Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-04-05
MAST.
HIS Lecture Ora WIS an Immense
Audience.


The Pavilion, ample as its seating
capacity is, was filed last night to its
utmost. There could not have been
less than three thousand people in the
immense building.
Nast's fame, as the first caricaturist
Of the age, wes alone sufficient to
create a universal interest in him,
and many, aside from the lecture,
wanted to see the man whose
cartoons have become a power
in the land. When he came on
the stage, he was warmly received.
His pictures, especially his own
sketches of himself, give the impress
sion that he is much larger and
more rotund man than he really is.
But no one could mistake his features.
The farouche mustache alone, almost
horrent at the horns, would "give
him away" to any audience.
Without any remark he turned to
his easel, on which was mounted q
revolving web of paper, and sketched
building. This he did in a jiffy,
and then, turning to his audience, he
said: "You see, can draw house" "
The joke was appreciated. He then
proceeded to dilate upon the fact that
man was the only animal that
was gifted with the power OF
laughing. The nearest approach
to our species-and our remote pro-
genitor, according to Darwin - the
monkey could make us laugh with his
antics, but was himself the most
serious of animals. He then drew a
very comical picture OF a laughing
man, and offset it with most sad
faced monkey. He said that his great
ambition when he started ont in life
was to become historical painter.
It was fact that the most successful
comedians always aimed at first to be-
come heavy tragedians. So it was with
him. The way he happened to fall
into the caricaturing line was this
When boy, he used to frequent the
Charles street theatre in New York
and the delineations of the
famous VIM. E. Burton made a
marked impression upon him. He
was so struck with his personation Of
Goodies" that he found himself
sketching him in all his comical atti-
tudes in that very ludicrous character.
Mr.. Mast then sketched Goodies"
startled at his twisted necktie. By a
few dashes OF his pencil he changed
the expression Of his subject to one OF
calm composure.
The lecturer told OF his first appli-
cation to the editor OF a pictorial pub
lication for work. He was a boy OF
fourteen. and he told the editor that
he wanted to draw pictures for his
paper. The editor looked at him
with amazement, and sent him Out
to draw a steamboat. He did so; the
design was accepted, and he COM
menced his career on salary
of five dollars week. He
then drew very comical
sketch OF the astonished editor and
the cheeky small boy. And so he
proceeded, dashing off familiar public
faces in few strokes of his facile
pencil. One of them = Ben But
ler-was done SO quickly and SO strik.
ingly as to bring dov the house. He
then related, briefly, the story of the
Tweed ring, and gave his familiar
phiz in exaggeration, coupling it with a
money sack, which he changed by two
strokes into another caricature of the
great chief Of the New York ring.
He told the audience how he first
came to make his mark, during the
war of the Rebellion, in Harper's
Weekly. The contrabands suggested
subject suited to his line. But the
war had made powerful impression
on him, and he treated it
successfully in the heroic vein.
He then gave the audience
two specimens of his power
in historical painting in oil. The
first was comical sketch OF DeSoto
discovering the Mississippi the second
no one could tell what he was driving
at until when he got through, he said
it was Turner, whose picture nobody
had ever discovered until Ruskin
came along. To prove that this
was Turner, he turned it over
until he got it right side up, when it
proved to be a first rate picture OF
Niagara Falls. He closed with COM
ical sketch of night old cod
ger going to bed.
The lecture-especially the pictorial
part OF twas greatly relished by the
audience, and he developed consider
able humor of fresh and genuine