"Top of the heap"

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

SHELLEY WINTERS--Shelley (not "Shelly") in my last post. It's the Winters of my discontent.

--------------------------------------------------------------
TOP OF THE HEAP--50,300 Google hits, 22,200 Google Groups hits

"New York, New York" (one of the writers of that song died recently) uses "top of the heap" twice.

It's only once in OED. It doesn't appear in Early American Newspapers.


(OED)
1979 D. & A. EDMANDS Child Signs II. 135 Your Aquarius child may not give a fig about who's at the top of the heap. Ibid. 136


"NEW YORK, NEW YORK" by Kander & Ebb
(...)
I want to wake up in a city, that doesn't sleep
And find I'm king of the hill - top of the heap
(...)
New York, New York
I want to wake up in a city, that never sleeps
To find I'm a number one, head of the list,
Cream of the crop at the top of the heap.


(OCLC WORLDCAT)
Title: Purple and fine women
Author(s): Saltus, Edgar, 1855-1921.
Publication: New York : Ainslee Pub. Co.,
Year: 1903
Description: 255 p. ; 17 cm.
Language: English
Series: Variation: American fiction IV, 1901-1905 suppl. ;; reel 5, no. 45.
Contents: A bouquet of illusions -- Alma adorata -- The Princess of the sun -- The dear departed -- The Princess of the Golden Isles -- The noose matrimonial -- A drama in the drawing room -- The top of the heap -- The elixir of love.


(OCLC WORLDCAT)
Title: Top of the heap /
Author(s): Fair, A. A., 1889-1970. ; Coles, Manning. ; Night train to Paris.; Christie, Agatha,; 1890-1976. ; Under dog & other stories.; Coles, Manning,; pseud. ; Night train to Paris.
Publication: New York : Published for the Detective Book Club by W.J. Black,
Year: 1950s
Description: 178, 183, 161 p. ; 19 cm.
Language: English
Class Descriptors: LC: PZ3.G1714
Other Titles: Night train to Paris.; Under dog & other stories.


(LITERATURE ONLINE)(drama)
Campbell, Bartley Theodore, 1843-1888 [Author Page]
The White Slave [in, The White Slave & Other Plays by Bartley Campbell: Edited by Napier Wilt]  226Kb
THE WHITE SLAVE   [URL for this text]
Found 1 hit(s):
Main text   [URL for this text]
ACT II.   [URL for this text]
Scene 1st:   [URL for this text]
...moment and you'll be on top of the heap again. [Standardized name]...


(LITERATURE ONLINE) (prose)
 1. Holmes, Mary Jane, 1825-1907 [Author Page]
Dora Deane, or, The East India Uncle; and Maggie Miller, or, Old Hagar's Secret. (1859)  946Kb
Dora Deane, or, The East India Uncle; and Maggie Miller, or, Old Hagar's Secret.   [URL for this text]
Found 1 hit(s):
Main text   [URL for this text]
MAGGIE MILLER; OR, OLD HAGAR'S SECRET.   [URL for this text]
CHAPTER XIV. MADAM CONWAY'S DISASTERS.   [URL for this text]
...thousand dollars, or more, to my son, who is now top of the heap in the store, and worth $100,000, I...


   2. Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896 [Author Page]
My Wife and I: or, Harry Henderson's History. (1871)  1088Kb
My Wife and I: or, Harry Henderson's History.   [URL for this text]
Found 1 hit(s):
Main text   [URL for this text]
CHAPTER XIX. FLIRTATION.   [URL for this text]
...in spite of her." "Who, for example?" "Garrison." "Well, he's top of the heap now, sure enough, but I tell you...


   3. Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 [Author Page]
The Innocents Abroad; or, The New Pilgrim's Progress. (1869)  1323Kb
The Innocents Abroad; or, The New Pilgrim's Progress.   [URL for this text]
Found 1 hit(s):
Main text   [URL for this text]
CHAPTER XXVIII.   [URL for this text]
...complacent vanity, that his own skull would look well on top of the heap and his own ribs add a charm...


(WRIGHT AMERICAN FICTION)
Bradbury, Osgood.: The Modern Othello, or, The Guilty Wife (1855) 1 match in 1 of 84 pages
CHAPTER XVI.
in for our own laws and institutions; I do by —, yet I have set my heart on seeing you at the top of the heap. I wish to see my Etty rule here in New York; the queen—no, d


(WWW.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM)
  Centinel  Wednesday, September 25, 1805 Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
...an; neck joins THE fhoalders, to ihe TOP OF THE HEAP, nine inches round each.....we have firft drank OFf THE foaming TOP, MOFt give us paufe. THEre's THE..

  Warren Morning Mirror  Sunday, July 08, 1827 Warren, Pennsylvania
...THE stuff -which kept lim at THE TOP OF THE HEAP ana vnock Jack Sharkey fee a.....000 1 Two base hits Brown. Three base TOP Welsh. O Sherdel. Double plays to..

  Edinburgh Advertiser  Tuesday, September 15, 1829 Edinburgh, Midlothian
...in OF a OF j also to cover THE TOP OF THE HEAP OF apples :ritb rainy.....comin eood condition, and THE fears OF scarcity, THE un propitious st te OF..

  Huron Reflector  Tuesday, September 26, 1843 Norwalk, Ohio
...and that lhe clique stands at THE TOP OF THE HEAP. THEy have managed at.....THE whiga ure corrupt and unworthy OF THE confidence OF THE people, THEy..

  Daily Commercial Register  Thursday, May 12, 1853 Sandusky, Ohio
...State Stocks with THE Comptroller OF THE SUte or New York in conformity to.....in cash THE stun OF y Tkovsnnd DoUari OF Capital to THE common stock. THE said..