Evening star., 1933-01-30
The art Of telling a good story prop

The art Of telling a good story prop
erly is not everybdy's.
Only man here Or there possesses it.
He may be an Intellectual, or q low
brow" but at any nte he knows how
to tell stories.
Others people like to hear him tell
'em, too.
He Is, as every ont knows. in his
element when he is repunting a good
story which Is not so good" in the
old-fashioned acceptance of the term.
Watch the group Of meu huddled to-
gether in the corridor, OF on a street
corner, or perhaps at a tale In a res
taurant.
It is possible for the astte observer
to know whats up" merelyby looking
at the sly-dog look in their syes, their
mouths all set to grin broadly at last.
Not all of the so-called 'off-color"
tales are as bad as they are Ametimes
painted.
Many of them. while not admitted
In theory, in the telling are quite anus
ing.
There are here, as elsewhere, disinct-
ly two sorts, the story with a point and
the story without a point.
If the point is good enough, II the
story does not offend beyond certin
point, both story and point" will be
well received
Just where the line is to be draw
Of course, Is another matter. and per,
hapS no two persons would agree on 1t
What all will agree to, however. i
that there are certain persons blessec
beyond their companions with the abil
ity to tell story, and to tell it we'll nt
matter what its type may be.
Almost any one can reel of nara
tive. broadly called an anecdote. wheth'
er good or bad, but not every one, Ger.
tainly. can get away with it."
1t is one thing to go through the
children used to do in school. an6
quite another to hold ones audience.
Now perhaps every human being al
some time or other has found himself
in a position where he can point a
moral or adorn a tale. as the saying
had 1t. by personal recourse to some
anecdote.
That reminds me-" and away he
goes.
If he does not possess the knack OF
doing it properly. however. he will dis
cover that before very long the eyes
and attentions of his listeners begin to
wander
No matter how good the story. how
clever, how funny. how much to the
point, If the narrator is failure at
story telling he had better keep his
good one" to himself
He will in time come to realize
although perhaps sadly. that such per-
sonal story telling is not for him.
He relishes a good 'un as well as the
next fellow, but for the life of him he
cannot put the thing over sufficiently
we'll to make the tale take on life, tc
excite the interest of his friends, tc
make them see the point" with all
the freshness and vividness with which
1t appealed to him in the first place
At times such a man has come into
possession of what is termed, in street
parlence. a 'pippin," sure-flre mirth
maker SO good in general outlines that
he felt that even he could not fai
with it.
Il know I can't tell story we'll" he
told himself, at the first opportunity
to spring" his new one on his friends
But this is so good here goes"
And away he went.
He had imagined fondly that thl
time he would have the satisfaction
which belongs by right to the borr
story teller, of receiving the undivided
interest Ct his audience
For him would be the tell-tale smirk
and the eyes of anticipation; this time
he was going to knock EN- cold
He didn't, however. and ever there