[Ads-l] Cattle call (show business)

[Peter Reitan]

Perhaps influenced by the song, "Cattle Call," which had been featured in the John Ford/John Wayne film, Rio Grande (1950).  There had also been a 1944 film of that title.

https://youtu.be/6-ER8ji1uRU?si=wYfD0mz8K_TvEPj4

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Sunday, June 9, 2024 6:36:47 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Cattle call (show business)

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Good work, Peter. Here are the details for the citation you found.

The two aspiring actors in the following excerpt are named Gerrianne
Raphael and John Weaver.

Date: November 8, 1952
Periodical: The New Yorker
Article: The Talk of the Town
Sub-Section: Crazy, Crazy
Start Page 23, Quote Page 24, Column 3
Publisher: The New Yorker Magazine Inc, New York
Database: Online Archive of The New Yorker at archives.newyorker.com

[Begin excerpt]
Weaver, a light-haired young man in a leather jacket and a white
shirt, asked Miss Raphael if she was going to Cattle Call.

"I don't think so," she said, and told us that "Cattle Call" is the
actors' name for the weekly assemblage of actors and actresses that
one of the television studios holds to see who is available for parts.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sun, Jun 9, 2024 at 2:02=E2=80=AFAM mr_peter_morris at outlook.com
<mr_peter_morris at outlook.com> wrote:
>
> Possible 1952 cite. Usual caveats about google dating.
>
> "Cattle Call " is the actors ' name for the weekly assemblage of actors
> and actresses that one of the tele- vision studios holds to see who is
> avail- able for parts ..."
>
> https://tinyurl.com/48fj9v73
>
>
> Not able to get the page to load right now.  Not sure if it's a fault on
> Google
> or on my computer.
>
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From "Steven Losie" <stevenlosie at GMAIL.COM>
> To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date 07/06/2024 18:06:00
> Subject Cattle call (show business)
>
> >The show business term "cattle call", referring to an open audition for
> >actors/performers, has no entry in the OED. Here is the earliest instanc=
e I
> >was able to find where "cattle call" was used in this sense:
> >
> >[begin quote]
> >Frank considers his "open auditions" of tremendous importance both to
> >actors and performers of all kinds[...]
> >
> >[..]
> >
> >For these reasons, he insists on handling them carefully and without the
> >often distressing and embarrassing lineups, referred to by actors as
> >"cattle calls," which they are, in a sense.
> >[end quote]
> >
> >Source: The Gazette and Daily (York, Penn.), 29 Mar 1954, p.18, col.2 (
> >newspapers.com)
> >Article title: Radio and Television
> >Author: John Lester
> >
> >https://www.newspapers.com/image/65863674/?match=3D1&terms=3D%22cattle%2=
0call%22%20audition
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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