The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1895-04-04
JOKE MANUFACTURE.


Jokes are paid for. not according to
the space they occupy. but according
to their merits. What one editor con-
siders very good joke another editor
will set aside as poor. Good jokes are
we'll paid for. "Harper's Bazaar pays
as much as $2.50 for a joke that its
editor likes. Life" pays from 80 to-
So for jokes and an illustrated joke
will frequently bring higher amount.
Judge" and Puck" pay we'll for
matter of this sort, while Vogue"
and Truth" follow closely. SO the
man who writes ten salable jokes a
day does better than the average Litter
ary' man or the reporter, who is forced
to 60 through fire and water quite fire.
quently to get his 'story."
To write ten jokes does not take half
an hour when once the ideas are i'll
shape. The professional joke man,
therefore, spends much of his time in
thought and observation. Perhaps
that is why the face of the funny man
is apt to get wrinkled in a frown or
deeply lined with care To think we'll
at 50 or SO think is quite as import
ant an undertaking as putting big
business transaction through. The
professional joker, like the actor, re-
CARDS his work as trade, and sees no
reason why he should always be funny
in general conversation. have often
been amused to witness the manner in
which he is greeted at dinner or
other gathering. Large smiles greet
his every remark, no matter how serious
it may be and the assembled company
try in vain to conceal the fact that they
are waiting for the humorist to let fall
some of the So jokes that he has a
fame for.
The successful joke writer must
have a system. A joke frequently
must be sent to several papers before il
is accepted. This is usually the cast
in fact unless the joker understands
editors so we'll that he knows just wha
style of humor is wanted by each par
ticular paper. For instance there are
some publications eager to get all thu
jokes possible on Chicago and Phila
delphia. Others pay gilt-edged prices
for animal paragraphs and countr.
hayseed jocularities. There are trade
papers that pay high prices for joke
about boots, shoes, clothing and othe
prosaic subjects.
Moot % tIn frnnxy 1nar, hnnlyc
They number each witticism, and Al
they send it to a paper they mark it a
accepted or rejected. In this way the.
manage to keep track of their work AM
avoid sending it too often to the sam,
paper. 1t often is accepted finally b.
an editor who has sent it back severa
times. Then, too, joke can b.
worked over in such way that it can
not be easily recognized, and perhap
in its new form it will strike an edito
as screamingly funny. when before i
did not appeal to him at all. 1t FIRE
quently depends on the editors diges
ton. So old and experienced jok
writers mail their manuscripts-fev
dare to present them in persons
that they will reach the editor in tn
afternoon. the morning not being pro
pitious for the acceptance of jokelets.
A writer once told me that it wa
possible to use the substance Of on
joke through gamut of trades, profes
sions, and circumstances. The frs
joke is foundation on which can b
built other jokes branching out like
family tree. The one-verse societ
humorism need not be funny; the ide
is to produce something pretty An
: clever.-New York Recorder.