I may be one of the few who never forgot "Will it play in Peoria?" because I have an obsession with old timey language, theater jargon, and the questions of adapting a work for multiple audiences.
I may be one of the few who never forgot "Will it play in Peoria?" because I have an obsession with old timey language, theater jargon, and the questions of adapting a work for multiple audiences.
That one jumped out at me! I feel like I know it from an I Love Lucy episode or something along those lines. 🤔 Does it mean, “Will this idea fly in middle America?”
Basically, yes! And not even necessarily about whether or not something is acceptable to the provincials - Peoria, IL was a fairly common stop for touring vaudeville shows and asking if New York jokes will play to an audience states away was good business sense. But also, Peoria has a funny sound and since it was a common stop it could become a reference in comedians' routines, so it became the butt of a bunch of jokes, and that phrase stuck around both because of its sonorousness but also because you can use it to make jokes at the expense of both middle and coastal US culture. It's a quip that both suggests that the yokels don't appreciate good art and that also your new project is too avant-garde to be commercialized.
I may be one of the few who never forgot "Will it play in Peoria?" because I have an obsession with old timey language, theater jargon, and the questions of adapting a work for multiple audiences.
And we MUST bring back "Oh! You Kid!"
That one jumped out at me! I feel like I know it from an I Love Lucy episode or something along those lines. 🤔 Does it mean, “Will this idea fly in middle America?”
Basically, yes! And not even necessarily about whether or not something is acceptable to the provincials - Peoria, IL was a fairly common stop for touring vaudeville shows and asking if New York jokes will play to an audience states away was good business sense. But also, Peoria has a funny sound and since it was a common stop it could become a reference in comedians' routines, so it became the butt of a bunch of jokes, and that phrase stuck around both because of its sonorousness but also because you can use it to make jokes at the expense of both middle and coastal US culture. It's a quip that both suggests that the yokels don't appreciate good art and that also your new project is too avant-garde to be commercialized.