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Who really said it

I've Had a Perfectly Wonderful Evening, But This Wasn't It

Not Groucho Marx — a 1935 gag he denied making Unknown Anonymous · in print by June 1935
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

The earliest known appearance is a newspaper serialization of the MGM film No More Ladies, printed 20 June 1935, in which a departing guest says ‘I had a lovely evening but this wasn’t it’ — with no author named. Groucho was not connected to the line until March 1941, when Reader’s Digest ran it on a contribution from Eddie Cantor, and in 1962 Groucho wrote in print that he never made the remark in real life.

Last verified 2 Sep 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“I've Had a Perfectly Wonderful Evening, But This Wasn't It” Not Groucho Marx. An anonymous gag, in print by 20 June 1935 in a newspaper serialization of the film "No More Ladies": "I had a lovely evening but this wasn’t it." Groucho denied making the remark in 1962.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Groucho Marx. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

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In context

Evoking the themes of truth and character. Theme: "I've Had a Perfectly Wonderful Evening, But This Wasn't It". 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've Had a Perfectly Wonderful Evening, But This Wasn't It". 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 known appearance
No More Ladies, chapter one: ‘A Date with Sherry’
Printed
The Bedford Times-Press (Bedford, Iowa), 20 June 1935, quote page 7
First Groucho credit
Reader’s Digest, March 1941 — contributed by Eddie Cantor
Groucho’s denial
This Week Magazine, 11 March 1962

She dropped a kiss on Fanny’s forehead. “Good night sweet. If you see Sherry tell him I had a lovely evening but this wasn’t it.” No More Ladies serialization, 20 June 1935

The line is spoken by a character in a newspaper serialization of the film, adapted by Beatrice Faber from A. E. Thomas’s stage play. Quote Investigator notes that Rachel Crothers, Edith Fitzgerald and George Oppenheimer all worked on the screenplay, that any of them might have contributed the quip, and that it does not know whether the line was in the original play — so the author is genuinely unidentified rather than merely unrecorded.

Quote Investigator — the 1935 to 1962 chain

How we verified this

  • The earliest instance Quote Investigator has located is the 20 June 1935 serialization of No More Ladies in an Iowa newspaper, where the line is spoken by a character and credited to nobody the full citation chain ↗.
  • Through the later 1930s the gag circulated under other names entirely: the Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky credited the comedian Hugh Herbert in October 1936, an unnamed young man was given it in November 1936, and in 1940 Skolsky printed it again — this time crediting the actor Walter Catlett Skolsky’s two versions ↗.
  • The first attribution to Groucho is Reader’s Digest, March 1941, carrying a footnote that credits the performer Eddie Cantor as the contributor — six years after the line was already in print the 1941 citation ↗.
  • Groucho disclaimed it himself in a 1962 newspaper-supplement piece: ‘Cross my heart, I never made that mean remark in real life.’ Quote Investigator accepts the denial, while noting it leaves open the possibility he used the quip in a routine — for which no direct evidence has been found Groucho’s own denial ↗.

We assert no rights status here, because the gag has no identified author. Its earliest known printing is an anonymous 1935 newspaper serialization, and the wording that circulates under Groucho’s name is a later variant, closer to the Reader’s Digest form of 1941 than to that 1935 text — though it matches neither exactly. With no attributable source work we cannot responsibly call it public domain. This is not legal advice.

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

The attribution problem

A rare case where the man himself filed a denial. The line was already six years old and had been credited to at least three other people before Groucho’s name landed on it.

Denied it in print refuted by the speaker

Writing in This Week Magazine in March 1962, Groucho disclaimed the quip under a section headed ‘Groucho didn’t say it’: ‘Cross my heart, I never made that mean remark in real life.’ his 1962 piece ↗

Credited by Sidney Skolsky, October 1936 earlier rival credit

The Hollywood columnist gave the line to Herbert leaving a party — five years before Groucho was named. Skolsky then reassigned it himself the 1936 column ↗

Credited by the same columnist in 1940 a second rival credit

In Cosmopolitan, Skolsky called it ‘the best line ever pulled at a Hollywood party’ and attributed it to Catlett. One columnist, two different names, four years apart the 1940 citation ↗

The earliest known printing origin, author unresolved

The line appears in a character’s dialogue in the serialized No More Ladies. Quote Investigator names five people who could have written it and declines to choose the earliest citation ↗

An anonymous 1935 gag that acquired Groucho’s name in 1941, and which Groucho himself publicly disowned in 1962 the evidence ↗.

Context

Why it stuck to him

The joke is a paraprosdokian — a sentence that sets up one expectation and demolishes it in the last three words. That structure was Groucho’s signature, so the line sounds like him even to people who have never seen a Marx Brothers film.

What makes the case unusual is the paper trail running the other way. Most misattributions are never contested by their supposed authors; this one was, by a man who had spent decades being credited with other people’s cracks and had evidently had enough.

Cross my heart, I never made that mean remark in real life.

Read the full story

The chain is unusually well documented for a joke. It surfaces in a 1935 newspaper serialization of a film, gets handed to a comedian in 1936 and to an actor in 1940 by the same columnist, and only reaches Groucho in 1941 — via Reader’s Digest, sourced to Eddie Cantor rather than to Groucho himself.

Quote Investigator’s conclusion is careful: Groucho may well have used the line in a routine, and no evidence has been found either way. What the record does not support is the anecdote everybody tells — Groucho delivering the insult to a real hostess on a real evening.

Explore

Filed under

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

Truth Character

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've Had a Perfectly Wonderful Evening, But This Wasn't Itquoteinvestigator.com

The complete citation chain, from the June 1935 serialization through Skolsky’s two rival credits to Groucho’s 1962 denial.
Groucho Marx on Wikiquoteen.wikiquote.org

Wikiquote’s sourced and misattributed lists for Groucho. This quip appears in neither, which is itself worth knowing.
Groucho Marxen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the comedian the line is usually pinned on.
No More Ladies (1935 film)en.wikipedia.org

The MGM film whose newspaper serialization carries the earliest known instance.
Hugh Herberten.wikipedia.org

The comedian Sidney Skolsky credited with the line in October 1936.
Walter Catletten.wikipedia.org

The actor Skolsky credited with the same line in 1940.

Popularly credited author

Why it gets pinned on Groucho

Groucho Marx

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

Groucho Marx was the great master of the one-line retort, which makes him a natural home for any orphaned put-down — and this one fits his register so exactly that the credit has never needed evidence. He is unusual among quote magnets in having answered the charge directly: in a 1962 magazine piece he disclaimed this one outright, under a section headed ‘Groucho didn’t say it’.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Anonymous, in print by June 1935

Anonymous. “No More Ladies” (serialization of the MGM film, from the stage play by A. E. Thomas, adapted by Beatrice Faber), chapter one. The Bedford Times-Press (Bedford, Iowa), 20 June 1935, quote page 7. First attributed to Groucho Marx in Reader’s Digest, March 1941; denied by Marx in This Week Magazine, 11 March 1962. Citations per Quote Investigator.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘I’ve Had a Perfectly Wonderful Evening, But This Wasn’t It’?” Last verified 2 Sep 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/ive-had-a-perfectly-wonderful-evening-but-this-wasnt-it/

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