The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-04
III GO TO ENGLAND EVERY YEAR TO EXPLAIN
JOKES TOLD YEAR BEFORE SAYS WILDER
w DOLLY DALRYMPI.E

Meeting Mr. Marshall p. Wilder. the
world-famous storyteller and monologist
when you are quite unprepared for the
real Mr.. Wilder is something like that.
Refreshing. delicious, bouyant bril-
liant to think about afterward. but over
whelming while it is happening.
Such little man and such big, spIen-
did, breezy, "out-of-door,' whole whole
some, delightful personality,
Wasn't it Ebert Hubbard who said
of him:
Some folks feel sorry for Marshall Will
! der / don't; it's heart and brain that
counts, not body. When you weigh Mar
shall Wilder, weigh him troy, not avoirdu-
pois"
Really
| You can scarcely understand Just how
! tremendous the intellect, the sympathy.
the wit and the affection of Marshall
| Wilder is until you've talked to him heart
to heart as | did
Small of stature. that's true; handi-
capped, perhaps some may think. but he s
''cashed in his disabilities and worked
his woes up into fun of the purest sweet
est, simplest and most lovable sort
Had he belonged to the court of Philip
" he would have been companion and
brother of Velasquez
He's the biggest little man. and the lit
tlest big man in the world today.
Ir. Wilder doesn't have to search his
soul for sounds to tell what things he
feels.
He's as vocal as a mountain torrent
Leaning on the well known walking
stick, his eye alert, his mind in tune
with every passing sound, Mr.. Wilder
crowded so many views into our half
hours chat that my poor little journal
istic mind, for all its training, shortly
began to fail to register
1t called-a truce!
Just as he "monologues' on the stage
so does he Off
The "Wilderian" wit is so quick, tran
sent, that it reminds you of sheet light
ing-maklng the heaven bright and brill
liant, but it doesn't strike!
1t would take an expert stenographer
with a world breaking record to take
down" all he said, f9t he told story
after story, "reminiscences after remin-
icence, incident after incident which
charmed and held me fascinated the while
| pondered upon how on earth [ was
going to reproduce it in cold type!
m mott
About the only thing that I'll get credit
for in this story will be the punctua-
ton.
Once in while | may dot in comma,
a semicolon or period, but never a ques-
ton mark, because Mr.. Wilder is the
whole showi'
j didn't have to interview" him
1t was ''pianola hand" as they say
in auction"
1t played itself.
lie was exuberantly, deliciously, impul-
siyely, delightfully."- original, and L just
sat back and enjoyed myself-something
| don't often do in an interview"
His wit cracked and szzled like a
bunch of firecrackers on the Fourth OF
July, and | reminded myself of the small
boy who said nothing, but just lighted
the match and then watched the pyro-
technicsl
81 should like to have invited you to
my boudor, Mr.. Wilder began. I'm
sure it would have interested you to see
the appliances l carry about with me. You
see, it's rather an inconvenience to be
short-in stature as well as pocketbook-
so | carry my own telephone arrange
ments and electric light attachments, and
things of that sort which / use for my
own convenience. Really, you know it
was a delight to me to go to Japan.
Everything is little like | am over there,
and / felt very much at home. Little
horses little houses, little men and wom-
en-, and everything was little But speak
ing of being little, l was up in Indianap-
oils a short time ago and went to see
by old friend, Jim Reilly. Paralyzed, you
know terrible on the poor fellow. He
swears like a trooper. but it sounds like
music coming from him, so you must take
from him and not from me- He began
by saying:
Marsh, how long ago, d-m it, has 1t
ber it was in New York at the Lotos
club 35 years ago. Mark Twain, Gene
Field, Bill Nye and a lot of us were
coming down the stairs, and you We're
standing on a piano, the crowd had put
you up there, and d-m it, you were tell
ing some of your yarns. So | asked
who you were, and Bill Nye said quickly:
- That's Marsh Wilder, He's a pro-
fessional dwarf" -
Here ! placed a period, but Mr.. Wilder
didnt. He just ratified along in that
perfectly irresistible way of his, over pc
the Boy Scouts. The domestic science