I am looking for the source of what I think is a famous quote "the
show must go on."
Is it a paraphrase from "let's go on with the show" in "There's No
business like show business"? by Irving Berline or????????????

Hello bronzegoddess,

The phrase predates Irving Berlin's "There's No Business Like Show
Business" from the 1946 musical "Annie Get Your Gun."  It does not
appear to have an identified originator.

"The saying and principle are traditional in the theater, but
apparently they both originated in the 19th century with circuses.  If
an animal got loose or a performer was injured, the ringmaster and the
band tried to keep things going so that the crowd would not panic."

The Oxford English Dictionary cites it in print from 1941 and 1943; so
it appears that the phrase was gaining popularity at the time that
Irving Berlin wrote "There's No Business Like Show Business."

Online posting, "The Show Must Go On", by ozziemaland (1/24/04)
Wordorigins Org
http://p098.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm14.showPrevMessage?topicID=26.topic

Online posting, "Re: tHE show must go on", by esc (1/15/03) 
The Phrase Finder
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/18/messages/331.html [Note:
This is the working version of the link cited in the Wordorigins Org
posting]

"There's No Business Like Show Business" (1946)
Rodgers & Hammerstein: Williamson Music
http://www3.rnh.com/rhstein/williamson/williamson_song.asp?song_title=THERE'S+NO+BUSINESS+LIKE+SHOW+BUSINESS

- justaskscott


Search strategy --

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Thought it would be vague and I'm grateful to have the prompt answer from Scott.

Here in the UK, back issues of the Times Newspaper c.1930s comments in
various articles that it is a ?famous old theatrical saying?.

Oliver SANDYS, a novelist, director and producer, wrote a book in 1936
titled The Show Must Go On.

British Library Catalogue:
System number    	 003245231
Author - personal   	SANDYS, Oliver, pseud. [i.e. Marguerite Florence
Barclay, afterwards Evans.]
Title   	The Show Must Go On.
Publisher/year   	pp. 287. Hutchinson & Co.: London, [1936.]
Holdings (BL)   	NN.25307. Request
http://catalogue.bl.uk/F/1YHH1SLTR4RD45HEDK84EYP1AGAJLREHRFG2B81DXP36EMCUUS-03368?func=full-set-set&set_number=071644&set_entry=000002&format=999

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