"Jazz" in the LATimes, 1912 & 1917

[Gerald Cohen]

At 1:08 PM -0400 8/4/03, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>On Mon, Aug 04, 2003 at 12:51:49PM -0400, George Thompson wrote:
>>  However:
>>
>>  A story from April 2, 1912 was headlined "Ben's Jazz Curve"
>>  and began "'I got a new curve this year' softly murmered
>>  Henderson yesterday, 'and I am goin' to pitch one or two of
>>  them tomorrow.  I call it the Jazz ball because it wobbles
>>  and you simply can't do anything with it."  This paragraph
>>  is not very legible, but the reading is correct, and the
>>  word in the headline is unmistakable.  The second and last
>>  paragraph is even less legible, but the reporter is
>>  skeptical, and hopes that "some unintelligent compositor"
>>  doesn't set "jag ball" by mistake, because if the ball
>>  wobbles, that must be why.
>
>Does this mean that Jerry owes you, what, $100? $1000? What
>was the posted reward?
>
>Jesse Sheidlower
>OED

     The reward was one-hundred dollars, and I shall very cheerfully
send George Thompson a check for that amount tomorrow. I'm amazed
that a pre-1913 attestation has turned up, and I look forward to
seeing the actual article.

Gerald Cohen