The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-12-03
FUNNY FELLOWS
OF YESTERDAY
WHO BROUGHT
SMILES TO THE couNTENANc-
Es OF OUR FATHERs-cAME
MOSTLY FROM THE WEST
IOWA FURNISHED MANY.

Horace Keller in Pittsburg Dis
patch; Twenty-Five years ago the
newspapers of the, land bristled; glow
ed and glirnmered with witt in tabloid
form. The one and two line joke was
the order of the day. The fellow who
could do quarter Of column was
the star among the coterie of fun
makers, who were more apt to take
column full to say the same thing in a
tickling manner. The fellow who
could say the most in the fewest
words received the best pay--and he
earned it, too. Bob Burdette was lay
ing the cornerstone OF stampede up
on the lecture platform then, out i'm
Burlington, Iowa, with his great
"Hawkeyes,' which were quite the
best OF the sort Of short work, and
Reed was formulating mighty schemes
for novels yet to be when he presided
like demigod over the destiny OF the
wonderful funmaker, The Arkansas
Traveller. Then Carl Pretzel was learn
ing future Dinkelspiels the ms and
outs of wienerwurst Dutch in Chicago
with his famous Men of the Times
in the Saturday National Then the
wise student of letters, Wade Whipple,
was doing his Shakespeare Modern
lied" for Holden in his Yonkers Ga
zette Holden, by the way, was a very
great Dana for boiling down things to
a fine point The list of men of the
old times could be continued to fill o
column. All were stars, most have
vanished into the far-off land, some
are aliye-and have quit the business
and few here and there are still
hammering away at the shrine
There was one among the oldtimers
who could go over column and never
tire the reader, and it was the only
Bill Nye. Will Visscher has fathered
more western journals, perhaps, than
any others OF the old time flnmakers.
At present he twists the tail of the
funny Menus for some good meaty
ones Leon Mead is still doing good
work in his line for the eastern press
Genius Of Eugene Field.
All! what crowd Of sweet and ten
der memories comes with the voice
and twinkle Of the eye OF that master
Of jokes and rhyme. Gene Field, the
genius, the builder of the fame that
never will die so long as the sacred
memories of Little Boy Blue live
and they will live forever. Earth
lost a radiating genius and a clean,
wholesome funmaker when the spirit
of Gene Field passed over the border
line.
Twenty five years ago no newspaper
Of the land was more widely quoted
than the Whitehall Times. And w. A.
wilkins famous Star Proverbs" gilt
tered and glowed among the pages of
the leaders. Wilkins was a genial.
1ovable man. who possessed the very
soul of wit All! little big wilkins
who can forget you? You shall be re-
membered as long as the stars glim.
mer.. To have made famous a sheet
published in q small town-that was
YOUR gift and glory among the things
that were. In many scrapbook to-
day your bright Star Proverbs find
a place among the brightest gems of
wit and fun OF a quarter of a century
ago.
Few funmakers OF a quarter OF
century ago did better work in the line
Of short jokes, clever verse matter
work than Harry J. Shellnan-he of
the Buffalo Bill type. Harry was one
of the bright lights of the great fun
meteor Of its day, the Texas Strings
The Strings saw many ups and downs
before 1t quit Other famous humor- |
Gus sheets were graced. by Shellman's |
pen. On the Pacific coast he was a |
great favorite. and his work was cop
led far and near. The comic press |
lost one OF its stars when SheIlman /
was grabbed by trade Journalism: and /
even in its prosy channels he has scat |
tered many bright gems along the
way.
The Old ST. Louis Magazine.
Twenty-Five years ago Alexander N.
DeMenil held the leading strings over
one of the cleverest and brightest /
ever published in the west.
DeMenil was more than a Joke build
er and editor He was-and is now
4 Shakespearean scholar, critic
whose penpricked bubbles-and pricks
them still. In it's day OF glory the ST.
Louis Magazine sent forth its page of
Jokes like seed to fall not by the way
side but to be quoted and enshrined |
among the really good things of the
lines Dement, was the alert one TO
discover genius when ne saw 1t. and he
vas the first to start many a clever
writer upon his way to fame and
dollars. Some Of the best at the
present day made their initial bows |,
n the pages of the magazine that is
low no more, the ST. Louis. Today
OeMenil is editor Of high class pub
ication. know that he never reverts
o the old days of the long ago with
tut smile of gladness. for then he
vas sponsor to strugglers in the guild.
lie is too busy with financial affairs
t present to study the muse as of old,
nut he still retains the capacity to do
he work of two men. His head shows
hat capacity to the fullest There
vas a time when he did the work of
n G~A a - - So -