[Ads-l] Stix Nix Hix Pix

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Fun topic, LH. Here are citations for six versions of the headline.
This is a sampling of close matches. I have not tried to find the
earliest citations or the widest variety.

1935: STICKS NIX HICK PIX
1936: STIX NIX HICK PIX
1937: STIX NIX HIX PIX
1949: STIX NIX HICKS PIX
1953: STICKS NIX HICKS PICS
1955: STICKS NIX HIX PIX

Here are some of the citations.

[ref 1935 July 17, Variety, Volume 119, Number 5, (Front page
headline), Quote Page 1, Column 1, Variety Inc., New York. (ProQuest)
[/ref]

[Begin headline]
STICKS NIX HICK PIX
NOT INTERESTED IN FARM DRAMA
[End Headline]

[ref] 1936 October, Word Study, Volume 12, Number 2, Variety of
Variety, Start Page 2, Quote Page 2 and 3, G. & C. Merriam Company,
Springfield, Massachusetts. (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]
https://books.google.com/books?id=gL0_AQAAIAAJ&q=Stix#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
Perhaps the most famous instance of Variety’s new brand of English is
a headline that  appeared a year or so ago: Stix Nix Hick Pix. One may
puzzle over this for quite a while before discovering that it
signifies (in Mr. Green’s choice language) that “the bucolic belt
refuses to patronize mustang mellers, giddy-appers, horse operas, or
bronc pix [Western films that is], along with other rural themes.” The
1929 debacle was translated in Variety as Wall Street Lays an Egg.
[End excerpt]

[ref 1937 January 6, Variety, Volume 125, Number 4, Radio: With Baker
Through Darkest Radio Gags by Phil Baker, Quote Page 136, Column 5,
Variety Inc., New York. (ProQuest) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
And so with utmost reluctance, we pack gag and camera as we prepare to
leave the beautiful island of Kgnu. And our last thought as we pass
under the sheltering palms is STIX NIX HIX PIX.
[End excerpt]

[ref] 1949 April 8, The Bergen Evening Record, Remember?, Quote Page
36, Column 2, Hackensack, New Jersey. (ProQuest) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
. . . but all most of us remember of “Variety” is that once, many
years ago, a copyreader trailing clouds of glory wrote the headline
“Stix Nix Hicks Pix”.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Jul 14, 2023 at 11:50 AM Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> WikiP y notes that the celebrated _Variety_ headline was the less
> euphonious but slightly more idiomatic "Stix Nix Hick Pix" (July 17, 1935).
> See https://variety.com/1935/film/news/sticks-nix-hick-pix-1117922332/
>
> It doesn't mention, though, that the paper misquoted itself at least twice:
> on Jan. 6, 1937 and on Dec. 22, 1937:
>
> https://archive.org/details/variety125-1937-01/page/n135/mode/2up?q=%22stix+nix+hix+pix%22
>
> <goog_619687204>
> https://archive.org/details/variety128-1937-12/page/n199/mode/2up?q=%22stix+nix+hix+pix%22
>
> So it's quite correct to say that "_Variety_ published the line 'Stix Nix
> Hix Pix.'"  Heh heh. More importantly, perhaps, I found this out the
> old-fashioned way. Google Bard and Bing AI both came up short - though Bard
> alone directed me the Variety website.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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