[Ads-l] "soap opera" (1938) and "horse opera" (1916)

Sat Dec 7 15:56:38 UTC 2024

I'd be extremely eager to learn of an earlier example of _space opera_, since the current earliest, Bob Tucker in January 1941, appears to be the acknowledged coinage.

There's also _time opera_ from April 1953.

Jesse Sheidlower

On Sat, Dec 07, 2024 at 03:53:01PM +0000, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> Very nice posting, Dave.  I've been trying to push back the first use of "soap opera" for many decades, you have improved on the Cincinnati Post 1938 citation I had found.
> 
> "Horse opera" is an interesting term.  I can't improve on your 1916 citation for "horse opera" meaning a Western movie.  But the term goes way back in reference to stage productions.  The earliest such citation from Internet Archive is Literary Gazette, Aug. 1, 1835.  I don't know what the connection is between stage productions and horses.
> 
> Can you antedate "space opera," Dave ?
> 
> Fred Shapiro, who owns a horse named Tiger
> 
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of dave at wilton.net <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Sent: Saturday, December 7, 2024 9:37 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: "soap opera" (1938) and "horse opera" (1916)
> 
> 
> The OED has 1938 for "soap tragedies" and 1939 for "soap opera"; 1927 for "horse opera."
> 
> Soap opera:
> 
> Cook, Alton. “Bushman Still Star in Radio.” Buffalo Times (New York), 27 February 1938, 8-D/2. Newspapers.com.
> 
> "Chicago is the home of the 'soap opera,' an odd name which has been tacked on to those morning and afternoon serial dramas by radio actors. Soap manufacturers were the first to use these daytime serials extensively and, actors being actors, the name stuck."
> 
> Kennedy, Paul. “From Off the Cuff.” Cincinnati Post (Ohio), 2 March 1938, 20/1. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
> 
> "McKay Morris who did so slick a stint in 'Tovarich' here signed as a regular member of the soap opera 'Ma Perkins.'"
> 
> Gray, Robert. “‘Tovarich’ Road Show Star Joins Cast of Radio Drama.” Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee), 9 March 1938, 22/3. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
> 
> "In explaining his entrance into radio via the daytime serial route rather than guest appearances on the bigger shows, Morris expresses belief that the 'soap operas' are a greater test of adaptability to radio. 'And being so typically “radio” as contrasted to adaptations to radio from some other medium,' he says, 'they can teach me more thoroughly about radio acting.'"
> 
> Kennedy, Paul, “‘Soap Operas’ Concentrated into Hourly Slots on Schedule.” Cincinnati Post (Ohio), 30 May 1938, 6/6. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
> 
> "Some pretty drastic things are happening to the “soap operas” beginning with today’s schedule.
> 
> "The 'soap opera,' in the event the term puzzles, is the 15-minute dramatic serial which has become phenomenally successful in the past two years. Beginning today the flour millers, which have offered so many of these pieces, have consolidated their programs and now have a solid hour lined up from 1 to 2 p. m. Mondays through Fridays.
> 
> […]
> 
> "But that’s not all. The Cincinnati soapworks which pioneered the soap opera as a selling medium has capped this effort and has a full our in the morning on one NBC network and full hour in the afternoon on another. The morning lineup, running from 9:45 to 10:45 includes: Ma Perkins, Story of Mary Marlin, Vic and Sade and Pepper Young’s Family. Almost the same lineup will be repeated in the afternoon from 2 to 3 on another network."
> 
> Horse opera:
> 
> “Enid Markey Camping Out.” Seattle Sunday Times (Washington), 3 September 1916, Section 3, 3/2. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
> 
> "Enid Markey, the Triangle-Ince actress, is having an unusual experience this week. She is the only girl among more than a hundred men who are camping out in Topango Canyon, several miles from Inceville, where William S. Hart is engaged in filming scenes for the Triangle drama by J. G. Hawks, in which she is starring. Miss Markey is appearing 'opposite' Hart in the play and is so profoundly revered by the Inceville 'horse-opera troupe' that she had no compunctions about living in Topango indefinitely."
> 
> Price, Guy. “Coast Picture News.” Variety, 28 December 1917, 251. ProQuest Magazines.
> 
> "Cliff Smith is known around the Triangle plant as the 'director of horse opera.' He is the chap who tells Roy Stewart, the western drama, [sic] star, how it should be done before the camera."
> 
> “Among the Photoplays.” Columbus Dispatch (Ohio), 18 September 1918, 22/3. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
> 
> "Then he [Roy Stewart] found that the stage was long on plays and short on funds. So he drifted into the movies. He got his first start under Director Cliff Smith, called by some westerners 'the Hammerstein of Horse Opera.'"
> 
> 
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