The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-12
nun NEW YORK LAUGHS AT.
nr VIEWS .- ABOUT Cirf's
EIPhA- SENSE OF HUMoR-

. A Comic OperH Ia
"see ,,csI Audiences - Diner
Two +.vecn Americican Cities
enees nv Comedians and
Humorist'' vorL Post
oLrases of a certain sort OF
CS'0I criticism, "a typical New
@ s+,l audience" the sort OF hu n'r,
YORK an (or will not) please New
that W. naturally suggest questions
Y0FA'. .rnst is a typical New York au-
as - what sort of humor really does
a'HS. New workers.. as distinguished
pleas rest of the world. and what
RON metropolitan requirements. IL
are a+ he possible, of course, to an
T0ulN these questions with the accu-
SN,. If an algebraical formula no mat
FS'! comprehensive and systematic
TEL ,;,.,, might be. There is man
tne INV who believes he has re-
ID +ha practical problem out of
number of cast-iron rules, but
has ever undertaken to simplify
!" s,,cb way the task of the come
,,.r mr. the humorist.
0an are A number of facts which
- the belief that each of the
var cities Of this country has, to
s.;n extent. its own sense of humor;
w.. cities differ, in other words, as
ta a. and America are supposed to,
LIa,,gh in a less degree. A humorous
Inmhlication which runs to a certain
p Ons or kind of humor for experiment
Wv Wv find it's sales falling OH IN some
titles which apparently DO not care
GU .bot humor. Comedies or light OPP
W. W. after long run and the great
e .a ,onularity in one city, sometimes
s ~ Trniserably in another. To take the
lan a thing on a smaller scale, a come
s %ar is often surprised ION the road"
=. a.' ind that lines fall fat which he
'.rcidered among his best, and that
..hsrs which had passed in silence
U v"ssn he played in New York cause
much rnerriment.
The West Ten Years Behind.
rbose who write humor whether for
ths stage or for publication, have not
ante the same chance to watch the
| Meet of a joke, to feel of an audi
snce or to observe individual or local
nsculiarities of appreciation, as have
/ bose who speak it. An editor of a
/ leading comic paper, said that to-day
The far West and the country towns
are demanding a type of humor which
/ the reading public of the great cities,
I NTH East and West, practically gave
! nm ten years ago. 1.-THE comic publi-
4 cations that have a large circulation
4 obtain it by making UP each issue so
4 as to appeal to both classes. Part of
4 number is just what all of it would
| have been in 1870, rather broad humor,
4 and extravaganza pictures; the rest is
Of the kind that readers have been edu-
Gated up to in the past few years.
Year by year there is less of the old
/ grotesque type, but if it is dropped en-
trely, subscribers somewhere will
complain.
yet, even in the most grotesque pic
lures, there is less exaggera ton than
there used to be. Racial traits, in par
ticular, are not so strongly emDha-
sized certain fidelity to nature,
however whisical the means may be,
has come to be the prevailing motive.
Only in the colored comic supplements
Of the Sunday papers does there seem
to be no tendency towards the newer
and more delicate humor."
The Theatrical death Watch"
Taking of the appreciativeness of
hsater audiences:
There are several different kinds of
typical New York audiences; 'varia-
tons from type would be the Darwin
ian way of putting it," declares Harry
| B. Smith, the librettist. There is one
| New York audience that is absolutely
| The worst in the world. 1t is known to
actors and managers as the death
watch This sort of audience origi-
mated about ten years ago at the New
York Casino. 1t is composed of the
most blase men about town with their
4 feminine prototypes. 1t is what may
De called a 'tenderloin' audience;
sports young and old, with their
adfriends.' These people assemble
mol to be entertained, but to see a play
IaL You know Sardous character,
Baron Scarpia, the embodiment of that
MnSuality which is akin to cruelty.
Inns Is the sentiment of the death
watch
ms audience has a perverted sense
humor. They enjoy no humor but
Tst OF suggestiveness and vulgarity
m InS is the audience that nearly killed
rorodora on it's first night. They re-
s an refinement and delicacy in any
m.m' Wit is lost upon them; a double
g'9nure Is the only thing that arouses
s nsiu from apathy. The Liberty Bellies
NJ, example, is piece designed to ap-
Ssal TO very different kind of play
sotFs the class who go to see Maud
suams or Annie Russell. On the OPEN
/ "6 ulRnt of that al
%as II our first-night audience in
s sTleu the death watch we would
! them. NeeshS u eAcluue
PERSONALITY, I do not think that the
io, n9e Oh humor differs materially in the
~ Cilles. A representative audience
| CIV York, Boston, Philadelphia or
s,m .aS 81. laughs nearly equally at the
| w.. INES and situations. In the for
| tn ' sS musical pieces that have writ
M, 4ui ing the last twelve years, cam
no.. e0aIl one line that was not al
civ as well appreciated in one large
WY as IN another The differences.
s,t,,S mere have been any, have been
pIs ,iioutdble to the greater or less pop
~ OF the actor speaking the lines.
IN ,o ot mink the success of a piece
h ,o4e town and its failure in Others
hooI De ascribed to difference in the
nsr. sense of humor. In fact. comic
sm ss, entertainments designed only to
toSs rarely meet with those varia-
spts o Vi favor. The Rogers brothers
n'osaiihment, for example. is designed
ht a. ny as show for New Workers.
umrso goes through the country trl-
all cities. 80 . ''eU a. 'qu'nS
iehderloin Taste Unique.
YoL u " musical piece fails in New
ssnsra Iiu succeeds on the road II is
For Wy ra4y owing to the death watch
Il wa e.a'ahce' there was Foxy Quiller.'
A., Was a condemned by this lpeculiar
S %ssihlght audiences AS the people re-