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Who really said it

I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception

Attributed to Groucho Marx Groucho Marx 1890–1977 · American comedian, actor and game-show host
Attributed In copyright

Quote Investigator ↗ concludes Groucho coined this joke and popularised it: citations point to him from November 1936 onward and no rival claimant is strong. What it does not find is a fixed wording — the early versions all run “I’m going to make an exception in your case.” The phrasing quoted here appears later, and Wikiquote ↗ traces it to Leo Rosten’s The Many Worlds of Leo Rosten (1964).

Last verified 17 Aug 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

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Unconfirmed quote & credit

“I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception” Groucho Marx (attributed) — the joke is his, but there was no fixed wording; this phrasing is documented in Leo Rosten’s The Many Worlds of Leo Rosten (1964). Via quotle.info

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by The estate of Groucho Marx; the 1964 printing is Leo Rosten’s, published by Harper & Row). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Groucho Marx — American comedian, actor & game-show host. Theme: "I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Earliest documented form
December 1935 · known from a 1962 reprint
First credited to Groucho
18 November 1936 · Sidney Skolsky’s syndicated column
This exact wording
The Many Worlds of Leo Rosten
Published
1964 · Harper & Row · page 17

Groucho Marx, on meeting a prominent actress, said: “I never forget a face – but I’m going to make an exception in your case.”

The earliest citation naming Groucho, from Sidney Skolsky’s column of 18 November 1936, as transcribed by Quote Investigator ↗. Note the wording differs from the version people quote today.

Quote Investigator on “I never forget a face”

How we verified this

  • Quote Investigator ↗ dates the earliest match to a December 1935 piece by the screenwriter George Oppenheimer, who gave the punchline to a Groucho-like character rather than to Groucho. QI is careful about that citation and so are we: it verified the article in a 1962 reprint, Hello, Hollywood, and states it “has not yet directly verified the presence of this article in ‘The Hollywood Reporter’”. The first citation naming Groucho himself is Sidney Skolsky’s column of 18 November 1936.
  • QI’s conclusion is explicit, and so is its caveat: it believes “Groucho Marx coined this joke and popularized it”, that there was “no strong rival”, and that “there was no fixed phrasing for the quotation, but the core joke was invariant.”
  • None of QI’s early citations — 1935, 1936, two in February 1937, Reader’s Digest in May 1941, Bennett Cerf in 1944, Life in 1949 — match the wording on this page. The closest is a May 1941 Hollywood Reporter column that put “in your case I’m glad to make an exception” in the mouth of John Barrymore, not Groucho.
  • For the exact wording quoted here, Wikiquote ↗ cites Leo Rosten’s The Many Worlds of Leo Rosten (1964). We checked that reference: Google Books ↗ matches the phrase to page 17 of that volume. The book is in snippet view, so we confirmed the match but could not read the surrounding page.
In copyright

Every documented appearance of this joke — from the 1935 Hollywood Reporter piece through Rosten’s 1964 collection — postdates 1931, the cutoff for the United States public domain. None of it is public domain.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

What people get wrong

The credit here is broadly right, which makes this a subtler case than most on this site. Groucho really is the likeliest author. What is wrong is the confidence: this is quoted as a fixed, documented Groucho line, and it is not one.

Groucho Marx Probably genuine

Quote Investigator ↗ believes Groucho coined and popularised the joke, and found no strong rival claimant. He appears to have used it repeatedly, including on his radio show.

This exact phrasing Later variant

QI states there was “no fixed phrasing”. Its 1935–1949 citations consistently read “I’m going to make an exception in your case”; the version quoted here is documented later, in Leo Rosten’s 1964 collection per Wikiquote ↗.

John Barrymore and Alan Gale Also credited

A May 1941 Hollywood Reporter column gave the line to Barrymore squelching a drunk at a party, and Joey Adams’s From Gags to Riches (1946) credited the comedian Alan Gale. QI records both and still favours Groucho.

George Oppenheimer, December 1935 Context

The first known appearance is fiction: a screenwriter’s magazine piece in which a Groucho-like character delivers the punchline and credits a Marx Brothers film. QI has not found the line in that film’s script.

Almost certainly Groucho’s joke — but not a fixed quotation. Quote Investigator ↗ puts it exactly: there was no fixed phrasing, but the core joke was invariant.

Context

Why it mattered

This is the Groucho insult in its purest form: a compliment for four words, then the trapdoor. The structure matters more than the wording, which is precisely why the wording never settled — it was a stage weapon, redrawn each time it was used.

That makes it a useful test case. A joke that lives in performance leaves a messy paper trail: columnists paraphrase, digests tidy, anthologies smooth. Asking “what were the exact words?” assumes a fixed original that a working comedian never had.

A compliment for four words, then the trapdoor.

Read the full story

The trail runs through the gossip columns and humour digests of the 1930s and 1940s — Skolsky in 1936, The Literary Digest and the Los Angeles Times in February 1937, Reader’s Digest in May 1941, Bennett Cerf in The Saturday Review in 1944, and Life in 1949 describing Groucho reprising his old zingers on You Bet Your Life.

Each retelling nudges the phrasing. “I’m going to make an exception” becomes “I’ll make an exception”, then “I’m willing to”, then “I’ll be glad to”. No single version is the counterfeit; the joke simply had no canonical text to depart from.

The competing credits fit the same pattern. A good line at a party gets re-pinned to whoever the teller finds funniest, which is how Barrymore acquired it in 1941 and Alan Gale in 1946.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Character Truth Wisdom

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

I Never Forget a Face, But I’ll Make an Exception in Your CaseQuote Investigator

The full chronology from 1935 to 1949, the rival credits to Barrymore and Alan Gale, and QI’s conclusion that Groucho coined it.
Groucho MarxWikiquote

Sourced Groucho quotations; cites Leo Rosten’s 1964 collection for this exact wording.
The Many Worlds of Leo Rosten (1964), page 17Google Books

Snippet-view search confirming the exact phrase appears on page 17 of Rosten’s collection.
Groucho MarxWikipedia

Biography of the comedian: vaudeville, Broadway, film, radio and television.

The author

About Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx

1890–1977 · American comedian, actor & game-show host

Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx was an American comedian, actor, comic vocalist and game-show host who worked in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in film, radio and television. A master of the one-line retort, he is considered one of America’s greatest comedians — and, inevitably, one of its most quoted, which is why lines he never said keep arriving under his name.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

The best-available source (Chicago)

Rosten, Leo. The Many Worlds of Leo Rosten. New York: Harper & Row, 1964, 17. Earliest citation naming Groucho: Sidney Skolsky, “Hollywood,” Daily News (New York), 18 November 1936, 62.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception’?” Last verified 17 Aug 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/i-never-forget-a-face-but-in-your-case-ill-be-glad-to-make/

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