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Show B AMUSING THE H PUBLIC B ( Mursha'i 1' Wilder, tho noted hum K oi 1st who died a few days ago, was H - an Interesting typo of tho older men B in tho biiHiues3 or entertaining tho B , public. For many years ho traveled H , about this country and ICuropo and Pf round a ready demand for his fun at K CO cents a ticket. B Years ago, when humor had not B : been so commercialized, a sluglo en j tertalner would thus nmuso tho pub H ! lie for a whole evening. People did BBB8 j not attend entertainments so t.'o- MV ' uucntly In thoso days, partlcu'urly in HH ! tho smaller cities and country line IRaWB es. A man rlth keen senso of liumi.t hVBB and good powers of mimicry could H keep an audience laughing for a BBBB . couplo of hours. Humorous lecturci' H were mora numerous. They covered H , l tiio country oxhaustlvoly, and found B ,, Inri'.e nnd prolltnb'u audiences. H. i Nowadays -tho public Is more so- K ' imlstlcatot' . It Is hard to find new i Jokes.- An audlonco demands Inces- ( sant cliunse, swift motion from out eccentricity to nnothor. Mr. Wilder might havo been able to keep his hearers of 1880 going tiptll 10 p. m. ' ven if i ns onco considered tho best monologist of his typo tho crowd would now say enough in twenty ml--, ...in uc.nuiid somo now seiisa Hon. Tlie public mind Is a good donl of rt butterfly. Tlio fact that it enjoys a certain typo or humor for ton minutes mi-nutes docs not provo that It will IlKn It for twentv. 'ihe new, tho piquant nnd the unexpected is tho dominO. Mr. Wilder saw tho trend of tho times when In 1899 ho wont Into tho vnudovllle business, which In rollow-ed rollow-ed until his denth. Most or Mi a men or his tyro nro now In tho sann lino, They compress tholr fun Into tab-lold tab-lold Torm, to satlsry tlio restless modern nudienccs. The humorous lecturer lec-turer or thirty yenrs ago might ,ic-qulro ,ic-qulro a wider reputation with ills long lnile"rndent tours Hut the cnnrmoi'- '"iplnoo drno bv the vnu dovlllo companies makes It prslble for managers to pay high prices to a favorltn humorist, tor h'a hwity flash or fifteen mlnuto fun before the curtain. |
