The Washington times., 1922-02-19
Damaged i'm Telling. y

man ought to be allowed to tell
a funny story. or anecdote.
without a license. We insist right
" enough that every tax driver
mus, have a cense. and the same
prime pie should apply to anybody
who proposes to act as a raconteur.
Tell ng a story Is a difficult thing
gu tie as d. fficult as driving q
tax. And the risks Of failure and
accident and the unfortunate con-
sequences OF such to the public,
II not exactly Identical, are, at any
rate. analogous.
This is a point Of view not gen
orally appreciated. A man Is apt
to think just because he has heard
O good story he is able and entitled
TO repeat 1t. He might as we'll
undertake to, do a snake dance
merely because he has seen Ma
dame, Pavlova do one. The po mt
Of a story il apt to lie in the tell
ing. or. at least. to depend upon
It in a high degree. Certain
stories, 1t is frye. depend 80 much
on the final po.nt, or nub. as the
Americans call 1t. that they are al
most fool-proof, But even these can
be made so prolix and tiresome.
can DO messed UP with irrelevant
detail. that the general effect is
utter WEAKNESS relieved by a kind
of shock at the end.
A FOOL-PROOF STORY.
Let mo Illustrate what mean
by a story with a nub or point. I
will take one Of the best known
so as to make no claim to origi-
nality-for example. the famous
anecdote of the man who wanted
to be put off at Buffalo" Here
It Is:
"A man entered the sleeping-car
and said to the porter: AT what
time do we get to Buffalo?"
The porter answered: AT half
past three n the morning. sir"
"Al right" tho man said. 'Now
want to get off at Buffalo. and I
want you TO see that I get off. I
sleep heavily. and I'm hard to
rouse. But you must make me
wake UP. Don't mind what say,
don't pay attention If 1 kick about
1t. just put me off. do you seer"
"AlI right. sir" sad the porter.
The man got into his berth and
fell fast asleep. He never woke or
moved till It was broad daylight
and the train was a hundred
miles beyond Buffalo. He called
angrily to the porter. See here.
you. Didn't I tell you to put me
off at Buffalo?"
The porter looked at hi aghast.
"weI. I declare to goodness.
boss" he exclaied, "if you
wasn't the one. who was the man
that threw off this train at
half-pa three at Buffalo7"
HOW 1T Is MANGLED.
Now this story il as nearly
fool-proof as can be. And yet II
In amazing how badly 1t can DO
messed up by a person with a
special gift for mangling a story.
He does it something like this:
There was a fellow who got
on q train one night, and he had
q berth reserved for Buffalo, at
least, the way I heard it, it was
Buffalo. though guess, as q
matter Of fact. you might tell it
on any other town. just as we'll
or. no. I guess he didn't have his
berth reserved. he got on the train
and asked the porter for a
reservation for Buffalo. or any
way. that part doesn't matter
say that he had berth for
Buffalo or any other place. and
the porter came through, and said:
do you want an early call'-or.
no, he went to tho porter. that
was IL, and said"-
But stop. The rest Of the story
becomes q mere painful waiting
for the end.
OF course. tho higher type Of
funny story Is the one that
depends for its amusing quality
not on the final point. or not
solely on II, but on the wording
and the narration all through.
This Is the way in which a story
In told by a comedian Of a person
who is a raconteur in the real
sense. When Sir Harry Lauder
narrates an incident the telling
Of it is funny from beginning to
end. When some lesser person
tries to repeat 1t afterward there
is nothing left but the final point.
The rest Is WEAKNESS.
As a consequence. most story
tellers are driven to telling stories
thai depend on the point or nub
anu not on the narration. The
story teller gathers these up till