[Ads-l] Cattle call (show business)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Alfred Hitchcock received credit in 1940 for calling all actors
cattle, a thematic precursor:

Quote Origin: All Actors Are Cattle
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/08/01/all-actors-are-cattle/

Leonard Lyons in the Washington Post on July 26,1940 wrote:

[Begin excerpt]
When Raft, incidentally, appeared in "The House Across the Bay," his
director was absent for one day, and Alfred Hitchcock was asked to
help, by directing some closeups. "You know," Hitchcock warned Raft,
"that I think all actors are cattle?" Raft replied, "Yes, I know--but
I'm no actor."
[End excerpt]

Many years earlier in 1900 the book "Twelve Great Actors by Edward
Robins" contained this passage:

[Begin excerpt]
The plaintiff in the case got little or no sympathy from the public,
for he belonged to the order of manager, not yet totally extinct, who
looks upon actors as cattle and plays as mere pens wherein to exhibit
them at so much profit.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sun, Jun 9, 2024 at 10:10 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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)
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Cattle call (show business)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
> > >
> > >------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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