did the idea of a “brass ring” (a goal to be reached for) start with Salinger?
if not, did Catcher in the Rye popularize the saying?
jb
Predates Salinger. I don’t know the exact cite, but it comes from amusement parks at the turn of the century or so. Merry-go-rounds had a bunch of small rings that were fed one by one. As you went by, you could grab one. All the rings were wood, except for one, which was brass; if you grabbed the brass ring, you won a prize. Thus, “grabbing the brass ring” meant winning a prize.
The saying was common vernacular by the time Salinger wrote “Catcher.” It was familiar to my mother from her childhood (1930s).
I’ve actually ridden a merry-go-round that had this device.
I used to ride the merry go round out at Great Falls in Northern Virginia in the 1950’s. Only place I ever saw this one.
This thread has a link to a site which claims that the whole brass ring/merry-go-round thing started with medieval jousting practice.
At any rate, grabbing the brass ring has been around for a long, long, time.