Goodman Aiskowitz, Goodman Ace
15 January 1899 - 25 March 1982
Birthplace: Kansas City, Missouri
American humorist, writer and columnist; starred "Easy Aces" radio show with wife & writing partner Jane Ace
“TV – a clever contraction, derived from the words Terrible Vaudeville….We call it a medium, because nothing’s well done.”
~Goodman Ace, American humorist
Letter to Groucho Marx (1953) in The Groucho Letters: Letters from and to Groucho Marx, 1965, New York: Simon & Schuster, 14 August 2007 edition, p. 114
Requote note:
A number of sources have quoted an abbreviated version of Ace’s words without using ellipsis to note missing text:
Paraphrase: “TV – a clever contraction derived from the words Terrible Vaudeville. We call it a medium, because nothing’s well done.”
Original line: “…TV – a clever contraction derived from the words Terrible Vaudeville. However, it is our latest medium – we call it a medium, because nothing’s well done.”
Extended excerpt [Goodman Ace, responding to a Groucho Marx letter dated 17 July 1953. Ace’s letter is not dated, but it appears in the cited text before the next Marx response on 16 October 1953.]:
“I would have answered your letter of a year or so ago, much sooner, had it not been that Jane and I got mixed up with a television show – or as we call it back east here, TV – a clever contraction derived from the words Terrible Vaudeville. However, it is our latest medium – we call it a medium, because nothing’s well done.” (p. 114)
Source: Library – The Groucho Letters: Letters From and to Groucho Marx (1965|August 2007 Simon & Schuster edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 1-4165-3603-5
Learn more about Ace Goodman | Here are a few good places to start:
