Antedating of "break a leg" (1940)--correction, now 1925

[Sam Clements]

I somehow didn't use the exact wording "I hope you break a leg" and when I
did just now, I got a hit from 1925.

"Thresholds" by Faith Baldwin(fiction), 1925.  It's indeed from 1925.  page
75.

"Not exactly.  I believe that would be bad luck or something.  You say 'I
hope you break a leg'--or your neck--or some such hope of calamity."

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sam Clements" <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 20:34
Subject: Antedating of "break a leg" (1940)


Got lucky and found a Google Books hit for this in 1940, which predates a
1948 cite. And, the 1940 edition was in a local college library which I
visited this evening.  Photocopied the page.

The Theatre Handbook; And Digest of Plays by Bernard Sobel, Published by
Crown, 1940.  page 722,

 "Before a perfomance actors never wish each other good luck, but say "I
hope you break a leg";

This doesn't disprove the German "Hals und Beinbruch" as a possible source
predating my 1940.

Sam Clements

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org