The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-03-14
In New York
RY PAUL HARRISON

fldeQ the OLner Qay that ne naU just caught the last chance of a whodunit which will be sure tur- key once the erik get hold of it, the idea occurred to your corres- pondent that he had better be up and about the business of record- ing @ glossary of slang.
 All that my confidant was try ing to7say was that he had attend- ed the dress rehearsal of mys- tery play and predicted that it would be a quick failure as soon as the dramatic critics printcal their reviews. A dress rehearsal is Hast chance" for. director to smooth over a production be- fore 1t is viewed by the cash cus- toners. A turkey is any enter prise. doomed to failure--a zoo- logical cousin of the white ele- phant." A "whodunit" may be either mystery play or novel, and is term coined by the self styled 'muggs" who write for the theatrical weekly, Variety.
 Much of the slang current m show business comes from the terse columns of that lively pulp lication. It designates short-livcd plays as "h0usewarmers"; closed show as a "foldee". If a pro- duction is 'upping," Variety means that business is improving. It was the first to call an orches. tra an "ork". A "kill-time spot" is cocktail lounge. When Q concern takes bath" 1t under. goes bankruptcy proceedings.
 ~~y sv,wvv, w1 a w~y e,nvvrnr
 Tiffany water," on Broadway, is champagne. A well-informed in- dividual is said to 'know the right time." Inconspicuous husbands of women staes are called ''col. onels'' And there are a great many colonels on the rialto and in Hollywood. At the slightly alec. holic "tea dances attended by young things down from boarding school, one warns another of a dangling slip by some mention of a ;Ph D. degree. "Ph D." seems to stand for '.petticoat hanging down."
 And speaking of initials, there's that versatile pair, "B. O." It has one meaning in the soap ads. but in the theater 1t stands for box office. To newspapermen 1t means business office, but in legal circles it's an abbreviation for "bound over" <. In Manhattan hotels, any guest who doesn't tip Is known among the ,bellhops as MT McGee" Musicians havo Q wide variety of slang terms foc various instruments. Thus, an ac- cordion may be called a stomach pump bass fiddle a ''dark house, 9 clarinet a ''gobblestick", saxophone "meerschaum." Leaders who wield matons usually are termed "magicians." And when a magician wants his orls to play with particular feeling he says, Play it with schmaltz".
 TIP TO SUCKERS
 Down on the fringes of the fi- nancial district, stock-selling rac- keteers have a slanguage all their own. Suckers are known as "lilies," mugs" or s"pushovers" When a lily been plucked by a swindler ha becomes & "wrapup".
 High-pressure salesmen are known as, "dynamiters,"s who usu- ally have outing assistants called "bird dogs". A ...'coxy" Is an ineS- QtTASilCSu 6A4SS1AAc%Alp WAO OC6A4S hi0 career in a boiler room," an offics from which stock sales are soli- cited by telephone. After a sale is made, the account : is turned over to a "reloader" who tries to persuade the victim to surrender his worthless stock and some ad- ditional cash for more shares of an equally worthless stock.
 These high pressure sales talks are known as the "razz' Gus. toners often are dazzled by, i'm. pressfve scenery" which may bs a dummy board of directors with important sounding names. Or maybe the names of well-known financiers are borrowed for th4 promotion of a stock swindle. When the law steps in with indict- ments, that's known as tagging. @ Next time you're offered a sure thing investment by some smooth stranger. you might try little OK pertinent. Say, If you're a dyna- miter and think you've got a lily, you'd better cut the razz and lam before you get tagged" If he knows what you're talking about hell probably lam.