The San Francisco call., 1908-10-04

--fEA6 II u lduEn- n
'wheeze" is a joke; and thus a
comedy is presumed to be the big
~wheeze." This addition to my vo-
csbulary was the central gain in a trio
Of conversations with John E. Young,
the "wheeze' Of The Time, the Place
and the Girl" and with Rice and Cady.
boss ~wheeze" duettists at the Ameri-
can in 'Hip. hip. Hooray."
The word is released and may be
used without fear of injunction II is
picturesque, lends itself readily TO a
variety Of uses and its inventor must
surely be conceded to be a man Of
ima gination and spirit.
never realized what a noble and
difficult business laugh making is II
sounds so easy. when the comedian
blows in with a funny speech and reels
OF a yard or two of nonsense. One
would say that anybody could do il
quite as effectively The obvious con-
clusion is that the book" is funny
and that all the comedian has to do is
to remember the wOrd-and there you
was disillUsionized. however. first
- ar. Young and then by Rice and
Cady. They showed me their sides" :"
7 read for myself their lines. and so
deadly is much OF the stun that shall
not soon forgive myself for laughing
ar Il. which fact would not prevent
the lines from being as funny ever
when they are "wheezed" properly.
For instance" said Mr.. Young. Take
nay opening speech. II always gets a
laugh, and it goes like this; Say. Tom,
what do YOU think Of the nerve Of that
cab driver2 Any time one O. them
guys tries to hold me up for FIVE bones,
YOU can whistle for the undertaken to
close in on me- And then. later, when
Tom is getting his knockout blow from
the lady ne thinks is going TO marry
him, 7 interject. Drop your nickel. kid
600. Drop your nickel" That always is
a great laugh
say that any man who can get up
before a different audience for 365
nights and days in a year and pull
that kind Of dialogue into funny curves
is little less than genius, and his
worth as a public benefactor is entire--
-ly underestimate.
Well they didn't make you any
worse Of a jackass than I am" is a
Cadv repartee. Rice says, You are
nay partner in the oat business, amt
it2" and Cady answers, Yes, il was"
Then very pertinently Rice resumes:
.WelI. it hurts me to tell you it, but
your nephew's college is dirty lOafer"
How" I begged, do you ever mem
orIze such copy?"
well" said Cady, curling himself
up on the leather settee of his room
and assuming a judicial tone, after
all. there is some sense to it. 1t sounds
foolish. Of course but there is some
tangled philosophy in it that makes
Il possible 70 remember, though it
sounds as though il was made up ont
Of a lunatic's rawlings. Take the def
nation Of a college, for instance, and
the speech that leads up TO it: They
was going to chuck me into the foun-
tain unless ] said my name was Pat
A. * O'Brien.' And did you do it?
SKIS by oats partner. Sure say I.
coward. what you are" says he. Well,
it's no worse to be a Irisher than to
be drowned But wait until we see
my nephew. He's a fine colleger.'
Rice says, wftheringsly, What do
YOU know about a college,? And 1 re-
ply, with serene fooHshness, A college
is q hotel Isn't IL awful Mabel?
Then Rice tells me what it is, and
there is where the philosophy lies. He
SAYS. Hennie. why are you so frivo-
lOUs? A college is a sort OF factory
for brains. When a rich mans son
amt got no sense they send him TO col
lege Then~when he is chuck full OF
useless inflammation he is ready to go
out into the cold, cold world and look
for work Well. a colleger can easy
get a jobg ] ask, anxiously, Of Rice.
sure says he. because while he's in
college the fellow that can't afford to
buy an edumencation has got a big
store now. and he has got to hire some
body TO drive his truck.
Here is another sample.
What good is a diploma Rice
asks What good is a diplomat I
echo. Wen. II somebody comes along
and calls you a d--n fool all you have
10 do is to show your diploma, and that
settles IT,.
John L. Young is something Of a
stranger to san Francisco theater
goers; or he was ? stranger until last
Monday night. Few men have come to
this city strangers and so quickly
Jumped into favor. The reason why is
not difcult 10 discover He is pos
sessed Of more than the usual amount
~ temperament and personality Per-
sonaliy. you like him at once, and when
BE comes on the stage and throws his
slang at you the personal element is
9arge facter in the laugh making
process that then and there begins.
But Young is well enough known
in the East. where he has been iden-