"Perils of Pauline" -- cliff-hanger or not?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/19/2014 01:18 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>I just want to point out that PoP was not the first adventure serial --
>that was The Adventures of Kathlyn. Unfortunately, the films of that serial
>are mostly lost. The story was also serialized in the Chicago Tribune,
>however; does that have an accessible archive?

Yes, I know that "Kathlyn" was the first "true" serial, with
adventures continued the next episode.  But I don't know whether it
had any cliff suspension.  Your suggestion to look into the Chicago
Tribune may be productive.  The Tribune seems to be available from
1848, in ProQuest Historical Newspapers.  I suspect we won't find
"cliff-hanger" before 1931, or someone like Fred or Ben would already
have told us.  But perhaps one can find a cliff-hanging episode in
"Kathlyn".  If so, that would weaken my surmise that "cliff-hanger"
derives from "Perils of Pauline".  If not, ...

P.S.  Search Google for "pqchhist" (Harvard's abbreviation for PQ
Hist. N'papers) and one can see datamining that might be considered
an invasion of privacy -- Harvard is gathering statistics on how many
times ProQuest Hist. Newspapers is accessed for the Chicago
Tribune.
http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/systems/eresource/stats/YR2006/resources/pqchhist.html
(However, my logins use a dynamic and probably anonymous network
address, whether at home or at a Harvard library.)

Joel

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