Shtik (1960); Canuck (1843)

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SHTIK
  
My friend's piece in the Fringe festival was "shtik," so I thought I'd beat 
the OED on shtic/schtick/shtick/ schtik. Merriam-Webster has 1959. My 
_Historical Dictionary of American Slang_ stops at "O."
  
(OED)
shtik
U.S. slang.  1. An act or stage routine; a joke, a ‘gag’. Hence transf. 
(freq. slightly derog.), a patter, a ‘line’; a gimmick or characteristic style. 
orig. Theatr. 
 
  1961 A. BERKMAN Singers' Gloss. Show Business 78 A piece of business; a gag 
or joke..shtik. 1962 ‘E. MCBAIN’ Empty Hours 129 The girl didn't say a word. 
She didn't have to. The effect was almost comic, akin to the cocktail-party 
scene... The word ‘shtik’ crossed Meyer's mind. 1964 S. BELLOW Herzog 60 ‘
Let's cut out all the shtick,’ said Gersbach. ‘Let's say you're a crumb.’ 1968 P. 
TAMONY Americanisms (typescript) No. 19. 2 Consistency is not the schtick of 
protestors. 1973 Times 30 July 5/5 Emotionally controlled..and minus the usual 
Streisand shtick, it [sc. a film] is arguably the best performance of her 
career. 1974 P. GZOWSKI Bk. about this Country 46/1 People who are professionally 
funnyguys who do schticksare less funny than he is. 1977 Time 19 Dec. 12/2 
The former Prime Minister is not at all apologetic about his Yuletide shtik, 
pointing out that he has chosen to write books and sell records rather than go 
the David Frost route.
 
    2. A particular area of activity or interest, a sphere or ‘scene’. 
 
  1968 Atlantic Monthly Sept. 50/1 My first assignment was to a gentle 
middle-aged Jewish household, hardly my schtik. 1972 New York 1 May 13/2 This 
unfortunately overlong satire on the sexology schtick of our times. 1976 Publishers 
Weekly 15 Mar. 55/2 A husband trying to puzzle out his woman, 
women-God-bless-them in general, and the whole female shtick.
      
 (PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
Advertising: How Agencies Pick TV Shows
By ROBERT ALDEN. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Apr 19, 
1960. p. 60 (1 page) 
_"Schtick" Is Useful_
Also important is a continuous device (they were known as "schticks" in 
old-time vaudeville) which the viewer can expect to see each week. In vaudeville it 
was such a thing as George Jessel calling his mother on the telephone. On 
television now the "schticks" are such things as Kookie's comb in "77 Sunset 
Strip" or the fast-shooting Winchester in the "Rifleman." Actually, "schtick" is a 
Yiddish word that means piece" or "bit."
    
  
(WWW.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM)
   Indiana Evening Gazette  Saturday, September 17, 1960 Indiana, 
Pennsylvania    
...show time." "What will 1 do? I'm a SCHTICK. toomler. I create tumult AND
.....or anything formal. 1 I'll tell a few JOKES, run around 'the audience..   
     
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CANUCK
  
I've been thinking of the GLOBE AND MAIL lately, that great Canadian 
newspaper, and harking back to my work on "Canuck." I don't know if I posted this one, 
from Paper of Record.
    
  
28 April 1843, MONTREAL TRANSCRIPT, pg. 2, col. 5:
NOT AT ALL PERSONAL.--The Editor of the _Statesman_ calls the Editor of the 
_Chronicle & Gazette_ "A useless, good-for-nothing, leaden haeded mock genteel 
loafer, who is 1-2 Yankee, 2-8th Scotch, 1-18th Canuck, 1-32nd English, and 
the other part of the fraction, which it takes to make up the whole, nondescript 
mongrel;"...--_British Whig_.