"Cinderella Man" origin?; More "Big Apple" specialists?

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 02:37:18 -0400, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:

>On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 02:16:42 EDT, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>
>>CINDERELLA MAN
>>...
>>_http://www.imdb.com/find?q=%22cinderella%20man%22;s=all_
>>(http://www.imdb.com/find?q="cinderella%20man";s=all)
>>_The Cinderella Man_ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0007795/)  (1917)
>>...
>>I haven't seen the movie CINDERELLA MAN, but was the nickname influenced
>>by the 1917 movie of the same title?
>
>As mentioned in numerous reviews of the movie, Damon Runyon gave Jim
>Braddock the "Cinderella Man" nickname. See also Jeremy Schaap's new book
>_Cinderella Man: James Braddock, Max Baer, and the Greatest Upset in
>Boxing History_. I checked the book using the Amazon search feature but
>didn't see an exact quote from Runyon. Schaap simply says that in the
>leadup to the title fight with Baer in June 1935, Runyon, covering boxing
>for the _New York American_ "had recently dubbed Braddock the Cinderella
>Man" (p. 240).
>
>No idea if Runyon nicked the nickname from the 1917 movie.

Or the earlier Broadway play.

http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=8260



--Ben Zimmer