[Ads-l] More Re Antedating of "Whodunit"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Congratulations to Garson and Bonnie.  It had never occurred to me to search for spelling variations of "whodunit."  Inspired by them, I tried searching for "hoodunit."  I came up with a 1917 comic strip including the following text:

1917 Fort Wayne News 24 Jan. 12 ("Jerry on the Job" comic strip) (Newspapers.com)  I'll tell you who I am - I'm "Hoodunit" -  the Handcuff King.  I escape from strait jackets and milk cans and I can get out of trunks and hand-cuffs.

The comic strip character's words identify him as a Houdini, but he is wearing what may be a deerstalker hat.  Is he a blend of Houdini and Sherlock Holmes ?  Is the word "Hoodunit" a blend of "Houdini" and "whodunit"?  A Sherlock Holmes element would line up with the semantics of "whodunit."  If this is not a match for "whodunit," I don't know what else it could mean.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, August 5, 2026 3:20 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Whodunit"

Here is a pertinent evolutionary match in 1921. The reviewer Jack Lait
applied the phrase to a burlesque melodrama, but the interrogative
phrase was not hyphenated.

Date: July 29, 1921
Periodical: Variety
Periodical Location: Los Angeles, California
Article: Jack Lait's Reviews
Author: Jack Lait
Quote Page 13, Column 1
Database: ProQuest

[Begin excerpt]
Miss McConnell, as throughout, was beyond criticism. The same
principals dominated a "Who Done It?" burlesque melodrama by Miss
Nordstrom, which was not as cutting nor as subtle nor as finely
carried out; here again Fields (this time as a Mick copper) and Miss
McConnell were splendid and Hopper was acceptable, though not at his
best.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, Aug 5, 2026 at 2:51 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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

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