SHORT TAKES : ‘Take My Wife’ Joke Turns 50

Henny Youngman’s most enduring one-liner--”Take my wife, please”--turned 50 Wednesday, and the funnyman gave his favorite joke a birthday party, complete with candles and cake, at a Manhattan restaurant.

“I used that line for the first time 50 years ago on the Kate Smith show,” Youngman recalled. “It was a half-hour until the show started; my wife was backstage. I asked one of the ushers, ‘Take my wife, please.’ I meant to get a seat, but that was the beginning.”