Hey Bill. Great shave and wonderful info on the backstory of how the idiom cutting to the chase came into existence. I always thought the news journalist would write the story and then it was proofread and edited by the asst. editor before it went to the pressroom and that there would not be any need to further edit to fit the page.
I was not in newspapers other than delivering them as an adolescent, so I have a limited knowledge of detailed procedures. I would think that a story would be reviewed and in editing allow a character count to closely project the space requirement needed. Proofreading is a function after typesetting to catch spelling, punctuation and other typographical errors. More modern news organizations would not use a “cut to the chase” truncation. Comparatively a small operation would likely have done so, especially considering more limited resources and space. I have personally set type and composed forms where different adjustments were made to accommodate the print chase. While it is plausible that anyone not knowing that a “printing chase was a mechanical process limitation” in publishing stories could accept the term came from silent movies, It always seemed ludicrous to me that a theatrical script or scene directive to “cut to the chase” could actually have the accepted meaning to carry a message while reducing verbiage and increasing brevity in the same way. If you have time here is a vid from a working print shop replication from Colonial Williamsburg that can more likely illustrate the confines in earlier print production ru-vid.comzu17_9JImf8?si=DySKfXLagmmMIMM2
I'm always late ! Hi Bill 👋. That's a massive brush you're wealding 😊. I prefer big brushes . I'd not considered the ' cut to the chase ' origin from old silent films, made little sense , but perfect sense in printing .... Nice razor and good shave ! 👌
