[Ads-l] Antedating of "Torch Song" and "Carry A Torch For"

[Bill Mullins]

>   torch song (OED 1927), carry a torch for (OED 1927)
>
>   1926 Damon Runyan in Lancaster (Pa.) Daily Intelligencer 27 Oct. 10/7 (Newspapers.com)
>
>   Carrying the torch describes the sad condition of a person, male or female, who has had a falling out with their loved one,
>   sweetheart, wife or husband. ... Mr. Tommy Lyman wrote the first really important torch song.

1923 J. Steinbeck Cup of Gold 116

“You forget only one thing, sir,” she said. “I do not burn. I wonder if I shall ever burn again. You do not carry a torch
for me — and I hoped you did. I came this morning to see if you did. And I have heard your words so often and so
often in Paris and Cordova. I am tired of these words that never change. Is there some book with which aspiring
lovers instruct themselves? The Spanish men say the same things, but their gestures are more practised, and so a
little more convincing. You have much to learn.”

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.150239/page/n112/mode/1up?q=%22carry+a+torch+for%22


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