[Ads-l] oldies but goodies

[Ben Zimmer]

Thanks, Garson. After I posted about this on Twitter, the AP corrected
Art Laboe's obituary.

---
https://apnews.com/article/art-laboe-obituary-disc-jockey-oldies-but-goodies-0d9ed352a61dd702e26f3b07b33df984
This story was updated on October 11, 2022 to correct that Laboe did not
coin the phrase “oldies, but goodies” but popularized it.
---

On Tue, Oct 11, 2022 at 10:17 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> Great work, Ben. Uncovering that 1932 citation in archive.org is
> impressive.
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Oct 11, 2022 at 12:02 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > The Associated Press obituary for longtime radio DJ Art Laboe gives him
> > credit for coining "oldies but goodies."
> >
> > ---
> >
> 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."
> >
> > ---
> > 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.
> > ---
> >
> > Also as early as 1934, singular "oldie but (a) goodie" or plural "oldies
> > but goodies" could be used for old sayings:
> >
> > ---
> > 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.
> > ---
> > 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.
> >
> > ---
> > 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.
> > ---
> > 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."
> > ---
> > 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.
> > ---
> >
> > (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.
> >
> >
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2020-September/158101.html
>

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