Just thought I’d chime in, my first thought was Hitchhikers Guide. So count me in with the crowd that thinks its from HG2TG, or at least a Douglas Adams book.
My first thought was that the line was from the movie Real Genius, with Val Kilmer.
My second thought is the book Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, but I have no idea WHY that one popped into my head.
It’s definitely not Real Genius, although it seemed likely as soon as you mentioned it. I’m betting on HG2TG.
I searched through the ultimate hitchhiker’s guide on amazon and it wasn’t in there. Apparently it was on the DVD (for the BBC show?)
I searched through the two dirk gently books and it’s not in there either. It’s possibly in another edition of the guide books that isn’t searchable. Many seem to attribute the quote to Slartibartfast.
What intrigues me more is whatit is.
Not in a movie… But this quote appeared in Desmong Bagley’s book “Running Blind”. Abt some gadgetary which american leaks to russians so ruskies would spend all their brain power on figuring it out. 
I’ve read the HG2TG series. It’s NOT in it. My books are fairly old, but a few other people have gone and read recent ones since the idea was proposed on the other boards. The verdict? Nada.
As for the DVD of the british series… Is it only that one person who says it? Has anyone else confirmed it? Can this be bought? Are scripts available online? I read that theory a while ago but it’s yet to be confirmed by an independent source.
It’s not Seinfeld either. There are a LOT of people saying “I KNOW IT WAS IN <THIS>,” but reviewing scripts or watching the movies/shows haven’t yielded any trace of it. Same thing for Hudsucker Proxy.
And sorry if I put it in the wrong place. I just saw “General Questions” and thought “Hey! I wonder if these folk happen to know.”
I think this question is one that could have gone in either General Questions or Cafe Society.
Time to give the CS people a headache.
Moved from GQ to CS.
samclem GQ moderator
I just searched through a pdf containing:
HHGTTG
Restaurant at the end of the universe
Life, the Universe and Everything
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Young Zaphod Plays it Safe
Mostly Harmless
searching for the word ‘beauty’ and the quote doesn’t appear.
I would also add that the blogger that CandidGamera linked to has two sources that also saw the “Hitchhiker” DVD and said “No!”
Nope, watched it yesterday. The search continues.
When I read the quote, I heard it in Ford Prefect’s voice from the BBC radio version of Hitchikers. My feeling is that Ford probably says some very similar lines, but that in general the quote is familiar because variations on it have appeared in different English-accented comedies (Red Dwarf, etc.) The line has a very strong English-accent correlation to me.
I’m playing my mp3s of the BBC Hitchikers now…I’ll see if I hear something close to the line.
I’m hearing it in Frank Nelson’s voice. (Nelson was the character actor best known for his appearances as the annoying “*Yeeeeeesssss?” man on Jack Benny & Sanford & Son).
I also hear it being said by Gomez Addams (the Astin incarnation) and by a pretentious artist on an episode of I Dream of Jeannie. Weird.
This is one of those “Order 66” things- it’s going to trigger something in all of us one day.
I first thought of The Hudsucker Proxy , so when someone else mentioned it, I knew I had to second. Tim Robbins surely doesn’t say it, but maybe someone else says it in relation to the invention.
I don’t know. Someone, watch this movie and tell us all!
I don’t think it was in the HHGTTG because I never read it, and I know I’ve heard it spoken some place. Or read it. But not there. It feels a little like Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. Anyone else feel that?
When I first ran across this debate on the IMDB a couple of months ago, I too thought it very familiar but couldn’t place it. I do remember at the time that I had heard these lines sometime in the previous couple of months. It wasn’t in a theatre and I wasn’t reading any Hitchhiker books. It had to have been something I heard on TV at the beginning of the year.
I remember at the time that I heard it, that the speakers were refering to an object they were both looking at. Whatever the object was, it had an obvious use to it, but they were not refering to what you would expect to use the object for. The important thing about the object was simply that it existed at all. That the object existed and was “there” would influence what important event was supposed to happen, not actually using the object itself. I remember thinking at the time, “That’s a pretty cool twist.”
Dang if I can remember what I was watching at the time :wally
Was it from the movie adaptation of Michael Crichton’s Sphere? I am picturing Dustin Hoffman delivering his patented acting move “incredulous, agitated, sly smiled, ain’t it obvious exclamation (version B)” with the answer-- “That’s the beauty of it… it doesn’t do anything.”
It’s mentioned as having been refuted in the blog on the first page of this thread.
OK I swear, it’s gotta be just some weird meme thing because every time someone says they hear it in a certain voice, or in a certain situation, I think to myself… “Yeah! That’s right!”
And I gave up searching through my h2g2 books after seeing the earlier post that said it isn’t there.
Of course I’m also associating it with hearing David Sedaris read his Christmas piece Six to Eight Black Men- when told that Santa Claus/St. Nicholas used to be the Bishop of Turkey he responds “Santa didn’t used to be anything…” with a similar cadence.