New-York tribune., 1921-11-27

No one expects n dentist to e5allUen fl
w = HEN dentist is present at merry
Il NA gathering no one ever expects him
w to enliven the evening by extracting
few teeth any more than the bar
4 bg present is called on for little impromptu
8 pain and fancy shaving. Who ever heard Of
s rsuesting vacationing subway guard to en-
4 srain those about him with repertoire Of
4 lis highest sounding phrases?
= And yet as soon as column conductor ap-
4 rars on the scene he is expected to be clever,
to say Those Funny Things, to take the center
oi the stage as the Life of the Party. But this
Is not about column conductors. / leave that
\ subject to some one boasting wider acquain-
tance in the field. This has to do with the
hard lot of the comedian and more particularly
tie flm comedian.
II your best friend were to telephone you to
drop in on Wednesday night to meet Harold
Lloyd you would accept gracefully and,
stranger still, you would attend, unless fro or
food or suddenly broken leg prevented. You
would think to yourself: "This is too good!
SEEING Harold Lloyd on the screen is funny
enough, but in person-well, I know I'll die
hughing!"
That is the general attitude toward the
emedans of the canned laugh-dramas. The
world and his wife take it for granted that
hse funny men must be pretty amusing COM
rny in their idle moments, laughing, jesting,
playing Jokes on each other, always smiling
over past episodes--these jokers must be eter-
naly humorous When a film comedian di-
wrced his wife or she divorced hin--authori-
ties dffer--the world looked on and laughed.
What could be funnier than comedian tangled
up in matrimony! And he probably thought it
al q huge joke, too.
So runs the myth of the capering pantaloon.
An interesting legend to be sure, but one at all
odds with the facts, as SO many myths and
legends are.
When kind fortune and transcontinental
flyer landed the writer in Hollywood, Calf,
the celuoid capital of the universe, he decided
straightway to meet the most amusing natives
mirth provokers, If anywhere on earth, he
thought he would discover the source OF our
national merrment.
Before met any Of them fully expected
to find the film comedians dashing out OF
bakeries pursued by squadrons of policemen
hurling lemon. meringue pies at their heads
and missing the marks, only to have the pies
repose on the crowns of innocent passers-by.
would not have surprised me to discover
Buster Keaton walking into the streetcar on
which started for Hollywood. Nor would
have surprised me had he swung pail OF
mortar in one hand and a dripping brush, that
aneared all nearby passengers, in the other.
Comedians would be different, and, above
al, amusing, I thought. After weeks
1sversh Investigation / made q startling re-
sersai Of all my early opinions and expecta-
uona In combing the coast for facts found
mat the men who excel in the producing OF
hilarious film comedies are the somberest citi-
Aens in Hollywood.
They worry over retakes and close-ups, over
new gags and old situations, over the follow
ing days schedule and the mistakes Of the
previous one. Question whatever comedian
Sou choose, pry into the affairs of any one
fAOosco you-yOu VIII AIiu tuos thO Ac-
Sulss are the same almost in every instance.
~ oe open and above board, consider the
,A = nest sellers of the laugh-making type Of
uanna. Let US, for the sake of convenience
~ FAIRNESS, take for our subjects the lead
As half dozen pantaloois OF the current
= sAAeo comic strips--the six now uppermost
popular favor. Little argument can be
.AHsd when we lift directly from the rec
caa tne following pierrots Of the photoplay:
s,A yaalis Chaplin, droll supreme; Harold
psc OF the famed tortoise-shelled glasses;
ss0 a 1urpin. Of the colliding mismated eyes;
..s ses keaton, ever-energetic and never-
hang; Larry Semon, elongated and bladder
/ ,ao'shing. y and Clyde Cook, from England,
s.. .ae order. It might be added, Of their "fsn"
.,ak 'nk' These, then, are tho premier chuckle-
-. sasss n' Of the day-these the grotesques
ss "entsn and often save the evenings pro-
nam for you.
N'assa the geatlemea tsmpsrameatai1v.