Gimmick (1921)

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   Gimmick, Gizmo, Gremlin.
   I had high hopes for these using NEW YORK TIMES full text.  "Gimmick"
turned up a 1909 hit for Rudolph Kimmick."  "Gizmo" turned up everything but.
 "Gremlin" turned up dozens and dozens of citations for "Kremlin"!!!!
   OED and Merriam-Webster have 1926 for "gimmick," with the just awful
"origin unknown."  The RHHDAS has 1922, from VARIETY.  I figured that the NYT
would "gotta hava gimmick."

   11 November 1925, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 19:
_MILLER REINSTATED_
   _BY BOXING BOARD_
_Manager of Flowers Publicly_
    _Retracts Charge That De-_
   _laney Used a "Gimmick."_
_But No Proofe Is Offered to Link It_
   _With Garden Bout--Jack_
   _Sharkey and Suggs Banned._
   By JAMES P. DAWSON.
   Walk Miller, manager of Tiger Flowers an Bob Lawson, negro boxers,
yesterday was restored to good standing at the meeting of the State Atheltic
Commission, following his retraction of statements he is alleged to have made
regtarding the use of a "gimmick" by Jack Delaney in the Bridgeport boxer's
clash with Flowers last Winter in Madison Square Garden.  Secretary Bert
Stand, announcing the decision of the commission, declared that Chairman
James A. Farley and his confreres on the board were satisfied with Miller's
public retractions and saw no reason for continuing the indefinite suspension
plastered on the manager last Friday.
   The decision of the board disposes definitely of a case which has dragged
long through the machinery of the commission and caused considerable
discussion.  Miller is alleged to have charged immediately after the
Delaney-Flowers bout, in which Flowers, by the way, was knocked out, that
Delaney accomplished the victory with the aid of a foreign engine of
destruction--a "gimmick."
   The instrument exhibited by Secretary Stand yesterday and described as a
"gimmick," is a rivet heavily bound in adhesive tape, and is supposed to be
gripped in the hand of the man using it.  It is conceivable that a boxer,
using one of these things, might easily kill an opponent if the "gimmick"
were struck in a blow to the temple. (...)

   15 May 1921, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 71:
   _With a Bow to Mr. Edison_
Being a Possible Questionnaire for Submission to Applicants for the Position
of Assistant Stage Doorman.
1.  What is an Annie Oakley?
2.  What is a three-sheet?  A herald?  A throw-away?  A stand?
3.  What is an eight-week buy?
4.  Who invented motion pictures?  Why?
5.  What is a baby spot?  A flood?  A gelatine?
6.  What is the difference between hokum and jazbo?  Jazbo and gravy?  Gravy
and hokum?
7.  What is opening cold?
8.  What is L. U. E.?
9.  At what curtain call does David Belasco appear on opening nights?
10.  What is a shillaber?
11.  What is a local?
12.  What is a grip?
13.  What is a hoofer?
14.  What is playing in one?
15.  What is a bloomer?
16.  What is a centre-door fancy?
17.  What time do 10 o'clock rehearsals start?
18.  What is o.p.?
19.  What is a healthy bend?
20.  What is a wow?
21.  What is a Southern U.T.C.?
22.  What is a side?
23.  What is a tormentor?
24.  What is doubling in brass?
25.  What material are motion-picture stars made of?
26.  What is hard stuff?  Soft stuff?
27.  What is a daub?
28.  What is winging a part?
29.  What is tripping a drop?
30.  What is a dope sheet?  A swindle sheet?
31.  What is a joey?  A musgrove?
32.  What are clearers?  Juicemen?
33.  What is the starflop?  A startrap?  A vampire trap?  A gimmick?
34.  What is a grummet box?
35.  Who has the key to the curtain?

(Unfortunately, the answers aren't provided...WHAT TIME _DO_ 10 O'CLOCK
REHEARSALS START?--ed.)