[A humble request: If you can, please donate to help me carry on tracing word histories. Thank you.]
Of American-English origin, the phrase Charlie Potatoes is chiefly used to designate a rich and important person, usually a man.
However, this phrase has also been used to (apparently) designate an ordinary person (cf., below, quotation 1.3), and even a ‘down-and-out’ person (cf., below, quotation 1.4).
In the phrase Charlie Potatoes:
– Charlie (a familiar variant of the forename Charles) is used as a generic term for a person, usually a man;
– the plural noun potatoes is perhaps slang for money, dollars (this slang use is first recorded in a text published in 1931).
It has been said that the phrase Charlie Potatoes is a variant of Charlie Big Potatoes, of same meaning.
But, in fact, the phrase Charlie Big Potatoes postdates Charlie Potatoes and is of British-English origin—cf., below, quotations 2.1 and 2.2.
1-: EARLY OCCURRENCES OF THE PHRASE CHARLIE POTATOES:
These are, in chronological order, the earliest occurrences of the American-English phrase Charlie Potatoes that I have found:
1.1-: From the script of The Defiant Ones (1958), a U.S. drama film directed by Stanley Kramer (1913-2001), starring Tony Curtis (Bernard Schwartz – 1925-2010) and Sidney Poitier (1927-2022)—script by Nathan E. Douglas (Nedrick Young – 1914-1968) and Harold Jacob Smith (1912-1970), as published in Film Scripts Two: High Noon, Twelve Angry Men, The Defiant Ones (New York: Irvington Publishers, Inc., 1989), edited by George P. Garrett, O.B. Hardison, Jr., and Jane R. Gelfman:
—The phrase Charlie Potatoes occurs on several occasions in this script, for example in the following two passages:
1.1.1-: [page 356]:
JACKSON
(totally self-preoccupied as he stares at the rock)
Ten miles… ten miles off dead street… I been walking down dead street seven long years… and I turned the corner ten miles back!
An almost frenzied burst of energy seizes him. He pulls the chain taut across the boulder… using it as an anvil. He gives the rock a final heft.
JACKSON
No more dead street shoes!
The rock crashes down on the chain.
JACKSON
(hefting rock)
No more dead street!
(the excitement mounts in him)
I’m gonna buy me a pair of white buck shoes!
The rock crashes down.
JACKSON (cont’d.)
A new white suit and a striped silk shirt! I’m going to be Charlie Potatoes… Charlie Potatoes, coming down the street…
The rock crashes down…
JACKSON (cont’d.)
With a panama hat and a good-looking gal…
1.1.2-: [page 486]:
The sound of the dogs grows louder.
JACKSON
Cullen…
CULLEN
Yeah…
JACKSON
(weakly)
Remember that song you were singing in the truck?
CULLEN
Yeah…
JACKSON
That sure seems a long time ago.
(laughs weakly)
Charlie Potatoes. I’m mashed potatoes now.
1.2-: From My 21 Years in the White House (New York: Coward–McCann, Inc., [1961]), by Alonzo Fields (1900-1994), a U.S. butler who served at the White House for twenty-one years under Presidents Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower [chapter 19: Farewell to the White House, page 184]:
—Here, the motivation for applying the nickname Charlie Potatoes first to Charlie Pertastumas, then to President Roosevelt, is unclear:
We had code names for the Presidents so that, for security or any other reasons, listeners would not know whom we might be talking about.
President Hoover, because he seldom smiled, we called, “Smiley.” President Roosevelt I gave the name of “Charlie Potatoes.” Out in Indianapolis there was a corner Greek grocer whose name was Charlie Pertastumas. He was a real diplomat. When people were displeased he could always sell them something else and leave them feeling that he was doing them a favor. I had an uncle who couldn’t or wouldn’t call him anything but “Charlie Potatoes.” Hence we got a lot of fun out of talking about Charlie Potatoes.
1.3-: From Many Don’t Try: Even Eager Find Job Wall Hard to Scale, about unemployment among the African Americans living in Atlanta, by The Atlanta Journal Staff, published in The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) of Sunday 19th May 1968 [page 1, column 3]:
—Here, the phrase Charley Potatoes seems to designate an ordinary person:
The American Dream.
The idea that any Charley Potatoes can make it if he tries.
Frankly, many Atlanta Negroes simply do not believe it.
1.4-: From Getting Back To Normal, by Barry McDermott, published in The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) of Friday 27th September 1968 [page 47, column 1]:
—Here, the first sentence seems to indicate that the phrase Charlie Potatoes designates a ‘down-and-out’ person:
Beaver Dam, Wisc.—He looked like somebody you’d dub Charlie Potatoes, standing there unshaven with his dirty white buck shoes in the Chicago O’Hare Airport. He had found a couple of friends. “I don’t need any help,” he slurred.
Jerry Lucas and Connie Dierking looked at each other.
“The hell I don’t,” said Charlie, changing his mind. He was definitely a fire hazard with all those alcohol fumes surrounding him.
“What are you guys, football players?” he said to Luke and Connie.
Then about five policemen appeared. “We have a complaint that someone is giving away $10 bills,” said one officer in a beautiful statement.
“I’ll give away $100 bills if I want to,” said Charlie pulling out a wad of money. “Put me on a plane for California.”
“I must have picked up $100 off the floor and put it back in his pockets for him,” said Luke.
1.5-: From an advertisement for Cochran Oldsmobile Cadillac, published in the Rapid City Journal (Rapid City, South Dakota, USA) of Friday 3rd October 1969 [page 21, column 5]:
You’ll be Charley Potatoes when you drive away in this ’68 Olds 98 Town Sedan with power steering and brakes, air conditioning and tilt steering wheel. Only… $3395
1.6-: From the following advertisement, published in the Peoria Journal Star (Peoria, Illinois, USA) of Thursday 11th December 1969 [page A-2, column 1]:
—Here, the meaning of the phrase Charlie Potatoes is unclear:
IT’S THE “CHARLIE POTATOES”
The tank top look sweater in pure wool… perfect over his body shirts with flair pants.
In red, navy or white.
Sizes s-m-l. 12.00.
ACTION CITY
Downtown Sheridan Village (on the balcony)
1.7-: From the New Pittsburgh Courier (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA) of Saturday 2nd October 1971 [page 35, column 1]:
NO ONE CAN AFFORD NOT TO FLY
by Mark HammondJust the other day I told my Main Man I was planning a flight to somewhere peaceful. To give my head a complete rest from the hustle and bustle of city life.
“Well, excuse me, Charlie Potatoes,” he replied. “Just where do you get that kind of money to take trips—to unwind?”
“I’m gonna get a bank vacation loan,” I answered. “Haven’t you heard? All work and no play isn’t good for your health. A vacation’s an investment in good health.”
2-: EARLY OCCURRENCES OF THE PHRASE CHARLIE BIG POTATOES:
These are, in chronological order, the earliest occurrences of the British-English phrase Charlie Big Potatoes that I have found:
2.1-: From It’s Adi-saster! Give spoiled kids the boot, about kids’ football, by Bill Leckie, published in the Daily Record (Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland) of Friday 10th February 1995 [page 59, column 1]:
Some Charlie Big Potatoes had trendy footwear like the ultra-fashionable-for-a-few-minutes George Best Stylo Matchmakers, which were so pointy you looked like an extra out of Blackadder The First.
But us mortals made do with Winfield Specials—£2.99 out of Woolies, black with three white stripes and a dead ringer for Adidas Penarol if you stood far enough back and screwed your eyes up.
2.2-: From Kid on you’re an Aberdeen player and hope that it snows till May, about what to do when a football game is off due to weather conditions, by Keith Jackson, published in the Daily Record (Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland) of Monday 6th March 1995 [The Winner section, page 9, column 2]:
Here’s 20 things I came up with for the next time you want to spend wintery Saturday afternoon as one of football’s Charlie Big Potatoes.
word histories 