You’re correct. The final line was “Tell you what, Abe. Why don’t you take in a play?” Newhart was supposedly talking to Lincoln in the routine, not Mrs. Lincoln.
I’m pretty sure I heard the “Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln . . .” before I got the album. My mother told it to me, which would indicate it was far older than Newhart. It’s likely it circulated for years before anyone wrote it down.
“The Wonderful World of J. Wesley Smith,” by Burr Shafer, was copyrighted December 1960, but the application states that some of the cartoons were previously published in Shafer’s other books.
More evidence would be needed to confirm that, even if such a cartoon appears in this book, that this precedes the 1958 cite.
The joke is certainly reminiscent of Burr Shafer’s style (single panel cartoon, a character saying something utterly clueless about an important historical event). Shafer’s career lasted from the 1930s through the 1950s (Harry Truman was a fan, reportedly saying “I’m very proud that I’m smart enough to get the point.”) I have read most of the collections of his J. Wesley Smith cartoons. That said, I don’t recall him making that particular joke.
Not to mention the book was published by Scholastic, a company that was founded specifically for creating material for children and teenagers. Not to mention that two of the reviewer comments mentioned they had first read the book when they were kids.
At the very least it seems like a rather sophisticated joke to tell kids.:dubious:
Kids love gallows humor. Not to mention readers of The New Yorker, where most of the cartoons were originally published.
Scholastic also loves material with cross-curriculum tie-ins. Kids learn in history class that Lincoln was assassinated at a play. “Lincoln” is an uncommon-enough name that “Mrs. Lincoln” must surely be the President’s wife. Presto, kids know everything they need to get the joke.
Everyone knows the joke, but no one knows where they first heard it. Perhaps an old vaudeville act? I can easily envision it in Henny Youngman’s or Sid Caesar’s voice.
Reminds me of Gilbert Gottfried’s joke: I was talking to Jaqueline Kennedy and I asked her, “Do you remember where you were…”
But that is silly, as Lincoln was assassinated nearly 2 years after the battle, and a year and a half after he gave the Gettysburg Address.
Anachronistic jokes do not have to correspond to chronology.
Another Gottfried: Manson walked into the room for his parole hearing and said, “Is it hot in here or am I crazy?”
In grade school I got a copy of “Through History with J. Wesley Smith” from Scholastic (I think we got credits towards purchases based on how much Christmas candy we sold for a fundraiser). One of the cartoons showed Smith and a companion walking out of a theater showing Pirates of Penzance (or possible HMS Pinafore) and saying, “It’s an insult to Her Majesty’s navy. No on will stand for it.” So I don’t think Scholastic was filtering the cartoons for the target age group.
Do you think they filtered for taste?
yeah, and he was busy Presidenting, and in any case, “My American Cousin” was the only play that really caught his fancy.
And yet you accept the fact that Newhart is talking to Lincoln on a telephone?