The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-16
STAGE HUMOR ASIAN ART.
HOW AUDIENCES ARE MOVED TO
LAUGHTER.

Denman Thompson Says "Touci
Human Natur' an You Hev
EN-" he Ssys-"Mugging" and An.
cient GAS are Obsolete Now-The
Sort of Fun People Love - Gallo
irish, English, German and Amer.
can Stage Wit Compared-The "Say
seed" Flavor-Accidertal Hits Offer
the Fest
New YoaK, March 15.-What Is stage
humorl
don't know as / can tell what it is, al.
though have been engaged for the major
part OF my natural life IN making othel
people laugh, or at least in persuading them
to compromise on a good honest smile
Making fun and Analysing il are two differ
ent things. 'Iaint 50 easy as it looks, no
how.
One wise fellow-I forget his name IL
ever beard on't-obssrved that every laugh
reddeaed the blood; but s'pose good many
folks would prefer that their blood should
be blue and stay so. Still, it might be fairly
made 8 question for some future age to de-
eide whether the man who draws the tears
or the one who excltes the innocent laugh
ter is the greatest benefactor.
don't know as there is any gathering in
the world that can laugh ike an American
audlencs when it gets in the humor and
fairly started. Il is quicker and more ap-
preclatlve than other audis1ces, and the re-
Spouse comes ike an explosion, 50 close
upon the heels of the point as to be almost
simultaneous It's just like the old wind
mill-you give it a turn aad off il goes; it
won't stop, either, till is does OF its own
accord. The smallest incident, the meress
trifie, viii do it Ihave frequently seen
little. unconscious movement on the stage
provoke roars Of unexpected laughter,
while carefully studied, elaborate joke has
failed.
One of those accidental hits occurred not
long ago in THE Old II 7mestead." A ser
want enters the room. Near me is little
table with a bell upon it The servant,
while leaning over the table 10 speak, hap
pened to touch the bell with his sleeve and
a loud tinkie was the result. ! was coz
scious that it was bad thing to have hap
pened, and 10 cover it up ] said:
Gosh! 'Tain't O'clock, is it!'
They reared, aud the inc dent has never
since been omitted.
A movement of the head, stumble in
making an entrance, q mere cough, will
sometimes set an audience off into convul-
sionS Of laughter. These things once started
eyea accidentally become q part OF the reg
ular business. We don't know precisely
what there is IN them that makes them 50
effective; but You may be sure they have
ST. uck a chord somewhere and touched
human nature,
The humor Of the American stage has. I
thu k, unique quality of its own. It's
Ike no other numOr in tie world. French
humor is keen, two-sided, sarcastic rapier-
hke' that OF Germany is heavy drollery,
anu the English idea Of stage humor is. to
most people, dull and artificial: Irish humor
Is spontaneous, and bubbles up straight
from the heart. Our American variety
has taken little from all of the others, /
suppose; but 1t has taken most of all
from the Irish, which has a dashing
racy flavor that ming les well with our own.
At the same time, the native article has
developed to sturdy proportions and can
stand alone 1t lies closer to the heart than
any other; 1t Is absolutely natural, and sug-
ges,s rather than gives detail. The audience
IS left to supply the hiatus or missing link.
and never knew an American audience
that needed long explanation in order to
sec the point Of joke upon the stage.
Outslde OF Dantomlne, there is no mug
glng" or facial tricks on the American
stage, nowadays, TO create laugh. These
old-fashioned superficiaities wouldn't go at
all nov. Art and nature combine to make
- AA+4Af44Shs bub has IlOSL Oh the
work to do. A stage makeup NAV be
something exces lively ludicrous, whether in
comedy or tragedy, and whether for an old
or young man, but it's mere accessory.
The strong lines of the piece, and the
little incidents that come I'D from time
to time, and which can be taken advantage
of, are the main dependence. In pieces
that have long runs, these trifies are i'm
portant, as they afford variety and diver
no L.
talk that isn't in the scene is very rarely
done, especially in an old play. Where all
the grooves have been worn smooth il il
only and at rare intervals that an opportu-
nifty comes to put i'll a bit that will be at all
effective.
l don't believe in running in local allu
sions, even with the certainty Of beng
Iunny-Its overdoae. as rule. Once, how
ever, l was tempted to do IT. | saw the
POSTMASTER General in a box with some
friends. There wasn't anything particular
about 1t, except that at a certain part of the
play had to say: III didn't
know it was the postmaster Well
ali the while, and right I'D TO that
point, had the box and its OCCUPANT in
mind. and to my own chagrin, aud, as it
proved, to the utter astonishment Of the
audience, when the line was reached 7
said:
II didn't know it was Wanamakerr'
Inc shout that went up reassured me.
and showed that out Of an accident / had
made hit. An unconscious touch Of
human nature had saved it,
Another time, came on and sat down In
a chair upon the stage. The chair was one
o. them new-fangled things you call a
platform rocker, believe ANYHOW. il
nearly capsized me. leaned back too far
and was just goin' overheard, as | thought
and threw up my hands and ierked out nv
feet, letting off an exclamation of fear
But the audience took my mishap AZ a
piece OF capital acting and laughed
itself sore, just as it did another time
when | had collision with an ottoman
on the stage. The first time the thing came
across me kicked it out of my way. Tine
next night there it was again, and l tho1rht
somebody had made blunder. 81 oness
somebody has knocked the cushion out of
one of these chairs" said |, at a venture.
kicking it again. A general laugh told me
that, no matter what my embarrassment
might be, the audience thought the episode
a mighty funny one, aud so il went into the
business.
might multiply such instances. but
have given enough to snow the importancs
of trifies as elements of fun-making on The
stage. But they are only straws on the
broad current of stage humor. What
American audiences love above all other
things Is the humor that has a true rustic
flavor. Some critical folks may turn up
their noses at this, and say that tic love II
laVsQad and haoIy ;s -.