[Ads-l] romcom (1963)

[Peter Reitan]

Similar Rom-com and Com-rom in TV listings five years earlier.  Several examples in the same paper in 1958 and 1959.

The Circleville Herald (Circlevill, Ohio), August 9, 1958, page 9.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/27001080/the_circleville_herald/

Saturday. 1:00. (6) Movie - "Luck of the Irish" - rom-com.


On Sunday of the following week you had your choice of a rom-com on channel 6 or a com-rom on channel 10 at the same time.

The Circleville Herald (Circlevill, Ohio), August 15, 1958, page 9.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/27001120/the_circleville_herald/

Sunday. 1:00 (6) Movie - Happiness ahead - rom-com; (10) Movie - "The cowboy and the Blonde" - com-rom.

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Subject: romcom (1963)

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OED3 (2005 draft entry) has 1971 as the earliest cite for "romcom" =
"romantic comedy." Merriam-Webster gives the same year. Here it is from
1963:

Vancouver Sun, Feb. 8, 1963, p. 63, col. 3
Ch. 2, 11:33 - The Bridal Path (rom-com, 1959).
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26956167/romcom/

This is from TV listings for movies -- true of most of the early cites,
including the OED's 1971 example. The Vancouver Sun listing uses standard
abbreviations for genres: "dra" for "drama," "mys" for "mystery," "mus" for
"musical," "adv" for "adventure," "wes" for "western," etc. There are a
number of other hybrids on the same page, such as "mus-dra," "mys-com," and
"rom-dra." Another movie, "Let's Live a Little" with Hedy Lamarr, is listed
as "com-rom," which I guess means it's more comedy than romance.

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