[Ads-l] oldies but goodies

[Laurence Horn]

That's great to see, Ben!  Virtue sometimes triumphs, even when it must do
so via Tweets!

LH

On Tue, Oct 11, 2022 at 11:52 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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>

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