"gay" in "Bringing Up Baby"

[George Thompson]

>
> Amongst the colored - though, perhaps, only among those of a certain
> age - THAT WAY and FUNNY  are/?were the standard terms used in
> ordinary conversation. Combine that with Billie Holliday's recording,
> "He's Funny That Way," and you had a real, chick-embarrassing
> thigh-slapper!
>
> --
> -Wilson

I see that the lyrics to He's Funny that Way are by Richard Whiting; the fact that his daughter was Margaret Whiting would seem to preclude the possiblilty that he was one of the colored.  (Being one of those of a certain age, I remember Margaret Whiting from TV in the 50s.)

GAT

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

----- Original Message -----
From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
Date: Thursday, August 26, 2010 3:44 pm
Subject: Re: "gay" in "Bringing Up Baby"
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 2:56 PM, Ronald Butters <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:
> > THAT WAY
>
> Amongst the colored - though, perhaps, only among those of a certain
> age - THAT WAY and FUNNY  are/?were the standard terms used in
> ordinary conversation. Combine that with Billie Holliday's recording,
> "He's Funny That Way," and you had a real, chick-embarrassing
> thigh-slapper!
>
> --
> -Wilson
> –––
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> –Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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