[Ads-l] The cavalry arrives in the nick of time.

[Jonathan Lighter]

The 1909 movie "Boots and Saddles" may be the effective origin of the
trope. It would be hard to describe the climax in ordinary conversation
without saying "But the cavalry arrives in the nick of time!"   If so, it
took many years for the phrase to become a recognized cliche'.

>From The Moving Picture World (March 20, 1909), p. 344:

BOOTS AND SADDLES..."Thank God," shouts Bradley, "it is our boys." ...Down
the street of the village, two, three, six, eight, a hundred charging
cavalry men are racing toward the captives bound to the stakes. Rifles
begin to spit fire as the Indians attempt to make a stand, but in a few
seconds the whole village is teeming with charging, slashing daredevil
cavalrymen. So sudden has been the fight that not an Indian escapes the
fate he so richly deserves. Of course. Bradley and his comrades are
rescued, while Gray, who was one of the first to fire upon his former
comrades, lies with his face buried in the dust, his lifeless hands
clutching the dead grass.

On Thu, Dec 2, 2021 at 4:31 PM Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> Google has the Journal of the American Cavalry Association from 1888, Vol.
> 1, No. III, page 9, which has an impassioned description of how "Calvary
> SHERIDAN" turned "national disaster into glorious victory, all in the nick
> of time."
> DanG
>
>
> On Thu, Dec 2, 2021 at 7:56 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the kind words.  Here's an ex. that explicitly connects it
> with
> > the screen (or, less likely, the stage):
> >
> > 1943 _Seattle Daily Times_ (May 3) 13:  But like the American cavalry
> > arriving in the nick of time to rescue the embattled frontiersman [sic]
> of
> > the old-time melodrama, June Havoc is on her way from Chicago to
> Hollywood.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 1, 2021 at 9:58 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> > adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > > Good find.
> > > >
> > > > The phrase seems to have become proverbial only in the '20s or '30s
> (at
> > > the
> > > > earliest) presumably with reference to some forgotten movie/s. (I was
> > > > unable to find the phrase in any early film review, however.)
> > >
> > > In 1923 the arrival of a person in a nick of time to prevent disaster
> > > was labeled a movie dogma, i.e., a commonplace plot device. Thus, the
> > > cavalry arriving just in time to save the day might be viewed as a
> > > specialized form of this cliché narrative schema which, of course,
> > > precedes the advent of film. The cavalry variant is distinctive enough
> > > to be worthy of the excellent analysis you have performed.
> > >
> > > Year: 1923
> > > Book Title: What's Wrong with the Movies?
> > > Author: Tamar Lane
> > > Publisher: The Waverly Company, Los Angeles, California
> > > Chapter 15: Dogmas of the Movies
> > > Quote Page 215
> > >
> > > [Begin excerpt]
> > > 29. That individuals dry within a very few seconds after emerging from
> > > water.
> > >
> > > 30. That persons always arrive in the nick of time to prevent disaster.
> > >
> > > 31. That innocent persons always pick up the revolver with which the
> > > crime was committed and hold on to it until the police arrive and
> > > arrest them for the crime.
> > > [End excerpt]
> > >
> > > Garson
> > >
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> > >
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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