Wall Street Lays an Egg was a headline printed inVariety, a newspaper covering Hollywood and the entertainment industry, on October 30, 1929, over an article describingBlack Tuesday, the height of the panic known as theWall Street crash of 1929 (the actual headline text was WALL ST. LAYS AN EGG).[1] It is one of the most famous headlines ever to appear in an American publication and continues to be noted in history books into the 21st century.[2]
"Laying an egg" is an American idiom, current particularly in 20th centuryshow business, meaning "failing badly".Variety was noted for the slangy, breezy style of prose in its headlines and body text.[3] Another famous headline in the paper was "Sticks Nix Hick Pix".
According to author Ken Bloom,Variety publisherSime Silverman wrote the headline.[3] However, Robert John Landry, who worked atVariety for 50 years, including as managing editor,[4] says it was written byVarietycity editorClaude Binyon.[5]
The phrase is sometimes still used to invoke the Great Crash. For example, the sub-chapter describing the Crash in the 1973 bookA Random Walk Down Wall Street is titled "Wall Street Lays an Egg",[6] as is chapter 18 of the 1996 bookLorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway,[7] and chapter 17 of the 2003 bookNew World Coming: The 1920s and the Making of Modern America.[8]
Even into the 21st century, variations of the headline have been used to announce financial downturns, some byVariety itself ("Wall Street, Son of Egg" in 1962, "Wall Street Lays an Egg: The Sequel" in 1987),[3] and some by other publications ("Wall Street Lays Another Egg" inVanity Fair in 2008).[9]