Language: en
Meaning: ; (chieflyUS)Anevent, particularly onradioortelevision,showcasingthetalentsofamateurperformers.Near-synonym:amateur night2002, Nicole Denée Fontenot, Alicia Fontenot Vidrine, quoting Doris Poirrier, “Pastries, Pies, and Desserts”, inCooking with Cajun Women: Recipes and Remembrances from South Louisiana Kitchens, New York, N.Y.:Hippocrene Books,→ISBN,page239:"Momma was very talented. She liked to act in plays … She used to sing, do a lot of singing in French, you know. … They used to haveamateur hoursin those days. You didn't have that many places to go." She performed for theamateur hoursat church fairs and at St. James High School.2017, Ivan Cury, “Reality Programming”, inDirecting and Producing for Television: A Format Approach, 5th edition, New York, N.Y.; Abingdon, Oxon.:Routledge,→ISBN,page275:[T]alent shows such asTed Mack’s Original Amateur Hour, which was patterned on the 1930sMajor Bowes’ Amateur HourandArthur Godfrey[’s]Talent Scouts,[sic]went on the air. In fact, that goes back to the days of vaudeville and beyond. The talent contests andamateur hoursthat go back centuries are in fact very much likeAmerica’s Got Talent.; (chieflyUS,idiomatic)Asituationoractivityin which theparticipantsshow a lack ofskill,soundjudgment, orprofessionalism.1980,Alan Wolfe, “Reflection on Trilaterialism and the Carter Administration: Changed World Realities vs. Vested Interests”, inHolly Sklar, editor,Trilateralim: The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management, Boston, Mass.:South End Press,→ISBN,page533:Two years into its first term the[Jimmy] Carter Administrationdeveloped a foreign policy that seems in perfect continuity with its six predecessors.[…]Little change has taken place during what has been called "theamateur hour" except for a slight quickening of the Cold War pulse.1993, Martha Banta, “Soldiers of Fortune”, inTaylored Lives: Narrative Productions in the Age of Taylor, Veblen, and Ford, Chicago, Ill.; London:University of Chicago Press,→ISBN,page59:The First World War may have brought, as Dos Passos maintained, an end to "the bully amateur's world," butamateur hourwas already closing down as American soldiers struggled up San Juan Hill. Three books written between 1897 and 1899 are flashes that streaked the sky at the moment "the boy culture" of volunteers was displaced (and absorbed) by the "dirtywork" of regulars committed to the culture of management.2007June 21,David Von Drehle, “Will Rudy’s Get-tough image backfire?”, inTime[1], archived fromthe originalon9 July 2014:"It's the kind of foul-up that suggests that his [Rudy Giuliani's] campaign team isn't functioning as well as it should," theG.O.P.source said. "Presidential campaigns are not the time foramateur hour."2011August 3,Frank Deford, “NCAA: Still stalled by ‘amateur hour’ thinking”, inMorning Edition,NPR[2], archived fromthe originalon15 March 2017:Next week, at some place in Indianapolis where time has been instructed to stand still,Mark Emmert, president of the NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association], will convene what is being called, without irony, a "retreat." Assembled will be about 50 college presidents, pledged, it seems, to make sure that college athletics continue to remain firmly in the past, in the antiquatedamateur hours.
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