941, Tampa (FL) Morning Tribune, “On the Air Today,” pg. 18, col. 4:
Publicity Puns
A radio publicity man will go to any lengths to get his client’s name in the paper. Here are a few examples of things that come into the radio desk: “Keenan Wynn opines that friends are persons who stick together until debt do them part.”
   
29 July 1943, Tonganoxie (KS) Mirror, pg. 4, col. 3:
A FEW DEFINITIONS
Friends: Persons who stick together until debt do them part.
     
19 July 1945, Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer, “Daffynitions,” pg. 18, col. 2:
FRIENDS: People who stick together until debt do them part.
 
14 April 1946, Miami (FL) Herald, “What’s This” by Ferman Wilson, pg. 16-C, col. 1:
“Friends are persons who stick together until death do them part,” carols Marvi Neumann, executive secretary of the Miami Beach Board of Realtors, in her latest Realtors’ Letter.
 
Google Books
Complete Speaker’s and Toastmaster’s Library
By Jacob Morton Braude
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
1965
Pg. 31:
Friends: persons who stick together until debt do them part.
     
Google Books
14,000 Quips & Quotes:
For Speakers, Writers, Editors, Preachers, and Teachers
By E. C. McKenzie
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House
1990, ©1980
Pg. 125:
Some friends stick together until ‘debt do them part.’
   
Google Books
Jolly Jokes for the Young at Heart
By Bob Phillips
Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers
2010
Pg. 64:
Friends are people who stick together until debt do them part.
 
Twitter
lorraine Jo King
@LahLahBean
#Sidesplittingsunday Friends are people who stick together until debt do them part. ☺
2:47 PM - 11 Mar 2018