The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-16
HE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY MARCH 49, 1s9O-TwELvE PAGES

can be classed as rustic, aud which have
I their proper places upon the stage. These
/ three are the distinctive types Of native
American humOr, from which dozen OF er
varieties spring, some OF them, by the way,
Of precious little account.
''YoU'RE LIKE sIEGRD cAT.n
To my way OF thinking. all true humor
is kindly, and rustic humor most OF all. It
never has anything personal or indicative
/ it il, ard Is always acceptable to an audi
enca. Your c1untryman never fails to
make a lit, because he goss under the
/ veneer and talks straight at you, Ia an Of
I hand, innocent way, that makes you his
| friend. HIS reasoning may be absurd aud
| his judgment ridiculous, but his convic-
tons have the honest ring, and wnen he
| laughs at his own blunders you can't help
laughing with him. he sees ten is net
stretc ed across the court and asks the boys
if they amt goin' fishin, Yes, of urss,
tbsy are. theY tai him. Then ne sees tier
tennis racSe,s. "F, the lands sake! Ye
don't expect T. scoop up any fish with them
things, sure-lyp Such an unsophisticated
nature brings down the house
1ris3 Wit IS enjoyable because the Irish
character is natural, and this is precisely
the case with the American rustic humor
of the stage. There is nothing strained or
artificial about it. IL isu't buffOonery,
which belongs TO comic opera exclusively,
aud cuts NJ figure IN refined comedy, ex-
cept possibly IN farce comsdy. which is
simply an advance on he variety stage
l never played before an audience that
wouldn't warm up to a good joke. Some
people talk about cold audiences. Well, all
/ have TO say IS that you can't warm your
hands over painted fire; you've got to
have the real article. An audience will
nsTer be cold when its humanity IS touched.
Your humor may deal with the tramp. the
old man, the young man, the lover, the
swell, the hayseed, or any of the other
thousand different forms 1t sometimes takes;
IL will catch on all the same if it is based on
the right notion Of human nature.
"How old are your l asked the tramp.
'Oh, I'm q wreck of 50, and l LOOK like
so, don't IT. he says.
''Yes, you're typical illustration of the
singed cat: you feel better than you look"
It's old, you say. Yes, it's old. and SO is
the world, aud SO is human nature old.
And I've always noticed that old things,
provided they are in place. are the best
liked. Nobody wants Joe Millerisms, and
an advocate of humorous chestnuts on
portsrs. But so long as human
love and human passions are uu-
changed, 50 long will the humor of the
stage have to cater to the things that men
and women love to hear. After all, the
new IS out variation or the old. HumOr
tia: is skilfully and pleasantly aimed at the
vanities and effemInacies of the day we're
living IN is al excellent thing, but unless it
Is based on a true idea OF human nature it
won't stand the test very long. Real
humor is universal in its application
a ID everybody can understand it. A man
or woman needn't have a classical educa-
ton, OF have Travelled over the globe to
comprehendsA simple joke. Humor has no
locality, buu1as the world for its field, and
it's pretty sure of big and appreclatve
audience as long as you keep it on that
line. It's only when you try to localizs it
and tinker it aud take out the human nature
In it and put in something wholly artificial,
that you soil il.
The real joker is natures simpleton. His
very seriousness makes theworld laugh. He
is tonic, and folks look to him for
draught that will clear their brains of the
cobwets, and help them to laugh as they
once did when they were children, right
straight from the heart.
And this is why l claim that stage humor
IS good medicine, and that the man who
makes 1t, If he gives good measure Of an
honest article, may, some time or another,
II he has great good luck, be held up TO a
fun-loving posterity as one of the bene-
factors of society. DEEMAN THOMPSON.