Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-12
LESSON 9 Continued -"Punch
BY HARRY o. HOYT
Head Of the Mctrn scnnnrIn stnn

NTHAT we call punch" must not be
w confused with the overt act II Is the
result of sustained suspense At the,psycho-
logical moment, when suspense can no
longer be maintained consistently. we act /;
in other words. do violence on this ac-
count we are apt to confuse the punch"
with the act-the violence
We have been talking of melodramatic
punches" but all punches are not melo-
dramatic The suspense for a comedy or
for simple drama is worked up. Then
something happens n new twist. the unex-
pected. unlooked-for occurs. The element
Of surprise lends novelty. The element Of
novelty lends surprise and the play ends to
the satisfaction of every one.
In the comedy the suspense culminates
In the punch at the very close OF the pic
ture. There may be many points of cul-
mination. when "a certain amount of sus-
pense will bring punch but the carefully
written script will reserve the big surprise,
the big turnover for the final scenes. A
good example of comedy suspense and
punch" is contained in a short farce writ
ten number of years ago,
woman Of very expensive tastes keeps
her husband broke" lie borrows money
70 keep her in luNuries and finally Ia unable
to get another penny. An idea occurs to
him. He changes clothes, putting on some
old ones and leaves his good clothes on the
river bank
Then he proposes to give his wife "a scare
by pretending he is dead She finds note
from him telling her that he is unable TO
supply her with the funds she wants and
that he is about to Jump In the river and
end his troubles. He goes into the park,
where he is arrested for vagrancy. Thirty
days in jail is his lot
Meanwhile we see the wife selling every
thing that she owns. Here the element of
suspense really begins to take form. What
Is she selling them for? She gets n consider
able sum OF money and spends it for some
thing which is not shown, and is reduced to
penury.
At last the 30 days come to an end and
the husband returns home Friend wife
greets her husband as she would a ghost.
and suddenly realizes that he is not dead.
but alive. She grabs him by the hand and
drags him out OF the house and down sew
eral streets. and suddenly we have the
answer TO our suspense and the big laugh.
a magnificent tombstone has been reared TO
his memory, and they are both completely
broke
The comedy punch" must be just as sure
and just as effective as the melodramatlc
punch" showing a gun-fight, with the
death of the villain.
Business stories, as a rule. offer little
of interest to the public There is
slight opportunity for suspense, the situa-
tions are trite and meaningless and there
is no great climax that can be reached
This is n broad statement. There are ex-
ceptiOns, but they are few and far between.
The stock exchange excitement was a
novelty for a while. because few people
have witnessed wild day on "'change."
The business of passing papers back and
forth across desks mortgages buying and
selling, men looking at stock exchange re-
ports and getting excited, all are fiat and
unntcresting.
If Jones says. 81 am going to ruin
Brown and bring him to my feet because
he stole the woman / love-" and we have
the details of this ruin, are going to
spoil what might have been good story
with different finish Political stories fall
in this same class. There is no clash that
makes for good picture action. Your story
may be thrilling to read, but impossible to
visualize. Do you see chance for action?