Maurer

[Robin Hamilton]

> Poster:       ronbutters at AOL.COM
>
> the movie THE STING was supposedly based on one of David Maurer's
> scholarly books. Not sure how such a thing is possible, but that's the
> prevailing wisdom.

The book was, I think, _The Big Con_ (which may not have been the original
title).  As I understand it, Maurer sued, and they settled out of court.
I've seen The Sting, so when I've read _The Big Con_ (when I get it), I
might be able to tell.

Scholarly work being ripped off in this way happens all too frequently -- as
with e.g. Rictor Norton's _Mother Clap's Molly House_ which was dramatised
without a by-your-leave.  I don't think Rictor ever did get any
satisfaction, financial or otherwise, so if Maurer managed to get some money
out of the producers of The Sting, good on him.

Matsell gets a kinda mention in _The Gangs of New York_, the film as well as
the book, and I think the extra bits in the director's cut DVD have some
discussion of this.  I haven't seen this, but if I remember correctly, Julie
Coleman notes it in one of the volumes of her _History of Cant and Slang
Dictionaries_

Robin

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From: <ronbutters at AOL.COM>
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 9:57 PM
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject:      Maurer

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> the movie THE STING was supposedly based on one of David Maurer's
> scholarly books. Not sure how such a thing is possible, but that's the
> prevailing wisdom.
> ------Original Message------
> From: Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
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> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "the apocryphal HDAS III" (UNCLASSIFIED)
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>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of
>> Robin Hamilton
>> Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 11:12 AM
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>> Subject: Re: "the apocryphal HDAS III"
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>> -
>> I've also, belatedly, just discovered the existence of David W.
> Maurer, who
>> seems to have published extensively on American slang from the early
> 30s on.
>> Know his work at all?  I've flagged it to look at whenever I next get
> near a
>> decent library, and ordered_The Big Con_, the only one of his books
> going
>> at a price inside my range.
>>
>
> Maurer published a number of interesting articles in_American Speech_,
> available through JSTOR (and through subscription to the current version
> in the ADS, I believe).
>
> His books build on his research articles.
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