Gay Nineties (1926); Stickball (1922 or 1932); Get the hook! (1906)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Three more terms checked against NEW YORK TIMES  full text.

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GAY NINETIES

   "Gay Ninties" is the name for the decade of the 1890s--and not called that
until the 1920s.
   In my post from January 1997 (still in the ADS-L old archives),  I stated
that I believed this was coined by the cartoonist R. V. Culter, who used this
as the title of his 1927 book.  The earliest citation on NYT full text is
1926, but this fact confirms Culter's coinage.  Culter began GAY NINETIES as
a cartoon series on the New York City humor magazine LIFE--in 1925.

19 July 1926, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 8:
_SOUTHAMPTON SEES_
   _AMATEUR CIRCUS_
(...)
   Judy Hamlin and Betty Gleason, with large pompadours, broad hats and puff
sleaves, dashed about in a run-about labeled "The Gay Nineties."

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STICKBALL

   Stickball used to be a popular NYC game, so I searched the NYT.
   OED's "stickball" entry is the usual mess.  It's literally "stickball."
Some of the citations are clearly for lacrosse.  What ball game is being
played with the stick?  OED's first citation is 1824, an then 1934 (for the
New York City version).  The NEW YORK TIMES has 1922 for "stick ball," 1932
for "stickball."

   3 September 1922, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. E1:
   Games of tag, prisoner's base, relay racing, leapfrog races, association
and soccer football, basketball, catch and pull, tug of war, apparatus work,
handball, stick ball, whip tag, hand wrestling, snow bombardment, snow dodge
ball, hopping relay races, potato races, endurance tests, field hockey and
other games will be carried on daily.

   6 July 1932, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 42:
   The activities provided will include tournaments in volley ball, paddle
tennis, shuffleboard, boxball, stickball and punchball.

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GET THE HOOK!

   The RHHDAS (hook, pg. 141) says that "the hook was reportedly introduced
in 1903 at Harry Miner's Bowery Theater in New York City."  The first
citation is 1907
   I had found the term used often in early issues of VARIETY--but VARIETY
did not exist in 1903.
   The following don't explain the term, but are antedates to what we have:

   27 September 1906, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 2:
   "Get the hook," cried a delegate.

   25 January 1907, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 3:
   In all parts of the house (Victoria Theatre--ed.) men arose, shouting,
"Take 'em off," "Get the hook," "Away with 'em," "They're rotten."