Slight Further Antedating of "Cliffhanger"
Shapiro, Fred
fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Tue Jun 17 12:39:24 UTC 2014
I believe the earliest citation for "cliffhanger" has been from June 1931, found by me. Here's slightly earlier:
cliffhanger (OED 1937)
1931 _Variety_ 14 Jan. 22 (Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive) U Will Glorify Cliff Hangers in 4 Serials -- Maybe 6 ... Glorifying the firemen and the brave lads of circuses and plains in its current serials, Universal will continue its Ziegfieldian activities next year. ... Henry McRae, in charge of the cliff hangers, is searching for story material.
Fred Shapiro
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