Word: dismal
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...first efforts to be funny in celluloid were dismal. Keystone directors feared that he was overpaid, offered to cancel the contract. Chaplin told Roscoe Arbuckle, the now deposed cinema clown, that he needed a pair of shoes. Arbuckle tossed him a pair of his own enormous brogues. "There you are, man," he said. "Perfect fit!" Chaplin put them on, cocked his battered derby over his ear, twisted the ends of his prim mustache. His face was very sad. He attempted a jaunty walk which became, inevitably, a heart-breaking waddle. He put his hand on the seat of his trousers...
Three Doors. An ill-fashioned farce wandered into an out-of-the-way uptown theatre and stumbled through a dismal two hours. Mystery and satire were the aims of the author, Edward E. Rose; his understanding of either seemed negligible. Assisting in the general depression was a generally inadequate band of actors. The sole novelty was the introduction of many of the characters from the auditorium. This trick has been done seven or eight times before...
...this "rookie," with his team mates, appeared on a baseball diamond. All over the South, fields "' were crawling with such players. From every cranny of the U. S., they had come, with suitcases of leather, of wicker and with duffle bags; some of them as unprepossessing as the dismal fellow just described, others; indeed, far worse; many brisk, dapper veterans who scorned the scrofulous looks of such unseasoned players and shouted harsh commands at them. They were the company of men?numbering over 500?who play baseball in the American and National Leagues...
...purpose of drying one's hands. The first time I saw one I was distinctly impressed. Shining with porcelain and polished nickel they seemed the incarnation of this hygienic age. Expecting a scientific miracle, I pushed the pedal, spread out my dripping pans and awaited results. A low, dismal groan arose and a ghastly breeze numbed my fingers. I thought of Hamlet's father and my hands shook clumsily as though covered with gore. After three minutes intercourse with the departed. I dried my hands on my handkerchief and arrived late for my next class. Since that time, when feeling...
...declared, "I came to Harvard 'the baby of the College Faculty'. Now, with the exception of Charles Sprague Sargent, I am the senior in active service, 'A dismal eminence', say some...