Word: humours
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Died. Sir John Alexander Hammerton, 78, British journalist, author (In the Track of R. L. Stevenson, 1909; With Northcliffe in Fleet Street, 1932) and editor of many a large-scale reference work (Punch Library of Humour, Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopedia, Harmsworth History of the World), who offered a ?1,000,000 reward in 1940 to any American who would bring Hitler "alive or still breathing" to his office within 30 days; in London...
...visited. Philadelphia, with its preponderance of Quaker businessmen, he found dull: "I never was in a place so populous where the gout for publick gay diversions prevailed so little . . . Some Virginia gentlemen . . . were desirous of having a ball but could find none of the feemale sex in a humour for it." New York (pop. 11,000) pleased him better, especially the conversation and the women, but in Albany the local custom of asking strangers to kiss the women "might almost pass for a pennance, for the generality of the women here, both old and young, are remarkably ugly...
...press descended on the Lord Chamberlain with whoops of joy. Said the London Daily Mirror's leader-writer: "What is clearly missing at the Lord Chamberlain's office is a share of that sense of humour which is Britain's priceless national possession. . . . Abolish the comedian, the cartoonist (and even the leader-writer) and there would soon be an Act of Parliament to restore them...
...jolt when ahs and ohs and girlish sighs accompany the first appearance of Van Johnson and reoccur at unpredictable moments throughout. The big surprise is that the story itself, far from being a B plot dressed up in technicolor, abounds in first-rate humour and develops with steady interest to the madcap climax...
...Scottish island, "On Approval" allows two kindly if ineffectual characters to realize that they don't want to marry the selfish Brook and Miss Lillie, while the latter pair finally end at the altar. In spite of a well worn plot, this film brings out the best of English humour. Shying away from Hollywood's gag-happy style, "On Approval" specializes in a never ending series of sly, subtle touches that provide an hour and a half of continuous laughter rather than the customary two and a half of spasmodic guffaws...