[Ads-l] swing, a musical theatre term

[Bill Mullins]

All of these are from ProQuest.  Note:  the 1942 (both) and 1958 citations are  explicitly not from theater or show-biz contexts.



1942 NY Sunday News 5 April 16/1

That's nine, really, but Sonny was the swing girl who filled in during hangovers and such.



1942 Ithaca Journal 12 Aug 4/5

One out of every seven girls is a "swing-girl" who works on other girls' days off.


1948 Asbury Park Sunday Press 25 Jan   5/1

Both girls appear in several routines and Bobby is what is known as a "swing" girl who substitutes in other acts when performers are unable to appear.

1948 Philadelphia Inquirer 16 Mar. 30 /2

She knows everyone's routines as well as her own -- so they make her "swing girl" and she works an extra night  a week, filling in for kids on their nights off.



1958 Chicago Daily Tribune 8 Oct. E2/3

Bruce Dollahan has been made into a swing performer who can relieve either at left or right tackle.



1968 Back Stage 6 Dec. 19/1

Need a female swing singer.  Young character type.  Greek-looking. A chest voice necessary.




1976 Camden NJ Courier-Post 23 Jan. 47/5

"Pippin" needed one female swing dancer -- to place girls on their days off -- and got 270 applicants!



1977 Boston Sunday Globe 9 Jan A8/1

Any night during the Boston run you might see the youngest Ellington on stage, since the 25-year-old is the show's "swing girl". That means she stands by for every female dancer in the cast and often goes on for one of them.



1980 Back Stage 30 May 107/3

If a member of the chorus is designated to Swing a Chorus number, and was hired solely as a full Swing performer, he or she shall be paid $13 in addition to contractual salary.


1987 Pittsburgh Press 19 July J1/2 [

Dianne Della Piazza, the swing performer for dozens of female roles in the Broadway blockbuster "Les Miserables," performed a cabaret act that was written and choreographed by Norman Roth and for which Stephen Flaherty, a South Hills Catholic High School graduate from Dormont, was musical director.



2013 Philadelphia Daily News 13 Dec.  33

And because stuff can happen we have two more waiting in the wings who can also fill Frankie's shoes during emergencies - one who normally plays the Joe Pesci part, and a fourth, the show's swing player who covers several roles.


----

>From a recent issue of The Guardian (London), profiling professional
mermaids:
[headline]  The real-life mermaids turning fantasy into reality on
Britain’s shores

[Previous to taking up mermaiding, one had been an actress and singer, but
had developed vocal problems:]
She was the show’s swing, a musical theatre term for a performer who can
take on any role in the production at short notice.
(Sun 16 Oct 2022 10.00 BST)

I don't see this in the OED, swing,  noun, #2

GAT


------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org