Word: laughter
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...amusement, but I'm convinced that they cannot manufacture actors. Nothing can give a man what he must have to be a good comedian, for example. A comedian to be successful must be intensely sincere. He is not an actor, he is a comedian. He must have comedy and laughter in his heart, and," he added wistfully, "sometimes a little tragedy...
...Then, too, a comedian must have a profound understanding of human nature, he must understand the psychology of the human brain. I find that one of the most effective ways to get a good laugh is to produce a rapid change from one emotion to another, from tears to laughter for example...
...Signor Maffi, from the Chamber by the hair of his beard. To that arch-stickler for authority, Premier Benito Mussolini, such doings have long seemed intolerable. Last week the cables carried news of a "reform" so ingenious that its high-handedness was passed over in a gale of appreciative laughter...
...person suffers from mental malnutrition, he might prescribe spiritual vitamines. The subtitle of his book is "A Pocket Medicine Chest of Verse." He furnishes 14 packets of medicine for specific mental ailments: "Stimulants for a Faint Heart (Poems of Courage)"; "Mental Cocktails and Spiritual Pick-Me-Ups (Poems of Laughter)"; "Massage for a Muscle-bound Spirit (Poems of Emancipation)"; "Poppy Juice for Insomnia (Soothers and Soporifics)"; "To Deflate the Ego (Ingredients for a Humble Pie)"; etc. Although the editor offers them half with tongue- in-cheek, there is no reason why his prescriptions should not effect cures quite as marvelous...
...helping you while away a few dull hours in this dull existence of yours, in a word, if I have succeeded in amusing you I have fulfilled my mission as a good showman. My job is to amuse not to instruct. Nay, more. If I have succeeded in bringing laughter in your heart and strange wonder in your soul I have given you greater instruction than you could possibly get in your churches or your academies. For the secret of life is in its illusions and one good laugh is worth more than a thousand philosophies...