Burlington Liars' Club

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The Burlington Liars' Club is an American organization that awards the title "World Champion Liar" annually. The club, located in Burlington, Wisconsin, has been bestowing the award since 1929. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

History

The organization grew out of informal social gatherings of the local police and fire departments, where various tales (of varying degrees of credibility) were frequently swapped. During a slow news period around Christmas of 1929, two local freelance reporters made up a story about the social group being a "Liar's Club," and handing out a medal for the year's best lie, and sent the story out for publication. [1]

Freelance reporter Mannel Hahn (sometimes misspelled "Manuel" Hahn) fabricated the news story about a lying contest between the Burlington police and fire departments, and sent it to the Milwaukee Journal and Chicago Daily News —and friendly rival local writer Otis "Otey" Hulett repeated it to the Racine, Wisconsin newspaper. All three newspapers published the story January 2, 1930. [1] [3]

The reported "winner" was the a local sea captain who claimed, with detailed explanation, to have seen a three-mile-long whale. [1] [4] A "runner-up" (not immediately reported by Hulett) was the local police chief, who denied he could (or had) ever tell (or told) a lie (some accounts name him as that year's winner). [1] [2] [3] The story was so popular with the newspapers, that they demanded to know the "annual" winner the following year, as well as the identity of club officers. Though Hahn had since moved to Chicago, Huelett embraced the idea, and named Hahn as president, himself as vice president, and "Pink" Schenning (a former regular at the tale-swappings, who had once suggested a medal for the best lie) as secretary-treasurer. [1] [3]

Subsequently, the group's "annual award" became an object of widespread media and public interest, and the organization became more formal and consistent in its efforts, and broadened its geographic scope. By 1933, the organization claimed to have sorted through 1,500 entries in the "contest" for biggest lie in America, to select the winner. [1] [5] By the 60th year, the contest had become "international." [6] [3]

In 1980, the club was abandoned, but revived in 1981, and during the 1980s repeatedly received over 300 submissions a year. [2] [7]

Winners, participants and judges

Initially, Hahn and Hulett "judged" the contest, (and the next year apparently Hulett judged). Hahn indicated that judges should be "newspapermen and lawyers" who are "experts" at recognizing or ferreting out lies. [1] [4]

Just before the second years' award announcement, the Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wisconsin) reported that the award was only given to Burlington locals, over the age of 70, who had "related three fantastic stories" during "ordinary conversation" over the preceding year in front of "one or more judge." [4] However, by 1933, contestants' entries were being accepted from throughout the United States, and winners were selected from other states. [5] Since the contest began accepting foreign entrants, by its 60th year, it has received entries from Canada and Europe. [3] [6]

Winners have ranged across a wide spectrum of society. Many women have participated, and by 1940 one had won. [1] Winners have been as young as a 12-year-old (who won the 60th contest by claiming "her sister" was "so thin" she used a Cheerio as a Hula-Hoop). [6]

Though the organization has a policy of not allowing politicians, or other "professional liars," to be considered, [2] [8] some notable figures have been awarded either an annual "Professional Class Liar" award (as Nazi propaganda leader Paul Goebbels), [9] or a "lifetime membership" in the club (as with mischievous aviator Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan). [10] [11]

In 1933/1934, Bruno Ceresa won the award with the claim that his grandfather's clock was so old that its pendulum's shadow had worn a hole in the back of the clock). [1] [12] In 1940, founder Hahn credited it as the best lie so far, [1] and it was later judged (in 1954) as the best lie of the first quarter-century of the organization. [1]

"Membership" in the club is variously described as being open to all, for a fee of one dollar, [2] or a dollar and a lie. [2] In 2009, it was reported that the dollar fee granted a lifetime membership in the Club, and entitled the holder to submit an unlimited quantity of lies each year. [3] Membership, by then, had grown to over 2,000 globally, according to an officer of the club. [3]

However, by 2020, only an estimated 75 entries were received in the annual contest—won by the contest's first-ever three-time winner, Daryl Lockwood, of Waupaca, Wisconsin. [13]

Controversy

December 30, 2010, the Associated Press reported that the winning entry in the contest was not original, but had been previously said by comedian Steven Wright. The AP also reported that two of the "runner-up" lies were not original. The winning contestant insisted he came up with the story on his own, however. Club officials dismissed the matter, allowing the winners to retain their titles. [14] [15]

Cultural impact

The term "Liars' Club" (or, variously, "Liar's Club", "Liars Club,") has become an element of global lexicon, as it is commonly referred to, fictionally, as a way of disparaging the honesty of groups [16] [17] [18] or individual people (alleging membership in the "Liars' Club," [19] [20] —or a "local chapter" thereof, even where none exist). [21] [22]

Following the national (and later international) notoriety of the Burlington Liars' Club, various other groups, formal or informal, calling themselves a "Liars' Club," (or variations of the name) have arisen in the U.S. [23] [24] and abroad. [25]

One such group became the title-subject of a noted book, a memoir by Mary Karr, The Liars' Club. [24] [26]

In 1980, another book, a compendium of lies entered in the Burlington Liars' Club contests, was published: America's One Hundred One Most High Falutin', Big Talkin' Knee Slappin', Golly Whoppers and Tall Tales: The Best of the Burlington Liars' Club, by Deindorfer ISBN 0894801368. [27]

In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, a string of American and Canadian game shows, calling themselves The Liar's Club or The New Liar's Club —and variously starring Rod Serling or Allen Ludden—appeared intermittently in syndicated television, on the USA Network, or on the Global Television Network. A comparable stage entertainment, The Perfect Liars Club, is performed internationally. [28]

A band, and various bars in the U.S. [29] [30] [31] [32] (including one in Burlington [33] [34] ) and abroad, [35] have named themselves "Liar's Club," or some variation of the name. The Chicago bar also markets a line of internationally distributed, [36] irreverent and political-themed T-shirts and knick-knacks using "Liars Club" as its brand name. [37]

The term "Liar's Club" has been widely adapted by elements of media, including cartoons—political [38] [39] and otherwise [40] [41] —and a sport fishermen's radio program. [42]

"The Thief in the Liars' Club" is a popular, traditional logic puzzle, based on the fictional conundrum of a crime committed in the club, all of whom are liars, none of whom therefore can be trusted witnesses for the police. [43] [44]

The Burlington group's annual announcement of the "Biggest Liar" (or "Biggest Lie," "Liar of the Year," or "Lie of the Year,") is a common fixture of major media at the turn of each year, typically widely published in the last week of a year, or the first week of the following new year. [5] [12] [7] [6] [45] [13]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "How the Burlington Liars' Club Started,", Burlington Historical Society, Burlington, Wisconsin, retrieved July 5, 2021
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Streitfeld, David: "Burlington Liar's Club" section, in "You," May 3, 1985, Washington Post, retrieved July 7, 2021
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Associated Press: "Liars Club Names the Top Lie of 2008," January 6, 2009, updated January 14, 2015, Fox News, retrieved July 7, 2021
  4. 1 2 3 "Burlington to Crown Most Colossal Liar," December 29, 1930, Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wisconsin), retrieved from Newspapers.com OCR text, July 5, 2021
  5. 1 2 3 "Adjudged Champion Liar of America; Phil McCarthy of Denver Wins Award With Cross-Eyed Cat Yarn," January 1, 1933, New York Times retrieved July 7, 2021
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Time Lapse," along with "Time Out: Jesse Jackson...", January 2, 1991, Los Angeles Times,retrieved July 5, 2021
  7. 1 2 "Liars Like Dry Humor," January 2, 1987, Washington Post, retrieved July 7, 2021
  8. ↑ " Politicians Barred From Amateur Fibbers’ Fest,", Nov. 26, 2001, Los Angeles Times,retrieved July 5, 2021
  9. ↑ Associated Press: "Goebbels Champion by Liars' Club Test; Burlington, Wis., Amateurs Give Him Professional Class Medal,", October 29–30, 1942, New York Times , retrieved July 5, 2021
  10. ↑ "Corrigan Made Member Of Wisconsin Liars' Club,", July 19, 1938, New York Times , retrieved July 5, 2021
  11. ↑ "Corrigan,", July 17, 1988, The Item , Sumter, South Carolina, page 2A, retrieved July 5, 2021
  12. 1 2 "Champion Liar, Who Claims Shadow Worn Hole in Clock, Is Coal Miner Near Here,", January 7, 1934, Pittsburg Press , retrieved July 5, 2021
  13. 1 2 Willams, Scott: "Burlington Liars Club's Lie of the Year takes on the pandemic," Jan 3, 2021, Wisconsin State Journal on Madison.com, retrieved July 5, 2021
  14. ↑ Associated Press: https://abc11.com/archive/7870379/ "Yarn that was named 2010's top lie wasn't original," December 29, 2010, ABC 11, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, retrieved July 5, 2021
  15. ↑ Associated Press: "Award-Winning Psychic Girlfriend Lie Unoriginal," December 30, 2010, CBS News, retrieved July 5, 2021
  16. ↑ Wade, Nicholas: "The Struggle to Decipher Human Genes," March 10, 1998, New York Times, retrieved July 7, 2021, which quotes a researcher: "I have been calling the group of scientists involved in human sequencing the Liars' Club," said Dr. Venter,... "They all have a different way of calculating their costs and the amount of sequencing they have actually accomplished."
  17. ↑ Rich, Frank, opinion essay: "Journal; The Liar's Club," March 21, 1998, New York Times, retrieved July 7, 2021
  18. ↑ Dufresne, Chris: "Don't Look Ahead, They Might Be Gaining on You," October 7, 2002, Los Angeles Times, retrieved July 7, 2021, which opens with: "Welcome to Liars Club, the carefully worded world of football double talk."
  19. ↑ editorial: "Harry Reid, the fierce partisan: He's a paid-up member of the Liars Club and he tells the big ones," November 2, 2016, Washington Times, retrieved July 7, 2021
  20. ↑ Cohen, Michael, opinion essay: "The Liars Club: America is afflicted by a president and political party that cannot tell the truth," December 10, 2019, Boston Globe, retrieved July 7, 2021
  21. ↑ Pilgrim, Sophie: "Chief rabbi joins France's thriving liars’ club," in "The French Observatory," April 5, 2003, France 24, retrieved July 7, 2021
  22. ↑ "November 1876 to May 1897 mysterious large airships... were reported flying in... the US. Who built these craft and for what purpose?," in "Yesteryear," undated (HTML file contains dates 2011-02-17 and 2011-02-09), The Guardian, retrieved July 7, 2021
  23. ↑ "Read local,", March 19, 2012, Princeton Public Library, Princeton, New Jersey, retrieved July 7, 2021; same group's Facebook page is at: https://www.facebook.com/theliarsclub
  24. 1 2 "The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years: The New York Times's book critics select the most outstanding memoirs published since 1969," June 26, 2019, New York Times, retrieved July 7, 2021
  25. ↑ Yeadon, David: "Tome-Word Bound," May 14, 1995, Washington Post, retrieved July 7, 2021; references a London "Liars Club."
  26. ↑ Yardley, Jonathan: "Book review: 'The Liar's Club' by Mary Karr," June 18, 1995, Washington Post, which summarizes the book's theme as: "the essential American story."
  27. ↑ America's One Hundred One Most High Falutin', Big Talkin' Knee Slappin', Golly Whoppers and Tall Tales: The Best of the Burlington Liars' Club, book listing, Biblio.co.uk, retrieved July 7, 2021; same topic at AbeBooks.co.uk
  28. ↑ "Perfect Liars Club," official website, retrieved July 7, 2021
  29. ↑ "Liars Club Chicago," retrieved July 7, 2021
  30. ↑ Venue description: "Liars' Club, San Diego," (undated), ClubPlanet.com, retrieved July 7, 2021
  31. ↑ "The Liars Club Bar & Grill", Omaha, Nebraska, on Manta.com, retrieved July 7, 2021
  32. ↑ "Pott County Liars Club," Shawnee, Oklahoma, (undated) on Groupon.com, retrieved July 7, 2021
  33. ↑ Burke, Michael: "No lie: Liars Club bar opens in Burlington," December 29, 2016, Racine Journal Times, retrieved July 7, 2021
  34. ↑ review: "Wonderful Coffee Shop," Trip Advisor, retrieved July 7, 2021
  35. ↑ "The Liar's Club," in "What's on / Manchester / Pubs & Bars," (undated), The Skinny (Manchester, England, U.K.) retrieved July 7, 2021
  36. ↑ "Liars Club" merchandise at Cafe Press (U.K.), retrieved July 7, 2021
  37. ↑ "Liars Club Chicago: Liars Club Store", retrieved July 7, 2021; same topic at weareliarsclub.com
  38. ↑ "Cartoon of the Day: "Liars' Club," February 27, 2019, Washington Times on Twitter, retrieved July 7, 2021
  39. ↑ "Bagley Cartoon: The Liars’ Club" October 12, 2020, Salt Lake Tribune retrieved July 7, 2021
  40. ↑ cartoon: "Liar's Club," (Liar's Club boss promises employee world trip), retrieved July 7, 2021
  41. ↑ cartoon: "The Strange World of Mr. Mum," (fisherman brings "whopper" to Liar's Club), retrieved July 7, 2021
  42. ↑ "The Liars Club, 6-3-21", podcast, iHeart Radio, retrieved July 7, 2021
  43. ↑ "The Thief in the Liars' Club," puzzle, at ScientificPsychic.com, retrieved July 7, 2021
  44. ↑ "The Thief in the Liars' Club," puzzle, at PuzzleFry.com, retrieved July 7, 2021
  45. ↑ Associated Press: "Wisconsin Man Dubbed World Champion Liar of 2009," December 30, 2009, updated March 25, 2015, Fox News, retrieved July 7, 2021
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