[Ads-l] Stix Nix Hix Pix

Sat Jul 15 17:51:52 UTC 2023

There is some uncertainty about the identity of the creator of the
famous headline. Abel Green, the editor of Variety, discussed this
topic thirty years afterward in an article he penned in Variety.

Green suggests that either he wrote the headline or it was a
collaborative effort with Lin Bonner. The term "streamer" meant
"headline".

[ref] 1965 October 13, Variety, Volume 119, Number 5, STICKS NIX HICK
PIX by Abel Green, Quote Page 2, Column 5, Variety Inc., New York.
(ProQuest) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
A historic oddity attaches to this headline. The story itself was
anything but one of this paper’s best and Lin Bonner was assigned to
come up with a lively streamer. Bonner had only just been transferred
from the Hollywood to the New York staff, coming east in the hope a
change of climate would help his health. After he groped half an
afternoon for the right swing and size of caption this editor applied
the final touch. All unanticipated, a VARIETY classic was born. There
was irony in the fact that Bonner was suffering from, and did not know
it, cancer and was dead within three weeks!
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sat, Jul 15, 2023 at 7:40 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Can't believe I misspelled the primal "STICKS" as "STIX."
>
> But then Garson confused me with Larry. That makes me feel better.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Jul 14, 2023 at 10:23 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > 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
> >
>
>
> --
> "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