“I love it when a plan comes together.”

You may or may not be a fan of the Eighties TV series The A-Team, but you probably know the famous catchphrase from the show:

       “I love it when a plan comes together.”

It was used frequently throughout the show’s five-season run from 1983 to 1986 by the team’s cigar-chomping leader, Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith, played by actor George Peppard.

Peppard first uttered the line in the 2-hour pilot episode “Mexican Slayride,” which originally aired on January 23, 1983 as an NBC “Sunday Night Movie.”

The first regular one-hour episode of The A-Team aired the following week, on January 30, 1983, following the Superbowl. After that, the show moved to a Tuesday 8pm time slot.

Other members of Hannibal’s team of good-guy mercenaries included: Templeton “Face” Peck, played by Dirk Benedict throughout the regular series but by Tim Dunigan in the pilot; “Howling Mad” Murdock, played by Dwight Schultz; and, Boscoe “B.A.” (for “Bad Attitude”) Baracus, memorably played by Mr. T.

Naturally, Peppard’s catchphrase in the A-Team TV series was resurrected and used several times in the A-Team movie released in 2010, which starred Liam Neeson as Hannibal Smith.

Some people assume that the A-Team series is also the origin of another well-known catchphrase — Mr. T’s famous line “I pity the fool.” 

In fact, that line was first used by Mr. T in the 1982 movie Rocky III, in which he played Rocky’s boxing opponent “Clubber” Lang.

According to the A-Team experts (i.e., hardcore fans who have watched and rewatched the entire series) Mr. T never said “I pity the fool” in any of the 98 episodes of the show.

I’m willing to take their word for it.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Comments? Corrections? Post them on the Famous Quotations Facebook group.

Related viewing and reading…

How a political backlash turned “a grand old rag” into “a Grand Old Flag”...

On January 19, 1906, American composer, playwright and performer George M. Cohan copyrighted a new song he’d written titled “You’re a Grand Old Rag.”

It was one of the songs Cohan created for his upcoming Broadway musical George Washington, Jr.

The chorus of the song went like this:

      “You’re a grand old rag,
       You’re a high flying flag
       And forever in peace may you wave.
       You’re the emblem of
       The land I love. 
       The home of the free and the brave.
       Ev’ry heart beats true
       Under Red, White and Blue,
       Where there’s never a boast or brag.
       But should auld acquaintance be forgot,
       Keep your eye on the grand old rag.”

On February 6, 1906, “You’re a Grand Old Rag” was recorded as a 78 RPM single by the popular singer Billy Murray.

That same week, the musical premiered at The Herald Square Theater in New York City. Cohan himself was the star and the highlight of the show was his rendition of “You’re a Grand Old Rag” as he marched up and down carrying an American flag.

Although George Washington Jr. and singer Billy Murray’s recording were both big hits, many critics, military veterans and groups complained that “You’re a Grand Old Rag” was disrespectful to the American flag. They said it shouldn’t be referred to as a “rag.”

This political backlash surprised and bothered Cohan.

He explained that patriotism was a main theme of the musical and that he actually got the phrase “grand old rag” from an old Army veteran.

However, he was sensitive to the criticism and ultimately decided to change the song’s name and lyrics, as noted on a page about the song on the Library of Congress website:

The original lyric for this perennial George M. Cohan favorite came, as Cohan later explained, from an encounter he had with a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg. The two men found themselves next to each other and Cohan noticed the vet held a carefully folded but ragged old flag. The man reportedly then turned to Cohan and said, “She’s a grand old rag.” Cohan thought it was a great line and originally named his tune “You’re a Grand Old Rag.” So many groups and individuals objected to calling the flag a “rag,” however, that he “gave ‘em what they wanted” and switched words, renaming the song “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

On June 2, 1906, the song was copyrighted with its new name and the sheet music was reprinted, with “old flag” in place of “old rag” in the lyrics.

“You’re a Grand Old Flag” was hugely popular and became the first song from a musical to sell over a million copies of sheet music.

Ironically, at least one critic felt that Cohan’s George Washington Jr. and the songs in it were too patriotic. Life magazine critic James Metcalf wrote that they exuded “mawkish appeals to the cheapest kind of patriotism.”

Presumably, as Liberace once quipped about negative reviews of his music, Cohan cried all the way to the bank.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Comments? Corrections? Post them on the Famous Quotations Facebook group.

Further reading, listening and viewing…

“The business of America is business” – a famously unfair misquote…

When President Warren G. Harding died from a heart-related problem in 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge became the 30th President of the United States.

The following year, with his popularity buoyed by a strong economy, Coolidge handily won the 1924 presidential election, using the campaign slogan “Keep Cool With Coolidge.”

Unlike some presidents, “Silent Cal” Coolidge wasn’t known for making memorable statements.

The most famous quote associated with him is a line about business being the business of America.

That line is often given as “The business of America is business” or “The business of the American people is business.”

In fact, both of those versions are misquotes.

They aren’t radically different from what he actually said, which was “the chief business of the American people is business.”

However, when this short quote or the misquote versions are cited alone, out of context, they tend to give the unfair and inaccurate impression that Coolidge was a one-dimensional, pro-business cheerleader.

President Coolidge made his famous remark in an address to the Society of American Newspaper Editors on January 17, 1925 in Washington, D.C.

The early part of the speech he gave that day was about the role of the press.

“There does not seem to be cause for alarm in the dual relationship of the press to the public, whereby it is on one side a purveyor of information and opinion and on the other side a purely business enterprise,” he said. “Rather, it is probable that a press which maintains an intimate touch with the business currents of the nation, is likely to be more reliable than it would be if it were a stranger to these influences.”

Coolidge went on to add his famous quote.

“After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of the opinion that the great majority of people will always find these the moving impulses of our life.”

The idea that Americans are concerned about prospering seems pretty reasonable. And, Coolidge made it clear that he didn't mean “greed is good.”

“Of course, the accumulation of wealth cannot be justified as the chief end of existence,” he said. “But we are compelled to recognize it as a means to well-nigh every desirable achievement. So long as wealth is made the means and not the end, we need not greatly fear it...But it calls for additional effort to avoid even the appearance of the evil of selfishness. In every worthy profession, of course, there will always be a minority who will appeal to the baser instinct. There always have been, probably always will be, some who will feel that their own temporary interest may be furthered by betraying the interest of others.”

In light of the recent financial scandals involving the corporate executives of big banks and Wall Street firms and the debate about the 1% vs. the 99%, Coolidge’s comments are still surprising relevant today.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Comments? Corrections? Post them on the Famous Quotations Facebook page.

Related reading…

10 famous quotes and phrases linked to the date January 10

1. and 2. “The die is cast.” and “cross the Rubicon” “The die is cast” was Julius Caesar’s famous remark on January 10, 49 B.C. as he led his troops across the Rubicon River to start a civil war for control of the Roman Empire. This event also led to the idiom “to cross the Rubicon.” Both phrases are now commonly used as way of saying “pass the point of no return.”

3. “Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.”                               Famous line spoken by the character Mortimer in the play Arsenic and Old Lace, which premiered on Broadway on January 10, 1941. (Cary Grant played Mortimer in the in the 1944 movie version.)

4. “Doom and gloom, gloom and doom.” Line said repeatedly by the Og the pessimistic leprechaun in the musical Finian’s Rainbow, which opened on Broadway on January 10, 1947. Though the words “doom and gloom” may have been used together previously, it was their use in this hit play that popularized them as a modern phrase.

5. “45 RPM” The term for the record format introduced by RCA on January 10, 1949. This soon became the standard format used for vinyl “singles” for several decades. (RPM stands for “revolutions per minute.”)

6. “Well since my baby left me,        I found a new place to dwell.       It’s down at the end of lonely street       At Heartbreak Hotel.” Lyrics from the song “Heartbreak Hotel,” recorded by Elvis Presley on January 10, 1956, in his first great recording session for RCA. It became his first No. 1 single and his first million selling record (a 45 RPM).

7. “That Was the Week That Was.” Title of the satirical Sixties TV show that first aired in America on January 10, 1964 and popularized the idiom “that was the [week/month/year/etc.] that was” in the U.S. The show was based on the earlier BBC version that began airing in the UK in 1962.

8. “Uh, Breaker One-Nine, this here’s the Rubber Duck...       Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy.” Spoken words from the single record “Convoy,” by C.W. McCall, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on January 10, 1976. The recording helped popularize a number of CB (“Citizens’ Band”) radio slang phrases, including “breaker 1-9,” the CB slang phrase that a truck driver used used to tell other CB users he was ready to start talking.

9. “Excedrin headache” Phrase created for Excedrin ads and registered as a trademark by Bristol-Myers Company on January 10, 1978. In the ads, various headaches caused by different things were given numbers, such as “Excedrin headache number 24.”

10. “We’ll leave the light on for you.” Advertising slogan for Motel 6, originally ad-libbed by spokesman Tom Bodett in his first recording session for the company in 1986. It was later registered as a trademark by Motel 6 on January 10, 1989.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Comments? Corrections? Post them on the Famous Quotations Facebook page.

Book recommendations for “this day in history” buffs…