New-York tribune., 1907-05-19
MIR. PUNCHS BOYS.
Gi'mpses of Their Dra1cing and the
Famous Deal Table.

London, May Z.
f-hsIlsh huinor Is puzzle for foreigners. The
reason may be that ii does not appeal 10 tba
sense Of the ludicrous. It is the sportive eyer
cse OF the fancy in a matter of fact way 7,ba
commonest form of English joke involves III,
piurunS out of superfiUoUs truth either without
premeditation or with deliberate. well pointad
sarcasm That is something essentially diffar.r,.
from lncongruous exaggeratio or erotesope
distortion, in which Americans Frencbnen or
Germans reveL Mr.. Hay. after having a little
experience in after dinner oratory, told me that
English audiences surprised him by laughing ,t
obvious pleas2ntries of which he was ashamed
and by receiving in silence what he considered
Were his best jokes. The humor on which
he Dlumed himself, if so modest a man
could ever glorify himself was that with the
racy qualities Of the soil where he was born and
his audiences were not in sympathetic touch with
IL Punch" may be the dullest of comic Jour
mails for foreign readers. but it is as English an
institution as there is and it expresses the
facetious turns and labored jocularly of a
steady-going nation that looks upon anything
grotesque or Iudicrous as bad joke that needs
too much explanation TO be accepted as funny
IT is the most literary of comic papers and il
employs the best craftsmen as illustrators
and they have the characteristic qualities and
limitations of English humor
These predatory reflections have been sup-
Sested by visit TO the famous Punch dining
room. where hundred drawings by staff artists
are now on exhibition before being sent to the
''Salon des Artistes Humoristes' in Paris 1t is
work by living artists in active service, and the
craftsmanship is always excellent and not
fnfrequently decorative. With few exceptions
the drawings are not conspicuous for comic
spirit Among the exceptions are Mr. E r
Reeds grotesque Mixed Bathing in the Stone
Age" and Design for John Bulls Other Play
wright" with Man and Superman" at the base
Mr.. Reed is an artist with a keen sense of the
ludicrous and his parOdies and burlesques Of
the antique and the prehistoric are for foreign
eyes the funniest things in the collection. He is,
however, as u1i- i-English in his methods and
spirit as Mr.. Max Beerbohm whose inimtable
caricatures at the Carfax Gallery l described in
8 recent letter His work is broadly grotesque
and freely exaggerated, and the side lights Of
topsy-turvydom slant across it. Another draw
ing with the same characteristics is Mr.. George
Morrow's Raid on the Atheneum Club" with
the riotous bishops and startled wiseacres under
arrest disturbers of the peace. The excep-
tions only prove the rule that the craftsmen
are correct, and mildly droll playful rather
than downright funny. I watched a score or
more visitors in their journey around this room,
and there was not smile on a single face.
They took their pleasure sadly as though they
were reading Essence of Parliament"
leader in THE Times"
Cartoons not lacking, and these have been
the making of Punch" since the time when
Tenniel, master of caricature took up the
crude art OF Leech and Doyle and perfected 1t
the artistic side. Since his retirement two
versatile artists have divided the responsibility
OF filing his place. Mr. Linley Sarnbourne's de-
signs are as classical as Tenniers. and he
produces faces from photographs with trained
skill Mr.. Bernard Partridge is more dec
orative, and has marked individuality of style.
While the art OF caricature has improved in
hrmness of line and delicacy OF shading there
is less humor in catching the momentary phases
OF political and diplomatic situations. Tenniel
had in his time superior subjects for political
satire truth-telling in men like Gladstone
Beaconsfield. Bright and Bismarck. Yet good
subjects for caricature remain. for Sir Francis
Carruthers Gould, an inferior craftsman to
either Mr.. Sambourne Mr.. Partridge, finds
them day by day, and produces most amusing
drawings There is dexterity in Mr. Sam
bourne's Money Boxing kangaroo" and "Will
They Close?" with the japanese athlete, and
the Russian bear preparing for a death grap-
pie and there cleverness and bri!liancy of
technique in Mr.. Partridges work; but the
comic spirit seems TO battle and elude their pur
suit. Their cartoons free from taint If
vulgarity and partisanship as those of the mas
tiers who preceded them, but what Mr. Choate
said at the Tenniel dinner cannot be repeated
as truthfully-that Mr. Punch is Keeping "a
school of morals. virtues manners, discipline.
politics and principles"
Not only the cartoons less decisive and
humorous than Tenners but there has also
been decline in social satire and eccentric
comedy There no drawings like Du Maui
riers drawing room scenes. There are no
sketches of street arabs and costermongers like
Phil Mays. There are no drawings so frankly
and eeniallv humorous as Keene's comic epi-