1962 "the whole nine yards"

[Joel S. Berson]

Confirmed Stephen Goranson's find (1962).  I only
ask in return that someone tell me what the previously earliest find was.

Michigan's Voices: A Literary Quarterly Magazine
Created by Michigan Writers and Artists
Vol. 2, No. 4 (Fall 1962)

"Man on the Thresh-hold"
by Robert E.Wegner
(starts on page 26)

page 41

[If this is not enough context, I will mail Jesse
the page -- it's in a one-sentence, 42-line
paragraph.  But the next two paragraphs are one line each.]

Marjorie's fault, and if all this howling and
yelling up and down through the furnace pipes
didn't stop soon they'd have the kids awake and
then we can all take positions at one of the
vents and bellow at each other  ... then the dog
would catch on and go ki-yi-yi-ing from one to
the other of the shouting pyjama-clad
participants -- mad, mad, mad, the consequence of
house, home, kids, respectability, status as a
college professor and the whole nine yards, as a
brush salesman who came by the house was fond of
saying, the whole damn nine yards and Marjorie
with her credulous countenance which allowed him
to tell her with a perfectly straight face ...
tell her it was a left-handed screwdriver he
needed, one that turned counter-clockwise ...

[The left-handed screwdriver is just a teaser for the list.]

For anyone wanting to ask Wegner whether it was a
Fuller Brush salesman, the following shows up via
Google (and on-line library catalogs):

There is a Robert E. Wegner, author of _The
poetry and prose of E. E. Cummings_ (Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965).

He may also be one of the photographers credited
in _The Third coast : Contemporary Michigan
Fiction (Wayne State University Press, 1981,
ISBN-13: 9780814316955, ISBN: 0814316956).

And more recently, Cummings, E(dward) E(stlin)
1894–1962: Critical Essay by Robert E. Wegner
from Literature Criticism Series. ©2005-2006
Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation.

Finally, a hint that he has removed to Florida
and become a bed-and-breakfast host:
http://www.ourkeywest.net/keywest-bookstore/1-1000-Robert+E++Wegner-Author-sr-1.html
Tropical Inn, 82 Duval Street, Key West, Florida 33040.
(This web page lists 5 books for which Wegner is author or co-author.)

Joel

At 3/18/2009 03:17 PM, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 03:10:07PM -0400, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> > At 3/18/2009 02:54 PM, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
> >> According to the University of Michigan catalog, Volume 2 of
> >> this journal covers 1961-1962. Could be a real find here....
> >
> > Jesse, I'm going to the Harvard Libraries later this afternoon, and
> > they say they have Vol. 2, no. 1-v. 3, no. 4 (spring 1964)..  Shall I
> > look for this?
>
>Sure! Report back to all of us.
>
>Jesse
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org