"cliff-hanger"

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Tue Jan 21 20:15:15 UTC 2014


Interesting matches, JL. The archive for Variety is searchable without
cost. However, accessing full scans is expensive. Some mailing list
member may have access though a library or subscription.

An archives search shows "cliff hanger" apparently was used when
referencing some types of serials. There are errors in the uncorrected
OCR below. I have not seen the matches in full images so I do not know
the larger context.

[Begin text displayed for match]
in August. Serial Loses Leads Hollywood, June 15. Neither John Mack
Brown or John Wayne, announced for Universal's serial, "Battling with
Buffalo Bill" will be in the cliff hanger. Brown is considered more
valu able for a feature, but the spot is not yet set. Wayne's name
went off the cast sheet when Columbia de cided
Published Date: June 16th, 1931
[End text]

[Begin text displayed for match]
helping theatre along to a satisfac tory gmaa. RKO vaude units now
out, Heidt's band and locally-booked acts holding stage. 'Amori APEING
METRO'S APE LEBER'S SERIAL PLAN Hollywood, Aug. 15. Claiming that hell
spend $250,000 on his serial, "Tarzan (he Tearless,' Bol Lesser
figures the cliff hanger Can land in first runs
Published Date: August 16th, 1932
[End text]


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Garson


On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 2:04 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "cliff-hanger"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The earliest I have found. The word seems not to have been widely used
> until the late '40s:
>
> 1935 _San Antonio Light_ (Apr. 19) 3-B: On the same program is the current
> cliff hanger, "The Red Rider."
>
> 1935 _Trenton Evening Times_ (Oct. 21)  11: Even with the boom in horse
> opera and cliff-hanger drama.
>
> 1937 _Los Angeles Times_ (Mar. 31) A1: Pearl White, star of the celebrated
> serial film, or "cliff hanger" ... "The Perils of Pauline."
>
> But then there's:
>
> 1908 _Staunton [Va.] Spectator and Vindicator_ (Jan. 17) 3: Mr. Cliff
> Hanger is spending a few days with his aunt.
>
> Word to wise: just because Pearl White dangled from a cliff around 1915
> doesn't mean the phrase was coined at that time. Now if she'd dangled
> frequently, that might suggest a new idiom: but if she only did it in one
> episode, among other perils, why should anyone care? If the term existed in
> publicity-hungry Hollywood way back when, why are the earliest discovered
> cites so late and so slow to catch on?
>
> Apparently the term arose (perhaps in the offices of _Variety_) about 1934
> (Note 1935 mention of a recent "boom" in cliff-hangers.)
>
> JL
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 12:33 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: "cliff-hanger"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> At 1/20/2014 04:34 PM, W Brewer wrote:
>> ><<The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval
>> >Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and
>> literature>>
>> >
>> >Arabic 9th c; . . . Antoine Galland, first European translator, Les mille
>> >et une nuits) 1704-1717; first English edition, anonymous 1706;
>> >Edward Lane 1840, 1859; John Payne 1882; Richard Burton 1885; Lyons
>> >& Lyons 2008.
>> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Thousand_and_One_Nights
>>
>> The earliest English-language edition that WorldCat or Harvard holds
>> is 1712.  There were at least 11 editions by 1736 (the date of my
>> newspaper article), and perhaps more: Harvard lists 17, with some
>> having identical years.  Many are in ECCO -- the 1712 and most of the
>> others.
>>
>> Thus I would guess the tales were popular in England in the 1710s and
>> 1720s.  :-)  So, restricting myself to English publications --
>>
>> 1)  One has to decide whether or not the Arabian Nights qualify as
>> "cliff-hangers", since a reader can continue immediately.  I'll also
>> look at a couple of these early English editions to see how they
>> present the tales, and whether the break points qualify as "tenterhooks";
>>  and
>>
>> 2)  The claim for 1736 may have to be diminished to "earliest known
>> 'cliff-hanger' in an English-language *periodical*".
>>
>> Joel
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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