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Benjamin Dreyer

@bcdreyer.social

America's Copy Editor® author of the New York Times/IndieBound bestseller Dreyer's English and Stet! (the game!) • Random House copy chief/managing editor (ret.) • he/him/his benjamindreyer.com

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Kevin Daly@kevinddaly.bsky.social · 21h ago

Oscar Hammerstein had a terrific 1943, with Oklahoma! opening in March and Carmen Jones opening in December. Finding himself the toast of Broadway again after a long string of failures, he took out a self-deprecating ad in the January 5, 1944 issue of Variety listing his flops. An absolute legend.

Holiday Greetings OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN, IN author of Sunny River (Six Weeks at the St. James Theatre, New York) Very Warm For May (Seven Weeks at the Alvin Theatre, New York) Three Sisters -(Sis Weeks at the Drurs: Lane, London) Ball At The Savoy (Five Weeks at the Drury Lane, London) Free For All -(Three Weeks at the Manhattan Theatre, New York) I'VE DONE IT BEFORE AND I CAN DO IT AGAIN
Benjamin Dreyer@bcdreyer.social · 15h ago

I suddenly realized that I'd never seen the Harold Fry movie! (I just listened to the cast recording and loved it very much.) Off we go. (I copyedited RJ's Perfect, and it's absolutely smashing.)

Benjamin Dreyer@bcdreyer.social · 19h ago

I also once went looking for the ur-source of the joke, referenced in A Star Is Born, that drunks like the song "Melancholy Baby," and to the best of my researching abilities the ur-source of the joke is in fact A Star Is Born.

Benjamin Dreyer@bcdreyer.social · 19h ago

I've also just solved a decades-long mystery (perhaps unique to me): In the 1954 A Star Is Born, Vicki and Norman don't get married in, as I always heard, San Berdoo (i.e., San Bernardino). They get married in the fictional "San Verdo." (Which is apparently actually Piru, Ventura County.)

Benjamin Dreyer@bcdreyer.social · 20h ago

I don't have hills to die on, but I feel rawther strongly about this (👇🏻), especially in notes sections and bibliographies that are still, as many do not anymore, including publisher locations that can't be set city-only.

Benjamin Dreyer@bcdreyer.social · 10mo ago

#copyediting tutorial Those two-letter all-cap state abbreviations (ME, NY, CA, FL, GA, SC, etc.) are fine for envelopes and parcels. For all other uses, please avail yourself of the tried and true human-looking abbreviations: Me., N.Y., Cal. or Calif., Fla., Ga., S.C., also etc.

Benjamin Dreyer@bcdreyer.social · 2d ago

I've stumbled upon the existence of a 2010 film titled Frankenstein Rising that includes appearances by Anita Page, Margaret O'Brien, and Jerry Maren, so of course I'm curious, but I'm not that curious.