[Ads-l] Pie fight (slapstick)

[Steven Losie]

PIE FIGHT (slapstick)

Surprisingly, there is no entry in the OED for "pie fight", the common
trope of slapstick comedy. While there are earlier instances of the phrase
in the sense of "fights resulting from a dispute over a pie", here is the
earliest I could find where it is used in the sense of pie-throwing:

[begin quote]
[headline] Members of Lebanon Valley Football Team in Pie Fight

[..]

A pie fight was started in the dining hall of Lebanon Valley College last
night, when members of the football squad, who were served their first pie
of the year, found that it was of the "shoo-fly" variety.

For several minutes the air was filled with pieces of the flying "dope,"
and Earl Mickey and Elmer Kirkpatrick, Harrisburg boys, received injuries
about the face when struck by the quarters.
[end quote]
Source: Harrisburg (Pa.) Telegraph, 26 Nov 1912, p.2, col.2 (newspapers.com)

This one from ten days earlier might also fit the bill, but elsewhere in
the article it mentions that the assailant was charged with assault with a
deadly weapon, so it's unclear if the "pie fight" actually involved the
throwing of pies:

[begin quote]
[headline] Big Pie Fight Aboard Weber

As a result of a pie fight among waiters aboard the steamer Captain Weber
one man is in jail, another in the pantry and a whole bunch will be out of
a job.

[..]

The cook will take the witness stand in Casabasan's behalf, it is believed,
and will endeavor to establish the fact that his pies are not deadly.
[end quote]
Source: Stockton (Cal.) Daily Evening Record, 16 Nov 1912, p.12, col.2 (
newspapers.com)

Here are the earliest I could find directly related to slapstick comedy.
This first one uses "pie battle" instead of "pie fight", and comes from a
summary of the Fatty Arbuckle film _A Quiet Little Wedding_:

[begin quote]
A lemon meringue pie battle ensues, with the rival the victor.
[end quote]
Source: The Moving Picture World (New York), 25 Oct 1913, Vol.18, No.4,
p.422, col.3 (Google Books)
Article title: Independent Film Stories
https://books.google.com/books?id=S0w_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA422&dq=%22quiet+little+wedding%22

The earliest usage of the specific "pie fight" phrase that I could find in
relation to slapstick comes from a summary of the 1917 film _A Job For
Life_ starring Charles Dudley:

[begin quote]
This starts a pie fight.
[end quote]
Source: The Moving Picture World (New York), 10 Feb 1917, Vol.31, No.6,
p.903, col.1 (Google Books)
Article title: Stories of the Films
https://books.google.com/books?id=c88qAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA10-PA10-IA1&dq=%22pie+fight%22

A few months later, the phrase appeared in a couple of summaries of the
film _Surf Scandal_ starring Dan Russell:

[begin quote]
After many thrilling incidents, the picture ends in a pie fight.
[end quote]
Source: Motography (Chicago), 21 July 1917, Vol.18, No.3, p.162, col.2
(Google Books)
Article title: Stories of the New Film Releases
https://books.google.com/books?id=qgtKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA162&dq=%22pie+fight%22

[begin quote]
After a chase, the picture ends in a pie fight.
[end quote]
Source: The Moving Picture World (New York), 21 July 1917, p.534, col.1,
Vol.33, No.3 (Internet Archive)
Article title: Stories of the Films
https://archive.org/details/movpicwor33movi/page/n609/mode/2up?q=%22pie+fight%22

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