Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-10
4 T.o,10hOmeter
Will Get You,
\ II You Smoker
H. Cissles. Snorts and
4 Crffaws Are Sn ared by
"Fair and Warmer"

lots of things in the world
& Tnere aon,t know anything about, and
Ws them is that whenever you ieuen
~ VI .sa,trs there Ia a stage manager
~ me ~ sight around the proscenium
stop-watch on you anu uyihs
.enns your share in the performance.
y. q also timing you Tor a recoru, W.
"A. d incidental and one Oh ms pieasui Go
~. ,s.sr he may boast OF to other stage
uat I,,s actual business is TO see
h,,cr or how little you can play the
@rcs for him. ,
- .,ir,, that a laugh Is laugh
ends IL. a mere volatile and fugi-
ny ~,,ii,,ion without form or substance
tw zoo much addicted to your own
you view. A laugh TO the stage man
pon' inst as integral and substantial
~ "a a sack of meal II comes 10
~ avsr the footlights In lump sum- anu
+, 4 Y. ian seconds long, or WE'VE, OF 'nir.s'
',,or goes. He measures for length.
y n,s , iu va thickness. He Is as prosaic
bIa. q. 10 "a IL he were making ordnance
epou' indian Head, because from where
e..a. your laugh, combined with your
pss.ssnors' . is just the roar OF mufred
uploslon. oro,. ,ra
who naturally knows all apout
,V.~hs saws they come over the IooeiisntS
nss ~ ,,anorous big footballs FAR anu
pn'srn will be frsking along, as wrltteh
VI uopwood, and biff into the miouie
K :, n is thrust round roar which hal.s ,he
ssrce. evaporates, and makes way ioi Ni''
Hopwood again
rb,. interruption is all very wen aor pur-
-. ~ pleasant time, but the on-again'
so,n schedule it makes for Mr.. Hop
ss ,s another thing yet. and without u
-. careful guidance from the stage man
~. M a. would go to glory in one perform
80. which is why he puts prosy chro-
scret.r on your care-free merrimeht'
torce at rehearsal is an amazing thing'
49,. honed- -to-be funny lines ring out over
~. empty theatre, echo answers anu tne
ssrcs nroceeds The largest memper Oh the
seat-the AUDIENCES absent lhere are
h.stations here and there wnere
: s~siiv sure-fire line prophesies the Interrupt
- ~ a laugh. but, all told, its q pretty
s"..t,ya AFFAIR Then come the first night.
~. audience and the stage manager with
bis watch.
rb,. probably sounds like huge to-do
.A.ut nothing to you who think laugh
wsrely interrupts You think farce goes
sr ,ts way till the laugh comes. then waits
I'm Il is over, and goes on again
Not at all-every laugh that enters
e.,c. Ia staged as carefully as any line III
~ niece The stage manager or falr anu
warmer" has what he proudly CLAIMS 10
mai record long laugh of the world you saw
l Slr, waiting for not long since. 1t comes on
\. ,nnocent line: "She said she would do
4 Il and she did" And it lasts just forty-three
4 a,conds, night in and night out. This latter
Ssct ia one of the great mysteries to the
staRe manager, who has no glib references
u mob psychology to fall back on. Every
/ audience laughs true to form on that line
\ rortv-three seconds is very long time
~hen II commands inaction in the midst or
"a tumultuous scene Every member or the
&eompany who is on the stage at that iaugh
and there are five of them--has 10 pe
Efebearsed in forty-three seconds worth OF
unobtruslve pantomime. The first mint OF
n continuation of the action would break
s the laugh and disgrace all the actors the
Larst hint Of their obvious inaction would
also break It. so little scenes have to be
invented which do something and seem not
{ %, and the length of them depends on the
stage managers chronometer
There is point at which the incest care
d necessary 1t is where the laugh is about
10 give up the ghost. IL the pantomime
lasts little too long, and the audience
quits laughing entirely, no mortal power
can pick 1t up again and sweep it into
smother gale.
q The runner-up to Fair and Warmers"
record according to the boastful Selwyns,
was secured through line of Ray Cox's in
twin Beds" When Miss Cox said There is
something about a man sleeping in his own
bed that makes him too darned independ-
snt," William Phinney. Miss Cox and Miss
Kennedy all had to pantomime for thirty
nine seconds. Mr.. Phinney never dared risk
more
Further back when George O'Ramey, in
Seven Days" said. reading from a cook
book recipe for scrambling eggs, Take
two eggs and separate them" there was
Z enother well-staged laugh of twenty-seven
seconds. Then the stage manager of Seven
Days had it all his own way because his
Vas the record laugh. In 1T Pays to Ad-
K yertse' there were laughs in SEQUENCES,
vnlch totaled alarmingly, but defied ordi-
nAry classification because Mr.. Megrue's
Swn lines intervened and built things up.
1nere was one line. however--about the ad-
vertising hen-that went over thirty sec
ends