fourwalling
v.— «How, in these inflationary times, do you persuade the public to pay $23 million to watch your old home movies, mixed in wish some stock wildlife footage? Answer: You call the confection the “Great American Something,” or simply the “American Something”—and you four-wall it.…This new marketing technique, so-called because the film-maker literally rents the theater’s foour walls himself, has already made fortunes.…Dub’s astonishing success is due almost entirely to his adroit use of four-walling.» —“‘Four-Walling’ Hikes Movie Profits” by Charles Foley News Journal (Mansfield, Ohio) Oct. 27, 1974. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell suggested answering with ahoy! but Thomas Edison was partial to hello! A fascinating new book about...