The term, if not the exact concept, was given national attention with the release of the Hollywood movie comedy Christmas in July in 1940, written and directed by Preston Sturges.
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Werther, an 1892 opera with libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet, and Georges Hartmann, had an English translation published in 1894 by Elizabeth Beall Ginty.
This plays on certain retail stores such as K-Mart hosting "Christmas in July" sales, which have become common in the past decade.
Sturges did a walk-on in his 1940 film Christmas in July ("Man at shoeshine stand"), played the small part of a film director in his Sullivan's Travels (1941), and appeared as himself in Paramount's 1942 all-star extravaganza Star Spangled Rhythm.
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Demarest would go on show up in nine other Sturges films: Easy Living (1937), The Great McGinty (1940), Christmas in July (1940), Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Lady Eve (1941), The Palm Beach Story (1942), The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) and The Great Moment (1944).