SLANG. Broadway was a hotbed of
slang
, especially in the 1920s and ’30s. The slang words and sayings were picked up and trumpeted by Broadway’s columnists and press agents. Those most directly responsible for the invention of slang were columnist
Walter Winchell
and the entertainment world’s bible,
Variety
.
Winchell was named as among the 10 most fertile contributors to American slang by lexicographer
W. J. Funk
.
H. L. Mencken
claimed that Winchell...