“Remember, it takes only one drink to make you drunk. With me, it’s the fourth one,” syndicated New York entertainment columnist Earl WIlson (1907-1987) wrote in 1962, crediting the line to Red Kane (probably not the hockey player). Wilson wrote in 1973, “A bar-sitter insisted it takes only one drink to get him drunk: ‘And it’s usually the fourth one.’”
Earl Wilson credited the joke to American comedian George Gobel (1919-1991) in 1975. American comedian and actor George Burns (1896-1996) usually gets credit for a version of the joke, but it’s unlikely that he was the first to use it.
3 April 1962, Aberdeen (SD) American-News, “Earl Wilson On Tour,” pg. 4, col. 5:
TODAY’S BEST LAUGH: “Remember,” cautions Red Kane, “it takes only one drink to make you drunk. With me, it’s the fourth one.”
7 November 1973, Aberdeen (SD) American News, “Earl Wilson’s New York,” pg. 5, col. 2:
EARL’S PEARLS: A bar-sitter insisted it takes only one drink to get him drunk: “And it’s usually the fourth one.”
22 November 1975, Aberdeen (SD) American News, Earl Wilson syndicated entertainment column, pg. 4, col. 3:
TODAY’S BEST LAUGH: “Remember,” warns George Gobel, “It take only one drink to make you drunk. With me it’s the fourth one.”
Google Books
14,000 Quips and Quotes:
For Speakers, Writers, Editors, Preachers and Teachers
By E. C. McKenzie
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books
1990
Pg. 308:
It takes only one drink to make a person drunk — and usually it’s the fourth one.
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of Comic Quotes
By Geoff Tibballs
London: Constable & Robinson Ltd.
2004
Pg. ?:
It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can’t remember if it’s the thirteenth or the fourteenth.
GEORGE BURNS
Google Books
The Quotable Drunkard:
Words of Wit, Wisdom, and Philosophy From the Bottom of the Glass
By Steven Kates
Avon, MA: Adams Media
2011
Pg. 93:
“It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can’t remember if it’s the thirteenth or the fourteenth.” —GEORGE BURNS
Twitter
Jewish Comedians
@JewishComedians
George Burns: It takes only 1 drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can’t remember if it’s the 13th or the 14th. | #Quotes
4:23 AM - 25 Nov 2015
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. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
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.
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