[PW] Anachronisms

[Fuller, Thomas (US - Washington D.C.)]

My theater is preparing to present, this summer, a new musical by Tony
nominee Peter Kellogg based on the life of Nellie Bly, the pathbreaking
newpaper reporter who worked for Joseph Pulitzer.  I've been going over
the script, and a couple of things have caught my eye.

The purpose of this posting is to focus on one scene, where Nellie
writes to an "advice to the lovelorn" columnist.    She writes to "Miss
Lonelyhearts" sometime before her 1894 marriage to Robert Seaman, and
signs her letter "No Clue".

Question 1:  As far as I can tell, Miss Lonelyhearts was the creation of
Nathanael West in his 1933 novel, and is therefore totally out of the
picture in 1894.  Anybody have anything to the contrary?

Question 2:  Although "clueless" as a word dates at least to 1743, using
"no clue" to mean "I'm baffled" strikes my ear as a distinctly 1990's
trope.  I feel about it the same way I felt when the Leonardo DiCaprio
character in TITANIC, early on, said "Hey, I'm involved" -- nobody would
have said that, in that context, in 1912.  Anybody disagree?

-- Tom 

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