[cue maniacal laughter] Or its variants. So far, the oldest I’ve seen is an episode of the Richard Pryor’s short-lived 1977 series. It’s a “Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde” sketch, and the line goes something like this:
They laughed at me in Vienna, but I’ll show them all
I think the attitude goes back quite a way, but maybe not so much the actual phrase. Anyone with any other early (pre-1990) citations?
I have no idea, but, apropos of nothing, here are the lyrics to the “Trans Poly U Fight Song,” by Tom Smith.
I’m sure the meme older than this, but Bela Lugosi’s speech from “Bride of the Monster” (1955):
"My dear professor Strowsky, twenty years ago, I was banned from my home land, parted from my wife and son, never to see them again. Why? Because I suggested to use the atom elements, for producing super beings, beings of unthinkable strength and size. I was classed as a madman, a charlatan, outlawed in a world of science which previously honored me as a genius. Now here in this forsaken jungle Hell I have proven that I am all right. No, Professor Strowski, it is no laughing matter. "
followed by
“Home? I have no home. Hunted, despised, Living like an animal! The jungle is my home. But I will show the world that I can be its master! I will perfect my own race of people! A race of atomic supermen which will conquer the world!” (slow menacing laughter).
I don’t have the exact quote handy, and maybe it’s not close enough to what you want, but in 1938, when the Red Sox sent Ted Williams to the minor leagues, he had some words for the regular outfielders who had ridden him mercilessly. He said something like, “I’ll be back, and I’ll make more money than all of them.”
From Star Trek TOS, Errand of Mercy, 1967:
Kor: "Bad enough to be a military governor, but to govern a planet of sheep! Very well, round up 200 more… The fools! Will I have to kill them all? "
I don’t know. Given that Ed Wood was the writer, that actually sounds like Wood himself telling the world that his movies are destined for greatness. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if this was the origin.
I can’t see video at work, but I’m pretty sure the mad scientist in the first Superman cartoon (1941) uttered this very phrase. Google tells me it’s in videos.google.com and on youtube.
The plot of The Mad Monster (1942) involves a mad scientist getting his revenge on the colleagues that laughed at him. I can’t recall whether or not he uttered those exact words, though.
“Laugh if you must, but remember, they laughed at Einstein. They Laughed at Newton. Tey laughed at the Three Stooges!!”
It was apparently old enough by 1956 to be the subject of parody, as the Old Philosopher told us in that year that, “You’ll show the world! You’ll show 'em where to get off!”
I was going to say “Colin Clive in the 1931 Frankenstein, of course”. I have now watched over half of it. I was sure he said it leading up to the Monster’s creation. Nope. Not at all.
I believe I read this a while back in the Old Testament in the books of David (maybe someone else). David wanders around and talks to God directly, and God makes him do all kinds of strange shit and I believe on several occasions, David says something similar like, “They laughed at me when I told them God was on my side…this will show them!”
Pretty dog-gone close: "Beware–you fools! . . . . Total destruction will come to those who laughed at me and failed to heed my warnings. . . . "
They all laugh at angry young men
They all laughed at Edison
And also at Einstein
So why should I feel sorry
If they just couldn’t understand
The idiomatic logic
That went on in my head
I couldn’t exactly quote them, but I’m pretty sure it was a stock piece for all the TV writers of the 60’s and 70’s. Gilligan’s Island, Scooby Doo, and the Brady Bunch all had Old man shakin’ his fist or quiet determination variations of “Meddlin’ fools- I’ll show them all.” with varying outcomes.
I distinctly recall a Far Side toon where a convention of mad scientists is presenting a lifetime achievement award to the one who made the first recorded use of, “Fools! I’ll destroy them all!”
On the stage and off: The brief career of a would-be actor
Jerome K. Jerome 1891
Can anyone do better?
I thought it was in the bible. Doesn’t king Herod say something similar while murdering first born sons under the age of two in his hunt for the baby Jesus?