[Ads-l] Antedating of "Soap Opera"

[Shapiro, Fred]

soap opera (OED 1939)



1938 _Pittsburgh Press_ 6 Mar. 52/3 (Newspapers.com)  Chicago is the home of the "soap opera," an odd name that radio actors have tacked to the serial dramas heard in the morning and afternoon.  Soap manufacturers were the first to use these afternoon serials extensively and, actors being actors, the name stuck.



Fred Shapiro

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