[Ads-l] "off the cuff" antedated to 1934 (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

_Variety_ 29 Apr 1925 p 21 col 4
[review of theatrical show]
"Didn't have a chance and producer and theater were smart enough to go after the two for ones.  Kept house from going dark and will just about get off the cuff."

_Photoplay_ Apr 1926 pp 50-51
"Mickey Neilan was some seven hours late on his set one day.  And the company waited and shivered -- and then shivered and waited some more.
"Must have lost his script," hazarded a member of the cast.
"Sure," says the prop boy.  "Must have lost his script and is now hunting through all the shirts in the Hollywood laundry to find it."
(You see, Mickey Neilan is famous for being one of the few surviving directors who "shoot from the cuff" -- which means the only script he ever has is what's in his head, aided by an occasional note on his cuff.)"

_Hollywood Vagabond_ 28 Apr 1927 p 5 col 3
"We don't get out here in the lights and then try to find out what's going to happen.  We read the script, know the story and throw the script away.  Then we come out on the set and shoot it off the cuff."

_The Film Daily_ 11 May 1930 p 5 col 2

"Credit Roy Mack of the Vitaphone studio with the one about the director who was shooting off the cuff and moaned that he had washed his shirt and lost the script."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of ADSGarson O'Toole
> Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2015 1:26 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "off the cuff" antedated to 1934
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "off the cuff" antedated to 1934
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
> 
> John Baker posted some valuable material to the ADS list in 2012 on the
> "off the cuff" topic:
> 
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2012-
> August/121540.html
> 
> I found some cites for "shoot from the cuff" starting in July 17, 1927:
> 
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2012-
> August/121545.html
> 
> Garson
> 
> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 11:58 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -------------
> ----------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: "off the cuff" antedated to 1934
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
> > ---------
> >
> > =0A=
> > =0A=
> > July 31, 1932. Times-Picayune [New Orleans], Section 2, p. 5, col. 1.
> > Headl=
> > ine: Movie Formula Revived with Uproar Unknown to Silents.=0A=
> > =85."you never know where a picture is going these days"=85."Right,"
> > he [a = studio head] beamed,"it was shot right off the cuff every
> > morning=85isn't t= hat phenomenal?" [The same paper has an iffy Sept.
> > 1, 1929 use: "=85.I pick= ed one off the cuff and gave it to him for
> > free."=96horse racing tip.]=0A= =0A=
> > ________________________________________=0A=
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> > Stephe= n Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>=0A=
> > Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2015 10:48 AM=0A=
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=0A=
> > Subject: [ADS-L] "off the cuff" antedated to 1934=0A= =0A= The
> > previous earliest mentioned was Aug. 16, 1936 (discussed at Language
> > Lo= g and Early Sports and Pop Culture History Blog).=0A= =0A= Gene
> > Fowler, Father Goose The Story of Mack Sennett (NY: Covici, Friede,
> > 19=
> > 34) page 147:=0A=
> > He set up his cameras with showmanlike haste and began shooting
> > extemporane= ously-, or, "off the cuff."=0A=
> >
> http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=3Dmdp.39015003982835;view=3D1up;
> > seq=
> > =3D161=0A=
> > =0A=
> > =0A=
> > Stephen Goranson=0A=
> > =0A=
> > http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/=0A=
> > =0A=
> > ------------------------------------------------------------=0A=
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org=0A=
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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