I see a black house and I want to paint it red

Is this the origin of Painting the Town Red?

I was thinking, which is handy since this is Thoughtful/Thankful Thursday, about what to think about (hee hee) and somehow flittering around the web I got stuck (ooo, stuck in the web...a pun!) on the phrase, "Painting the town red".  Where did this originate and what does it really mean?  Of course there are different stories about it's birth so I'll try to enlighten you in as small

The Madcap  Marquess of Waterford

a nutshell as possible.  The earliest story I discovered in my minutes of research was one about Henry de La Poer Beresford a.k.a. The Marquess of Waterford.  He was apparently, in his younger years, quite a prankster, to put it mildly. He was known for doing asinine stunts and the event in discussion happened in 1837 when Henry and his fellow "merrymakers" (jerks, I'd say) happened upon a tollgate after a "bit" of  hitting the bottle(s).  The toll keeper wouldn't let them in until they paid the toll and, unluckily for him and the town, there happened to be some town repair supplies handy that included red paint and henceforth, the tollbooth, toll keeper and much of the town became slathered in red.  This is a true story but it's debatable as to whether this was the origin of the phrase we use today as it was not put into print, word for word as we know it, until around 1884-ish.

I like the nice version best!

Other variations on it's roots include going out to get drunk (as you may get the classic red nose) or to paint the town red with bonfires, firecrackers and the like.  Personally, I'd go with the Mad Marquess story even though the phrase wasn't put into print until years later as they truly did paint that town, and some of it's people, red.

Frankly, I always thought it had more of a happy meaning, like to go out and have tons of fun.  It seems it's earlier meanings had more negative vibes to them but I prefer the positive, such as the ad to the left for National Heart Month.

So next time you "paint the town red", please keep it nice and clean and not messy like the Mad Marquees :)