From: adolphso@mizar.usc.edu (adolphson)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: Ball Snaps and Calla Lillies, and a game.
Date: 31 Aug 1992 20:57:53 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: mizar.usc.edu

In article <p9k6ajc@fido.asd.sgi.com> 
pauli@sgi.com (Paul Isaacs) writes:
> In article <la5g2gINN3ab@mizar.usc.edu> 
> adolphso@mizar.usc.edu (adolphson) writes:
> >In article <p9cqsi0@fido.asd.sgi.com> 
> >pauli@uniblab.asd.sgi.com (Paul Isaacs) writes:
> >> So we watched the movie "Stage Door" this weekend.  Great flick.  
> >> Lucille Ball, Katheryn Hepburn, Eve Arden, Ginger Rogers, and more.
> >
> >Katharine Hepburn.  She's *very* sensitive about the spelling
> >of her name.
>
> Ah, so *THAT'S* why she stopped inviting me over for cocktails.

It was the final straw, dearest.

> >> [1] I distinctly saw Lucille Ball *snap* at one of the other characters.
> >>    The film was made in 1937, so this seems to be a very early occurence,
> >>    no?  Has there been a thread on the origin of the snap?  Did it go 
> >>    back this far?  I'm curious if this was a common thing in the thirties.
> >
> >Aaaaargh.  The threadlet I started was not about [insert list of snaps here]

Hey!  You deleted my list of snaps! 

> >nor any of the other kinds of snaps performed by one person at a time.  
> >No.  The threadlet I started was about rhythmic unison snapping by groups 
> >of people, snapping that takes the place of hand-clapping.  
>
> Dearest Arne.  And I was truly looking forward to your comments.

But of course you were.

> But it looks as though your ego has gotten the better of you this time.

*Never*!

> I was actually referring to the set of ALL threads about snaps, not 
> merely the set of threads about snaps introduced by Arne.

How I adore metaphors drawn from the wonderful world of higher math.

>  There have been others before you, Honeylamb.

Oh, but they didn't have the well-known -- and much beloved -- 
ArneTouch (TM), so who paid any attention?

> And no offense, but actually I skipped your last snap thread.  (Or is that 
> "I just snapped a thread skipping?  Ah, well, no matter)

<Stern expression>

> >Read-you-up-down snaps are much in evidence in bitchy comedies from the 
> >thirties, so I would imagine they were known out in the real world, too.
>
> Now that's more like it!  This is the info I was sure you could come up with.
> Have you got some examples?  And more importantly, where did this start?
> Is it a hollywood thing, a bohemian thing, or what?

I'm *not* a specialist in the history of body language, sweetheart,
so I don't know where it came from.  My guess is that read-you-up-
and-down snaps were used out in the real world first.  And I would
imagine that this particular use probably derived from snaps expressing
impatience.  <snap>  As for examples, nothing more specific than
Carole Lombard in a satin bias-cut evening gown comes to mind.  And
that could be almost any movie she made, but my guess would be "Twentieth
Century".  (But not "My Man Godfrey", or "Nothing Sacred", or "We're 
Not Dressing" (which features Ethel Merman, by the way), or "Mr. and 
Mrs. Smith".)  Perhaps "To Be or Not to Be"?  

[...]
> Well, if we don't come up with some definite answers I'll have to do
> one of two things. [1] watch the film again, which I happen to love. It 
> reminds me of my family.  

Heavens, watch the movie again no matter the outcome of this search
for the origins of snaps.  (And if you've got time, you really do
owe it to yourself to watch some Carole Lombard movies.  She was,
in my not so humble opinion, one of *the* most brilliant comedians
ever to step in front of the movin' pitcher cameras.)

>                            or [2] Find someone who'se got the play on
> line and search for the word "calla"

No, don't do that.  Watch some Carole Lombard movies.  Or, if you've
got even more time, watch some Clara Bow movies.

Arne