[Ads-l] oldies but goodies

[Ben Zimmer]

The Associated Press obituary for longtime radio DJ Art Laboe gives him
credit for coining "oldies but goodies."

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https://apnews.com/article/art-laboe-obituary-disc-jockey-oldies-but-goodies-0d9ed352a61dd702e26f3b07b33df984
The DJ is also credited with coining the phrase “oldies, but goodies.” In
1957, he started Original Sound Record, Inc. and in 1958, released the
compilation album “Oldies But Goodies: Vol. 1,” which stayed on the
Billboard’s Top 100 chart for 183 weeks.
---

The expression goes at least as far back as 1932 to refer to musical
"oldies."

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https://archive.org/details/motionpictureher108unse/page/71/mode/1up
Motion Picture Herald, Sept. 24, 1932, p. 71, col. 3
Bing Crosby, San Francisco Fox [...] His list of songs, he admits, runs
largely to "oldies, but goodies" and includes such numbers as "Dinah,"
"Paradise," "Song in My Heart," "Was That the Human Thing to Do?", "Mine,
All Mine" and "I Surrender, Dear."
---
https://archive.org/details/sim_life_1934-07_101_2592/page/45/mode/1up
Life, July 1934, p. 45, "Records"
Dallas and Limehouse Blues, in which the Casa Loma band further displays
its musical virility in this revival of two oldies but goodies.
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Also as early as 1934, singular "oldie but (a) goodie" or plural "oldies
but goodies" could be used for old sayings:

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https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111109138/oldies-but-goodies/
Courier-Post, Camden, NJ, Feb. 10, 1934, p. 8, col. 4
"Walter Winchell on Broadway"
Things I Never Knew 'Til Now [...]
That one of the better definitions of friend is revived by Peggy F. Hawley
of Jackson Heights --source not recalled: "Every man should have a
fair-sized cemetery for the faults of his friends." That other oldies but
goodies include: The only way to have a friend is to be one -- and -- it is
chance that makes brothers -- but hearts make friends. I like this one, too
-- When two friends part -- they should lock up each other's secrets in
their hearts and exchange keys.
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https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111109336/oldie-but-a-goodie/
Arcadia (Calif.) Tribune, Dec. 31, 1935, p. 3, col. 1
"The Sports Panorama" by Eddie Read
We think the S.M.U. gang will -- to use an "oldie but a goodie" -- cloud up
and rain all over the Cards. And they won't need any help from Old Man
Weather.
---

Both singular and plural forms were well established for musical oldies by
1937.

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https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111109375/oldie-but-a-goodie/
Buffalo (NY) News, Mar. 22, 1937, p. 7, col. 3
The Casa Lomas wound up a pleasant Saturday night with "Clarinet Marmalade”
(an oldie but a goodie you cutie) and probably added another 500 customers
or so to their appearance here on April 3.
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Hollywood Reporter, July 22, 1937, p. 4, col. 4 [Proquest]
Silly, but intriguing, Al Jarvis' titles for his new KMTR airing. It's
"Oldies but Goodies."
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https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111109197/oldies-but-goodies/
Pomona (Calif.) Progress Bulletin, Sep. 22, 1937, p. 11, col. 5
Thursday's Programs [...] KMTR [...] Oldies but Goodies, 11:30.
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(KMTR was a Los Angeles radio staton later renamed KLAC.)

We previously discussed "oldie," defined by OED3 as: "Something old or
familiar, esp. an old song, tune, or film which is still popular; also in
_oldie-but-goodie_. Also: a well-known or hackneyed idea or joke; a
cliché." Garson antedated standalone "oldie" to 1931.

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--bgz

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