If it ain't broke; Don't call us; High concept; Big Chicken

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

USA TODAY

     Congratulations to Grant Barrett for the ADS site being named "hot" in
USA TODAY.
     USA TODAY...hm...can they give our work a column?


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IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT (continued)

     Does this phrase come from Arkansas?
     William Safire's NEW POLITICAL DICTIONARY (1992) credits Bert Lance
(from Georgia) for introducing the phrase to Washington in 1977-78.
     Gregory Titelman's RANDOM HOUSE DICTIONARY OF POPULAR PROVERBS & SAYINGS
(1996) gives the phrase five stars (highest use).  The earliest citation
given is by Bert Lance, in the May 1977 edition of NATION'S BUSINESS.
     Maybe someone can interview Aaron Spelling and ask him what he meant by
saying that this is "Dick Powell's line"?  Dick Powell (1904-1963) was born
in Mountain View, Arkansas, but grew up in Little Rock.
     Powell had a hugely successful career and married actresses Joan
Blondell and June "Depends" Allyson.  He'll always be remembered in these
parts for his line in the 1933 film, 42ND STREET:  "Sawyer, you're going out
a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!"
    I went through his clipping file in New York's Performing Arts Library,
but I didn't find "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  He was in many films
and he recorded many songs--it would take forever to check them all out!


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DON'T CALL US, WE'LL CALL YOU

     Titelman's RHDPPS gives this phrase four stars and says:

_Don't call us, we'll call you._  Don't have high expectations.
Stereotypically used by interviewers at the end of an interview.  The saying
originated in the United States in the 1960s and was first used by theater
directors to get rid of applicants who fail the audition.  Often shortened to
_Don't call us_.

    The 1960s or the 1940s?
    Partridge's DICTIONARY OF CATCH PHRASES has a long entry for this.
"Since c. 1945; originally US, arising either in film or in the theatrical
world, with one reinforcing the other, and the c.p. becoming general in the
early 1950s and then very soon British as well."  The earliest cite is 1969,
however.
    Cassell's DICTIONARY OF SLANG also has (1940s+).
    THE DICK POWELL STORY (1993) by Tony Thorne (I was looking for "If it
ain't broke") on pg. 164 mentions that tv's THE DICK POWELL SHOW, 1962-63,
_Operation Benefit_ episode, had: "Thanks, Chief.  Don't call us.  We'll call
you."


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PAUL KLEIN ("MR. HIGH CONCEPT") (continued)

     The Performing Arts Library also had a file on tv executive Paul Klein.
He started at audience research at NBC, left, returned, helped to start the
Playboy Channel, then bounced around some more.
      NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, 19 November 1980: "In case you're wondering who
Paul Klein is, he's the former NBC executive who coined the phrase 'jiggly
programming.'"
      VARIETY, "Lost & Found--Paul L. Klein," 13 June 1994, pg. 4:  "The exec
at NBC who initiated 'event television.'"
      NEW YORK POST, 30 June 1970:  Paul Klein is interviewed and discusses a
phrase he coined--"least objectionable programming (LOP)."
      SUNDAY DAILY NEWS, 21 June 1970, pg. 165, col. 2:  "James Duffy,
ABC-TV's network president, coined the word 'psychographic,' viewer's state
of mind."

     Most of the clippings were from before 1980.  Not one mentioned that
Klein called himself "Mr. High Concept"--I didn't see that phrase in the
clippings.


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BIG CHICKEN

     The New York Times used "Big Chicken" this week.  It follows from "Big
Tobacco," which followed "Big Steel."
     What's next?  Are Coke and Pepsi "Big Soda"?
     Tell me when we get to "Big Cheese."


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TV MEDICAL AD "BLOOPIE"

     There is an ad running on local television for the Staten Island College
Hospital.  A doctor states that "there have been more changes in the past ten
years than there have been in the past hundred."
     My bet is that there have been more medical changes in the past hundred
years than in the past ten years, because we're talking about NINETY MORE
YEARS.
     Is there a term for this mistake?

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