Show Mannerisms Mark Marl the Man Man Man- ManThey They All Perform orIn Off Guard YORK YORK YORK-Al Al Smith NEW jingles coins in his left pocket and the duke of Wind Wind- Windsor sor straightens his necktie Franklin D. D Roosevelt jerks his lis head sideways Call them habits manner manner- mannerisms mannerisms mannerisms isms or just plain nervous nervous- nervousness nervousness nervousness ness but they're among the distinguishing shing features fe tures youve you've no no- noticed noticed when famous men make speeches or appear before the news- news newsreel newsreel newsreel reel camera Most of ot us great or r little are thumb button twisters arm swingers or fist clench clench- ers in our forgetful moments This Is the Point A widely known Boston professor used to enter his classroom holding a short well sharpened pencil which he twirled as he talked Now this he be would say at in in- intervals Is the point Each time he would jab the pencil at the class until his amused students finally made up sweepstakes on how many times hed he'd do it each hour The rhe late William Jennings Bryan combined his mannerism with practicality Before his platform ap ap- appearances appearances ap- ap appearances he would have someone bring an old-fashioned old dishpan with witha a Q piece of ice to the rostrum As his lis fiery speech making warmed him Bryan would v run the palm of of his hand land over the Ice then over his forehead d. d To To break this routine routine he would occasionally step to the front of the platform weaving back and forth while the audience gasped for fear he would topple into the front row A Monocle Swinger Bertha Wells of Boston who was formerly In Chautauqua work with Bryan recalls the platform pIa gestures of many other speakers Dudley Crafts Watson directory director of ot music at atthe atthe atthe the Chicago art museum went through a Q repeated routine of tak tal taking taking ing oft off his swinging it I around In his hand and replacing It to the eye I One woman speaker asked me for tor a handkerchief just before she went on Miss Wells remembers I All through her lecture she stood twisting it In her hands When she returned it the handkerchief looked like a cruller Sen James Reed of Missouri used to have a habit of chewing tobacco in the courtroom while Sen David DavidI I I. I Walsh of Massachusetts can never speak without thrusting his left thumb into the corner of his trou trou- trousers trousers' trousers trousers' trousers trousers' sers' sers pocket Ex John G. G WI WI- WInant WInant nant of ot New Hampshire used to hang his arms straight down his sides and walk sideways across the stage like a small boy reciting his piece Emerson Had find It Too Such mannerisms are not exclusively exclusively a modern device Many years ago the highly Intellectual Ralph Waldo Emerson had a habit of placing placing ing the thumb and forefinger of one hand between the thumb and fore fore- forefinger forefinger finger of ot the other moving them gently while speaking Henry Ward Beecher would emphasize the cli cli- climax climax climax max of his speech by rising to his toes and throwing his arms over his head virtually pulling the audi audio audience audience ence up with him Psychologists who have watched such on carryings-on from the spectators spectator's spectators spectators spectator's tors tor's seat dont don't believe its it's necessarily necessarily a matter of ot nervousness Sometimes the speakers are merely throwing off excess energy Or as one psychologist suggested it may not be so much the energy or the audience as ns what the speaker had for dinner |