Grind House

[Jonathan Lighter]

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  JL

Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
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Subject: Grind House
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"Grind House" was partly filmed in Austin, by acclaimed directors Quentin =20
Tarantino and Roberto Rodriguez. Tarantino frequently explains the term.
...
I don't think it has any connection to "grinder" (barker), as OED hints. =20
It's probably literally a grind house--a film mill. Earlier citations welcom=
e. =20
Is VARIETY searchable?
...
...
...
14 June 1927, Helena (MT) Independent, pg. 7, col. 3:
The shutdown at the Rialto will leave only a grind house where second run =20
films are shown to cater to the movie fans of Butte.
...
...
4 March 1928, Syracue (NY) Herald, pg. 2, col. 6:
It is intended to operate a 24-hour grind house program to run about an =20
hour, made up mostly of shorts.
...
...
...
(OED) =20
=20
grind house, n.

slang (orig. U.S.). Now chiefly hist.
[Prob. < _GRIND_=20
(http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?query_type=3Dfulltext&queryword=3Dgr=
indhouse&first=3D1&max_to_show=3D10&search_spec=3Dfulltext&sort_type=3Dalph
a&search_id=3DCfAi-Lmnkxx-19826&control_no=3D20003051&result_place=3D1&xrefw=
ord=3Dgrin
d&ps=3Dn.&homonym_no=3D1) n.1 (cf. sense 2 at that entry) + _HOUSE_=20
(http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?query_type=3Dfulltext&queryword=3Dgr=
indhouse&first=3D1&ma
x_to_show=3D10&search_spec=3Dfulltext&sort_type=3Dalpha&search_id=3DCfAi-Lmn=
kxx-19826&
control_no=3D20003051&result_place=3D1&xrefword=3Dhouse&ps=3Dn.&homonym_no=
=3D1) n.1=20
J. E. LIGHTER Hist. Dict. Amer. Slang (1994 ) I. 970/1 suggests a further=20
connection with the relatively rare U.S. slang grinder =E2=80=98a barker wh=
o works=20
continuously in front of a single show=E2=80=99, earliest attested in 1926.=
] =20
A cinema showing a variety of films in continuous succession, usually with=20
low admission fees and freq. concentrating on material regarded as of poor=20
quality or little merit. Also: a burlesque theatre; a strip club. =20
1925 Los Angeles Times 10 Oct. 2/3 An agreement was later made by the=20
Motion-Picture Theater Owners' Association of Southern California, it was s=
aid,=20
where payment will be respectively $3 higher in suburban houses, $5 higher=20=
in=20
downtown =E2=80=98grind=E2=80=99 houses and $8 in de luxe theaters. 1928 W=
ashington Post 1=20
Apr. III. 1/1 Many people thought Keith's Theater would align itself with t=
he =20
so-called =E2=80=98grind=E2=80=99 houses running twelve hours a day continuo=
usly. 1939 L.=20
GODY N.Y. City Guide 175 On Forty-second Street west of Broadway..famous=20
theaters have been converted into movie =E2=80=98grind=E2=80=99 houses devo=
ted to continuous=20
double feature programs or burlesque shows. 1966 Playboy Dec. 244/1 By ear=
ly=20
1958 all New York was a Bardot festival; her pictures, duly dubbed and=20
scrubbed, were playing not only in the art houses but in exploitation grind=
houses=20
and in respectable neighborhood theaters as well. 1993 Rolling Stone 10 Ju=
ne=20
78/1 Nick hangs with the street kids, especially Molly.., a child prostitut=
e=20
destined for the grind house where her mother strips for droolers. 2000 =20
Guardian 12 May (Friday Rev. section) 23/6, I remember solitary teenage trek=
s to a=20
rat-infested ghetto grindhouse to catch some rotten dubbed martial arts=20
flick.=20




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