Re: The show must go on
Thanks. I didn't think of searching without the "must." But I would say that without the "must," it is a very different phrase. Without further info on what the movie was about and to what the title...
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Dave, the IMDB does list a 1937 movie title "The Show Goes On." Rees's reference? Obviously not a "must" see! www.imdb.com/title/tt0029556/
View ArticleRe: The show must go on
IMDB has no reference to a 1937 film with that title.The 1941 cite in the OED appears to be the earliest that can be verified. (The Granville work that Partrididge/Beale cites is from the 1950s.)
View ArticleRe: The show must go on
According to Nigel Rees in "A word in your shell-like...":The phrase seems to have been originally been a circus saying, though no one seems able to turn up a written reference before 1930. "The Show...
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Eric Partridge in Dictionary of Catch Phrases:show must go on - the, has long been 'the traditional slogan... of the troupers'. Whatever misfortune or illness befalls, 'it is a point of honour not to...
View ArticleRe: The show must go on
The first two cites in the OED are below. The second one indicates that it may be originally from circus folk: 1941 E. HOLDING Speak of Devil xvii. 281 The hotel business is like the theatre. No...
View ArticleThe show must go on
Etymology Online says of this phrase, "first attested 1941".Does OED2 have the actual cite? (Or an earlier cite.)
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