As someone who produced plays in NYC — a great “two-handerâ€? is gold. An invitation to make money if it runs. A good example would be the play “Oleannaâ€? by David Mamet.

A “one-hander� as noted is one man or woman show. If they run talk about money makers! John Leguizamo and Eric Bogosian did several terrific one person shows, (before they started doing movies and television.)

The Hollywood ‘Daily Variety’ magazine stated in 1933.

A quick search shows up plenty of usage before this.

eg: (1) “The girls thrilled as well as the boys, for Rosaleen’s was not a mere sex appeal but practically a universal one.” (From ‘The girl and the kingdom;: Learning to teach - Los Angeles city teachers’ club. Bulletin. Suppl., v. 5, no. 6. December 1915]

(2) It was even used as a common phrase in Collier’s Weekly magazine in Wodehouse’s serial ‘The Adventures of Sally’ in 1921. (”Replete as it was with human interest, sex-appeal, the punch, and all the other qualities which a drama should possess ..”)

(3) Even boring academics were using the phrase in the 1920s. eg: “Many ancient authors and scholiasts have commented upon the looseness and sex appeal of this dance” (From Firebaugh’s unexpurgated translation of ‘The Satyricon’)

(4) It was used in 1907 in Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s poem ‘The Cure’ (Published in The Evening Bulletin [Philadelphia]) “It must be the mother’s teaching of the purpose, and the cause, And God’s glory, lying under sex appeal.”

OK - the New York ‘Variety’ Magazine started in 1905 and the earliest reference I can find is from Philadelphia in 1907 … but I’m sure with a little effort we could find an earlier reference.

Mac

‘One-hander’? No, that means exactly what you think it does.

Mac

So, then, is it cool to use Variety slanguage in action blocks to impresse readers with just how incredibly “inside” and “in the know” you are?

Bob, a tubthumping tuner in his own right once, is the long suffering prexy of a currently clickless low-rent diskery: Bobco. The latest round of certs are more of the same, nothing but flops for Bobco.

Bob’s new A&R guy Jim, an aspiring cleffer, senses opportunity. He tells Bob he’s got a boffo tune — a guaranteed whammo with auds and crits alike — and knows just the thrush to belt it out.

That’s a guaranteed “consider” right there — right?

I always wondered how long writers had to train to produce that stuff.

Thanks John.