[Ads-l] B movie (1930)

[Ben Zimmer]

See also my post from last May with cites for "(class) B
picture/feature/movie" going back to 1915.

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2024-May/165407.html


On Sat, Dec 14, 2024 at 4:09 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> In its entry for "B," the OED has a sense II.4.b.iii, "A supporting film
> for the main feature in a cinema programme."  The earliest citation they
> present is dated 1949.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> dave at wilton.net <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2024 9:06 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: B movie (1930)
>
>
> Not in the OED.
>
> Arising from the film distribution system of the 1920s and 30s. Class A
> films were produced by the major and major-minor studios and distributed to
> the theaters they owned and in second run to independent theaters on a
> percentage basis. Class B films were produced to major, major-minor, and
> minor studios and distributed to independent theaters for a flat fee.
> Theaters would often pair a class A and a class B film in a double feature.
>
> In reference to theaters that showed them:
>
> “Publix Corporation Will Operate Two Ottumwa Theaters.” Des Moines
> Register (Iowa), 2 September 1930, 11/2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
>
> "OTTUMWA—Announcement of the sale of operating rights of the Square and
> Empire Theaters of this city to the Public corporation of Iowa, subsidiary
> of the National Paramount Publix, has been made by Stephen Braun, former
> owner and manager. The contract involves a twenty-year lease and Emerson,
> who has recently been manager of class B movie houses operated by Publix in
> Des Moines, will be resident manager of the local theaters. Both houses
> will be redecorated and a talkie machine will be installed in the Empire,
> which up to the present time has been without this equipment, thus bringing
> the total of talkie houses in Ottumwa to five."
>
> In reference to the films themselves:
>
> “Screen Views and News: ‘Two-Fisted Gentleman’ Just Another Fight Film.”
> New York Post, 25 August 1936, 11/2. Readex: America’s Historical
> Newspapers.
>
> "In the lineup, besides the principals, are George McKay, Thurston Hall,
> Gene Morgan, Paul Guilfoyle and Harry Tyler. It’s what the Columbia
> executives call a Class B movie."
>
>

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