One Friday evening in the late 1960s, a radio talk show host quit. He informed the station manager that he’d gotten a new job and wouldn’t be in the next morning for his weekly show.

The manager was desperate. He needed someone to fill in, and called a fellow named Bernard Meltzer, who had been a guest on the program.

Meltzer agreed and did the show the next morning. When it was over, he asked the manager, “How did I do?”

The manager replied that in all his years of radio, that was the worst show he’d ever heard.

The comment hurt Meltzer’s feelings, and he left, determined to never do a radio program again.

On Friday, the station manager called and asked, “Are you coming in tomorrow?”

Meltzer said no, absolutely not. Then he asked why the manager wanted to know. It turned out that the sponsors, instead of being angry about the show, loved it and were willing to pay more if Meltzer continued as the host.

And so, a legend was born. Meltzer’s show, “What’s your Problem?”, consisted of people calling in about whatever was troubling them, be it squirrels in the attic or needing to wire a downstairs rec room or marital arguments or dietary questions. Whatever the concern, Meltzer would talk to them kindly and dispense folksy advice. People came to refer to him as Uncle Bernie.

The show eventually was syndicated and heard on many stations.

There was another Bernard Meltzer, a lawyer, who had a long and illustrious career. In the 1940s, he was a prosecutor in the Nuremberg Trials, and for many years was a beloved and much-respected law professor.

People often confuse quotes from Bernard Meltzer, the radio talk show host, with those from Bernard Meltzer, the lawyer. Or visa versa. Here, for example, is a quote that has been attributed to both men:

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.”

Sounds like something a talk show host would say, but plenty of websites give credit to the lawyer.

And there’s this one:

“Take this tip from nature: The woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except those who sang best.”

Lawyer or host?

One of my favorite quotes is:

“Hard work is often the easy work you did not do at the proper time.”

That, too, is credited to both Meltzers, and I set out to find which one actually said it. And when. And where.

What I was looking for was an original source. A quote from an on-air conversation or from a lecture or book. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find one for either man. Not just for the work quote, but for the other quotes, as well.

Maybe a wise saying is a wise saying, and it doesn’t matter who said it. On one level, I believe that is true. But on another, it irks the living daylights out of me.

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