On Wed, 24 Apr 2002, Cuyler Page wrote:

> re. "blue movies "  re. history
>
> Blue movies appear to be so named because of a connection between a wheat
> fungus and the popularity of white flour when the process for making it was
> perfected in the late 1800's.
>
> Smut is a nasty fungus that grows on wheat in moist conditions.   The fungus
> produces a lot of tiny dusty black spores when dry.
>
> White flour became highly fashionable in the late Victorian era, and mills
> used many white associations in brand names for their new product to help
> sell it.   In 1891, our local newspaper had an article that said "People are
> not at all pleased with flour from the local mills this year.  Due to all
> the smut in the wheat fields, the flour has a bluish tinge."   When movies
> came along just a tad later, in lily white society the familiar terms smut
> and blue became linked, hence "smutty movies and blue movies".

Supposedly, back in the days when Sen. Reed Smoot of Utah was a crusader
against obscenity, there was an editorial headline "SMITE SMUT, SMOOT!"
But a Google search only turns up an Ogden Nash poem about it.

                                    Larry

---
Lawrence Kestenbaum, [log in to unmask]
Washtenaw County Commissioner, 4th District
The Political Graveyard, http://politicalgraveyard.com
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Mailing address: P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106

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