The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-28
JAMES T. POWERS.
Comedian Talks of the Hard Work
of BEING Funny


Richard Duffy in August Ainslee's.
Mr.. Daily? A tradition?' repeated
James T. Powers. Perhaps so. Not SO
many of us, though, can be a tradition
when Trisnd that hiatt time Ne comes mes, lost my best
He was the quickest man ever knew to
grasp an idea for business or situation.
believe am one of the few he permit
ted to invent business in a piece 1 used
some of my own lyrics in 1.-THE Circus
Girl and THE Runaway Girl" OF
course had always done that, but I
liked him better for the way he took 1t.
He was very particular in many things,
you know, and he had a right to be.
p" During the run of La Poupee'' I
had asked him many times to put in
new business that 1 began to be ashamed
had what l thought a bully idea.
walked up to him this day and said;
MI Daily ! had a funny dream last
ers?" He was as cool as ice water, but
1 went on. Yes, I dreamt the perform
ance was on, and that In the last act
made my entrance on donkey" "Um,
dreamt it, did your
He looked up in the flies, tired-like;
the way he always did when he didn't
care. l got away in hurry. But the
next day when 1 came to the theater
found a donkey ready for me. He had
paid $500 for it, too.
1.-The hard work of being funny? 1
suppose every man thinks his work, is
about musical comedy. Now, in
straight comedy man has a compare
lively easy time. The play is built on
situations, and they carry the man
through. Every line, even when it's not
funny, is interesting on account of the
situation. In straight comedy a man
may walk in one door and out another.
If the situation demands it he gets up
screams of laughter. In musical comedy
more depends on the actor. He makes
up lines, jokes and business: He
Il
of the piece. He is always on the look
out for suggestions. He finds them in
the street, on a car, in store, any
where There must be lots Of them on
a desert isle. AS I find them I jot them
down in my notebook. l can't tell just
when I'll use them, but they're handy
to have round. Did you ever notice the
funny ideas that come to you just before
you fall asleep? l always jump out and
write them down. They'd be forgotten
If i waited till morning.
You're a kind of playwright, then?"
" Hardly although Mr. Daly had given
me a comedy to nix up for his company
a little while before he died. But a mu-
steal comedy needs twice as much re-
arranging as an ordinary piece after the
first night. Sometimes when 1t gets go
ing Wei, all that's left of the original
is the skeleton.
First night? Don't mention 1t. I al
ways feel as though 1 was going to be
hanged. OF course, you understand. 1
never have been hanged, but And a
New York first night is the worst of all,
Many good actors have holy dread
Of it, even after the play has been a
success on the road.
You see. there's no telling how the
lines and business will take on the first
night. That's the worst of 1t with me.
I'm SO nervous my face freezes over 1t
won't work and while it's not pretty.
it has a certain automobile quality that
makes it CO.. He paused automatically,
the result of habit, to let the line sink
in. 1t seems to me the critics oughtnt
to judge a comedian by the first night
man on trial, all the time hoping to
get the audience The first good laugh
they give him, he's as happy as the boy
that finds ripe apple-inside the fence
on his way to Sunday school There's
OFT one grain of consolation the whole