In June 1925 the humor magazine “Judge” published a crossword puzzle with a clue that referred to playing the saxophone. The answer to the clue was the word “solo”:⁶ One of the captions, written by Ralph Spence, reads: “You don’t have to be crazy to dance the Charleston, but it helps.” In 1983 Douglas Adams and John Lloyd published “The Meaning of Liff”. The authors invented definitions for words such as “snitterfield”:¹⁶

Relaxation at appropriate times is also beneficial, whether at lunchtime or breaks – quiet areas where you can read a paper or catch up on social media or simply enjoy a much needed cup of tea. For the slightly more energetic, table tennis tables, pool tables and the like are often used as a simple and effective distraction. In July 1932 a columnist for a Knoxville, Tennessee newspaper credited Albert Allison with an instance:⁹ You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps,” one Disney employee explained. And that’s the slogan of almost every Hollywood technician. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ It perhaps wasn’t the best time to be on the radical left. As Antrobus explains: “The war had only been over ten years and the BBC was full of bomb-happy ex-Army types who thought they were still in Burma

Ray [Galton] and Alan [Simpson] seemed more steady,” Antrobus says now. “They were wonderful writers who did a great job week after week. But even they would sit in silence for days until they had an idea

In conclusion, “You don’t have to be crazy to X, but it helps” is the template of a snowclone. An instance with X = “believe in Free Trade” was circulating by June 1920. The creator was anonymous. Subsequent variants included “play golf” and “dance the Charleston”. In November 1933 Walt Disney received credit for “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps!” In September 1921 The Omaha Daily Bee of Omaha, Nebraska printed a short article which credited a local person with an instance referring to golf:⁴ The two made an unlikely couple. Antrobus, a right-winger who had just quit Army officer training, and Speight, a straight-talking Stalinist from London’s East End. Humane, hilarious and heart-breaking, You Don’t Have to Be Mad to Work Here is an enlightening and darkly comic window into the world of psychiatry The company roared with laughter when he quoted a motto he had seen over a laboratory In America: “You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it does help.”

Keeping out of trouble

In August 1926 a columnist called Percy the Pest in a Quincy, Massachusetts newspaper employed another instance:⁷ Increasingly staff eat on the go, so kitchens and eating areas are now high on the list. Some companies are now even working with outside suppliers to deliver healthy meals direct to their staff, often subsidised, not just as a perceived perk but also as they begin to realise that properly fuelled staff work better, are healthier and perform better. In March 1948 engineer H. Astbury delivered a speech to the Rotary Club of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England. Astbury described an instance using the word “mad” instead” of “crazy”:¹⁴ It was an inauspicious, and unlikely, birthplace for some of the finest comedies this country has ever produced. Relatively simple changes and upgrades can make all the difference to an employees’ workplace experience and studies show that it creates a more motivated and active staff.

Sep: You don’t have to be a nut to go hunting and fishing, but it helps. (Columnist Hank in Springfield, Illinois newspaper)Now you have this insidious political correctness. Johnny Speight’s work is hardly shown these days, and that’s why this play is dedicated to him Reply from Quote Investigator: This joke has been employed by famous individuals. For example, in 1933 the entertainment entrepreneur Walt Disney received credit for the jest from his secretary: 1 Additional details and citations are available in the article on the Medium platform which is located here.