[Ads-l] Antedating of "Whodunit"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Since prominent U.S. theater critic Percy Hammond was mentioned, I
performed another search and found a fun 1923 citation for
"who-done-it drama".

Date: November 28, 1923
Newspaper: New York Tribune
Newspaper Location: New York, New York
Article: The Theaters: Thrills and Fevers in a New Play by Mrs.
Belmont and Miss Ford
Author: Percy Hammond
Quote Page 12, Column 1
Database: ProQuest

[Begin excerpt]
Those familiar with the processes of the who-done-it drama may reduce
the number of suspects to ten. The guilty-looking footman who slinks
furtively in and out and who swoons when questioned by the police is,
of course, innocent
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, Aug 4, 2026 at 11:42 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Here are some citations tracing the hyphenated phrase "who-done-it"
> applied to works of fiction. A linguist would know whether any of
> these are useful as bracketed citations or alternative spellings.
>
> Date: May 1924
> Periodical: Classic: Pictorial of Screen and Stage
> Article: Current Stage Plays
> Quote Page 95, Column 2
> Publisher: Brewster Publications Inc., Jamaica, New York
> Database: Internet Archive
> https://archive.org/details/motionpicturecla00brew/page/n704/mode/1up?q=%22who+done%22
>
> [End excerpt]
> Vanderbilt. — "In the Next Room." Mrs. August Belmont offers a
> thrilling melodrama which centers about the mysterious murder of two
> men in the "next room." What Percy Hammond refers to as the
> "Who-done-it? drama." Better than the best of this breed.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Date: April 22, 1925
> Newspaper: Chicago Daily Tribune
> Newspaper Location: Chicago, Illinois
> Article: Theater
> Quote Page 25, Column 6
> Database: Newspapers.com
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-guess/203139931/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "The Gorilla," which has had a try-out, is to be done next week in
> New-York by Frederick Truesdell, Stephen Maley, Miss Betty Weston, and
> Frank McCormack. . . . It is said to be the ultimate effort in the way
> of guess-who-done-it plays.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Date: March 14, 1928
> Newspaper: Chicago Daily Tribune
> Newspaper Location: Chicago, Illinois
> Article: Theater
> Quote Page 33, Column 6
> Database: Newspapers.com
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-who/203140064/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "Cock Robin," a comic variant by Philip Barry of the who-done-it
> plays, will be through in New York at the end of the week. . . .
> Meanwhile, that author's "Paris-Bound" checks up as among the sound
> successes there.
> [End excerpt]
>
> In the citation below the phrase is not hyphenated. It might be the
> name of a play.
>
> Date: July 28, 1928
> Newspaper: The San Francisco Call Bulletin
> Newspaper Location: San Francisco, California
> Article: Guide to Showland
> Quote Page 9, Column 1
> Database: Newspapers.com
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-call-bulletin-done/203144481/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> VAUDEVILLE
> ORPHEUM-Pearl Regay, dancer; Jane Green,- "Siren of Syncopation,"
> assisted by Adolpho Giron and Moret Freeman, Paul Morton and Miss
> Billie Stout In "Hey, Taxi!" David Hartman and Frances Nordstrom in
> "Who Done It?" mystery play satire; Ruth Warren and company in comedy
> skit; photoplay, "The Masked Angel," starring Betty Compson.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Aug 4, 2026 at 10:47 PM Ben Zimmer
> <00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I see Bonnie Taylor-Blake clipped this one already:
> >
> > ---
> > Chicago Tribune, Apr. 8, 1926, p. III1, col. 6, "Theater"
> > "The Last Warning," a who-done-it piece shown three years ago in the
> > Blackstone, is to be restored to view Sunday night in the Central.
> > https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-who-done-it-4826/152397336/
> > ---
> >
> > --bgz
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Aug 4, 2026 at 7:18 PM Shapiro, Fred <
> > 00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > whodunit (OED 1930)
> > >
> > > 1929 Illinois State Journal 17 Oct. 11/3 (Newspapers.com)
> > >
> > > "The Unholy Night," proceeds first and fascinatingly to a smashing climax,
> > > dealing out laughter and goose-flesh as it moves on its mysterious way.
> > > You'll agree with me, I'm sure, in thinking it one of the best "whodunit"
> > > films ever produced.
> > >
> > > Fred Shapiro
> > >
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org