Rank-sounding names?

[George Thompson]

>From American National Biography:

Bowes, Major (14 June 1874-13 June 1946), radio producer and talent show host, was born Edward J. Bowes in San Francisco, California. . . .


gat

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
Date: Sunday, April 8, 2007 6:39 pm
Subject: Re: Rank-sounding names?
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU


>  There was a long-running radio show that was very popular back in the
> '30s
>  & '40s called, I think, "The Major Bowes  Amateur Hour." I suppose
> that was
>  Bowes' given name. I never got to hear more than the tiniest snippets
> of it
>  since it was much disparaged by my parents (don't know why; what did
> they
>  know about it, since we never had it on?!)  I imagine it was a sort of
>  forebear of the Ed Sullivan show (another bit of our culture I never
> got
>  acquainted with, since we didn't have tv until the late '80s), which
> in its
>  turn has -- again I suppose -- morphed into the American (&Canadian)
> Idol
>  (which, again,  I don't know much about, having never seen more than
> the
>  occasional trailer).
>  AM
>
>  ~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>
>
>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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