Benjamin Dreyer
@bcdreyer.social
America's Copy Editor®
author of the New York Times/IndieBound bestseller Dreyer's English and Stet! (the game!) • Random House copy chief/managing editor (ret.) • he/him/his
benjamindreyer.com
author of the New York Times/IndieBound bestseller Dreyer's English and Stet! (the game!) • Random House copy chief/managing editor (ret.) • he/him/his
benjamindreyer.com
Pinned
Benjamin Dreyer
@bcdreyer.social
· Nov 27
Greetings, new people here at House of Copyediting. Besides first-rate, IISSM, prose advice, you'll get:
• a random theater photo of the day, sometimes more than one
• birthday alerts for dead actresses, and occasionally live ones
• Sallie updates
And it's all free!
• a random theater photo of the day, sometimes more than one
• birthday alerts for dead actresses, and occasionally live ones
• Sallie updates
And it's all free!
Reposted by Benjamin Dreyer
Doctors say that vaccines protect children from dangerous diseases. A nepo baby who barbecues dogs and snorts cocaine off toilet seats says that vaccines make children vulnerable to 5G radiation. For busy parents, it can be hard to know who to trust.
February 14, 2026 at 3:41 AM
Doctors say that vaccines protect children from dangerous diseases. A nepo baby who barbecues dogs and snorts cocaine off toilet seats says that vaccines make children vulnerable to 5G radiation. For busy parents, it can be hard to know who to trust.
I don’t think I quite realized the extent to which Andy Ogles is barking mad.
February 14, 2026 at 4:21 AM
I don’t think I quite realized the extent to which Andy Ogles is barking mad.
We need to bring back "from hunger" in a big way.
Just going to say it: No matter what you think of Wuthering Heights, Cathy’s dresses (after she goes off to live at the Grange) are from hunger. Bad fit, shiny, cheap-looking fabric, bad color combos. I know they’re intentionally stylized, but please, my eyes!
February 14, 2026 at 3:59 AM
We need to bring back "from hunger" in a big way.
I think we'd have to go to "Name a film you've seen 28 times" before I could whittle the list down to a dozen or two.
Name a film you've seen 8 times
February 14, 2026 at 3:54 AM
I think we'd have to go to "Name a film you've seen 28 times" before I could whittle the list down to a dozen or two.
Should we restart the are/is argument?
We can, if anyone's inclined.
We can, if anyone's inclined.
It's a hilarious song.
I am occasionally bemused by people who don't recognize that How to Succeed (and Promises, Promises, for that matter) are satirical and think they're sexist dinosaurs.
I am occasionally bemused by people who don't recognize that How to Succeed (and Promises, Promises, for that matter) are satirical and think they're sexist dinosaurs.
February 14, 2026 at 3:06 AM
Should we restart the are/is argument?
We can, if anyone's inclined.
We can, if anyone's inclined.
Reposted by Benjamin Dreyer
I am watching a series in which the protagonist addresses his daughter as "babygirl" and his son as "little man" and his partner as "partner." The insistence that TV needs to be for people who can't bother to look at the screen is killing writing, show by show, episode by episode, line by line.
February 14, 2026 at 2:24 AM
I am watching a series in which the protagonist addresses his daughter as "babygirl" and his son as "little man" and his partner as "partner." The insistence that TV needs to be for people who can't bother to look at the screen is killing writing, show by show, episode by episode, line by line.
Speaking of The Most Happy Fella, I can find other references to gnrrr (more commonly, apparently, spelled gnurr), but none of them older than the musical.
🤷🏻♂️
🤷🏻♂️
WOULD YOU MIND SAYING "NEIMAN MARCUS"?
I guess "Teller I Love Her" from Urinetown would only count if it mentioned Bonwit, too...so I'll go with "Big D".
February 14, 2026 at 1:38 AM
Speaking of The Most Happy Fella, I can find other references to gnrrr (more commonly, apparently, spelled gnurr), but none of them older than the musical.
🤷🏻♂️
🤷🏻♂️
Andrea Marcovicci also sings a lovely version of this song.
(Among other people.)
(Among other people.)
Ok, I know one. "Ace in the Hole" from Let's Face It: "Sad times may follow your tracks/Bad times may bar you from Saks". (Never saw the musical, but I remember this from an Ella Fitzgerald album)
February 14, 2026 at 1:17 AM
Andrea Marcovicci also sings a lovely version of this song.
(Among other people.)
(Among other people.)
I'm claiming:
[Redacted] may battle
With their tomahawks and axes
I'll join the cattle
In the big corral at Saks's!
Lorenz Hart, Babes in Arms
[Redacted] may battle
With their tomahawks and axes
I'll join the cattle
In the big corral at Saks's!
Lorenz Hart, Babes in Arms
bonus musical theater pop quiz of the day
Let's hear all the musical theater songs that name-check department stores.
I can think of four off the top of my head, but let's see what ya got.
Mahler's Bakery does not count!
Let's hear all the musical theater songs that name-check department stores.
I can think of four off the top of my head, but let's see what ya got.
Mahler's Bakery does not count!
February 14, 2026 at 12:50 AM
I'm claiming:
[Redacted] may battle
With their tomahawks and axes
I'll join the cattle
In the big corral at Saks's!
Lorenz Hart, Babes in Arms
[Redacted] may battle
With their tomahawks and axes
I'll join the cattle
In the big corral at Saks's!
Lorenz Hart, Babes in Arms
THERE WE GO.
Korvette's from On a Clear Day?
February 14, 2026 at 12:46 AM
THERE WE GO.
🫢
Alexander's Ragtime Band!
I'll show myself out.
I'll show myself out.
February 14, 2026 at 12:46 AM
🫢
WOULD YOU MIND SAYING "NEIMAN MARCUS"?
I guess "Teller I Love Her" from Urinetown would only count if it mentioned Bonwit, too...so I'll go with "Big D".
February 14, 2026 at 12:44 AM
WOULD YOU MIND SAYING "NEIMAN MARCUS"?
❗️
Oh my gosh, there have to be a skillion more Woolworth mentions!
Oh my gosh, there have to be a skillion more Woolworth mentions!
Now and forever (at least in my day) at the Winter Garden:
Or after supper one of the girls
Suddenly misses her Woolworth pearls
The family will say, "It's that horrible cat!
It was Mungojerrie or Rumpelteazer!"
And most of the time they leave it at that
Or after supper one of the girls
Suddenly misses her Woolworth pearls
The family will say, "It's that horrible cat!
It was Mungojerrie or Rumpelteazer!"
And most of the time they leave it at that
February 14, 2026 at 12:43 AM
❗️
Oh my gosh, there have to be a skillion more Woolworth mentions!
Oh my gosh, there have to be a skillion more Woolworth mentions!
Excellent!
In Cinderella, Darling (H2S)
"on from Bergdorf Goodmannnnnn"
"on from Bergdorf Goodmannnnnn"
February 14, 2026 at 12:42 AM
Excellent!
Going once...
Also: Same lyricist, different show, different store, one very near and dear to my heart.
February 14, 2026 at 12:41 AM
Going once...
THERE WE GO.
The improbable "Ohrbach's, Bloomingdale's, Best & Saks" from Coco
February 14, 2026 at 12:39 AM
THERE WE GO.
..."I said, 'I'm going to Bloomingdale's."
No one seems to have mentioned "Charity's Soliloquy" yet: "He said, 'I'm going to Bloomingdale's,'" etc.
February 14, 2026 at 12:37 AM
..."I said, 'I'm going to Bloomingdale's."
👏
On the Town by itself names more than four department stores:
Let's see Wanamaker's Store.
Let's go to Lindy's, go to Luchow's;
Let's see Radio City and Herald Square.
Go to Reuben's! Go to Macy's!
To the Roxy! Cloisters! Gimbel's!
Let's see Wanamaker's Store.
Let's go to Lindy's, go to Luchow's;
Let's see Radio City and Herald Square.
Go to Reuben's! Go to Macy's!
To the Roxy! Cloisters! Gimbel's!
February 14, 2026 at 12:36 AM
👏
ding ding ding ding ding
'Drop that name', from Bells are ringing:
THIRD WOMAN
Valentina's where I've been,
I just adore Val --
Things with good lines.
ELLA
Like things from Klein's.
THIRD WOMAN
Valentina's where I've been,
I just adore Val --
Things with good lines.
ELLA
Like things from Klein's.
February 14, 2026 at 12:35 AM
ding ding ding ding ding
bonus musical theater pop quiz of the day
Let's hear all the musical theater songs that name-check department stores.
I can think of four off the top of my head, but let's see what ya got.
Mahler's Bakery does not count!
Let's hear all the musical theater songs that name-check department stores.
I can think of four off the top of my head, but let's see what ya got.
Mahler's Bakery does not count!
February 14, 2026 at 12:23 AM
bonus musical theater pop quiz of the day
Let's hear all the musical theater songs that name-check department stores.
I can think of four off the top of my head, but let's see what ya got.
Mahler's Bakery does not count!
Let's hear all the musical theater songs that name-check department stores.
I can think of four off the top of my head, but let's see what ya got.
Mahler's Bakery does not count!
I too have searched the depths of Legal Arguments.
February 13, 2026 at 11:09 PM
I too have searched the depths of Legal Arguments.
And as to Caligula, he was notorious for his
February 13, 2026 at 10:59 PM
And as to Caligula, he was notorious for his
Wait, Mary Berry and Mary Beard are two different people?
February 13, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Wait, Mary Berry and Mary Beard are two different people?
Okay, this baby gets one final post (for now) before I put it back into its box, carefully wrapped in tissue paper.
(Featuring special guest stars Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Plus typos.)
(Featuring special guest stars Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Plus typos.)
in the blink of an eye
[things seen and watched and read and thought]
open.substack.com
February 13, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Okay, this baby gets one final post (for now) before I put it back into its box, carefully wrapped in tissue paper.
(Featuring special guest stars Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Plus typos.)
(Featuring special guest stars Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Plus typos.)