OCR Text |
Show I T G 1 H Y E M j Ifou? the Adrenal Bodies Get Busy Diagrammatic view of the 0 , Tri l " Ia adrenal bodies, the ductless When Your Mirth Is Excited, and Why S?i ESH: I the Film Comedians Must Be Care- H4u c? 'Pi Hyf3. 1 l . . L" vT degree or pleasure in ... ' " ft iVbf Be Too ifl wi tLkMrX t$k inVejypjhi? I v y-y 7 i IN y y bodtea and they are located, Continuously I WJI c Si j flH These Emotion S 1 I fB. ! Controllers ' ' - - - - ' J Kp I in one of hh ' f 3 J funniest moments, I 4 A V ' f which science tells us would have a disastrous in- I v , Tv'l I stead of a happy effect on the glands that control fl 1 our smiles and laughter if they came too frequently J r f? I By Dr. I. L. Nascher THEN we go to the movies and J laugh till our side? ache at the antics of the film comedians few if any of us ever give any thought to our adrenal bodies those mysterious, hard-working littlo ductless glands which lie over our kidneys. Yet without with-out those glands and the secretions they begin pouring into the blood stream the instant our mirth is excited we would not get mucn enjoyment, out of the funny things we see in the movies. All the ductless glands the thyroid, parthyroid, thymus, pineal, pituitary and all the rest form a great interlocking interlock-ing system that has for one of its chief functions the control of our emotions. But the adrenal glands are more concerned con-cerned with the emotions pleasure and pain, hate and love, etc. than any of the others. The adrenals do not produce emotions, but they furnish the stimulus which puts in motion parts of tho body not under un-der the control of the will. They are, in fact, the check or control over the physical physi-cal reactions or expressions of emotions. They control pleasure as well as pain, hope as well as fear, mirth as well as sadness. In mirth the excessive secretion of tho adrenal glands in the blood produces pro-duces a spasm of the diaphragm, not as severe as hiccough, but similar to it, causing the irregularity in respiration which occurs in laughing. The action of the voluntary muscles of the chest, neck and face and the action of the vocal cords arc under the control of the will, but unless kept in check through voluntary vol-untary effort they react to the emotion and the laugh is produced. There are excellent physiological reasons rea-sons why a film comedian should seldom attempt to be as funny as he really can at least not until the very end of his film. To do so would be to overtax the adrenal bodies and give quite the reverse re-verse of the pleasurable emotions we expect ex-pect when we go to see a famous funny man. f The most pleasurable emotions are ! produced with a gradually increasing B stimulus. A severe initial emotional H shock, whether grave or gay, tragic or I comic, inhibits further emotion until the jj effect of the shock disappears. The adrenal glands are suddenly drained f and it takes a little time until pufficient H secretion is formed and sent into the j, blood to allow for fresh stimulation. I The scenario writer and the movie I comedian may know nothing of adrenal I control of mirth, but if they know their I business they know that if they start off j with a comic shock that causes too bois- J terous laughter their audience's capac- ity for enjoying the fun will be exhaust- ?d before the comedy's finish. But, I starting off with some very simple hu- i morous appeal perhaps something in the comedian's appearance, his big tor- I .1 toise-shell spectacles or the way he han- I ' -I dies his feet the skillful fun maker .1 leads his audience by easy stages to still I 1 more ludicrous situations. The adrenal ; I ' 1 glands are coaxed along to greater and- I I greater secretions, and they should I . I never reach their greatest output before vl the climax of the comedy is reached. If v J by any chance they do the film ends for if their owner in boredom. $r'i The introduction of pretty girls, a el.-lj touch of pathos or other incongruous fcf ' elements into a film comedy also helps HEp-: to keep tho adrenal glands from reach- Wjifc j ing the point of exhaustion. The'e aro the best physiological physio-logical reasons for having the antics of the comedians interspersed inter-spersed with flashes of feminine femi-nine beauty or things that bring a lump into tho throat. It is difficult to explain the exact nature and cause of mirth. Many things that wo see, hear, feel, smell, taste, imagine will give us pleasure, but only a few things that we see, hear, feel or imagine will produce the emotion of mirth. Harold Lloyd, in a recent magazine maga-zine article, says the essence of mirth is surprise, especially when something pleasant pleas-ant happens. This will produce pro-duce joy, but seldom sel-dom mirth. It is the incongruity in the relationship relation-ship between things or ideas rather than their suddenness and unexpectedness unexpected-ness that arouses the pleasurable emotion we call mirth. Misadventures that cause temporary tem-porary discomfort discom-fort without real damage, such as slipping on a I i ' iS j kJ ! J - . ,mwmmn&Hmtiiftiiiifa' nfl llii Hn : Mildred Davis, one of the charming film beauties, who help keep our adrenal bodies from becoming exhausted by distracting our attention every now and then from the comedians' antics (IICI, Will cause mirth in persons in whom the animal ani-mal instinct of self-preservation is not sufficiently softened by sympathy. It is a survival of the cave-man instinct to kill to obtain food and destroy competition. With advancing civilization the desire to kill was replaced by the desire to inflict pain and gloat over suffering, and as civilization and sympathy increased the desire to sco or inflict pain decreased. But there still remains in most persons a trace of th's animal instinct, a certain amount of desire to see or inflict pain or discomfort, so long as it does no serious se-rious damage. There are some who still find a savage joy in inflicting or seeing such pain or discomfort, but in most persons tho joy is expressed as mirth. Slap-stick comedy depends upon this same instinct, tho harmless pain inflicted in-flicted upon us during our spanking days now inflicted upon some one else. The same is seen in the Punch and Judy show which appeals to children and to grown-ups whose sense of humor has not advanced beyond the child's. Incongruity causes mirth, but many of the incongruities, such as old styles, the crinoline and hoop skirt, over-tight or exceedingly baggy trousers, the chin whiskers of two generations ago and other obsolete or exaggerated styles, produce pro-duce only an artificial kind of laughter that is usually only short-lived. In their earliest appearances together Weber and Fields depended mainly on the incongruity of their looks Fields tall and lanky, and Weber shortj with ' an enormous paunch. Their billiard act was very funny, but it was their appearance ap-pearance that caused the first laugh. After a few years the make-up no longer created mirth except among thoso who had never seen them before. They then had to depend upon their ability as comedians, co-medians, and not as comic dressers, and lifter they separated they depended entirely en-tirely upon their natural humor and their ability to make others kco and feel it. There aro forms of humor that appeal the reason, such as the absurd contradictions con-tradictions of bulls, clever repartee, jokes and the droll remarks of children. But one must understand the language, the circuhictances and situations to be affected by them. Tho man who does not understand r doesn't see anything funny when a player holding three aces tells another an-other player holding three deuces to take the pot, as he has only ones. The play upon the names of tho countries Greece and Turkey is humorous in English, Eng-lish, but the names of these countries in other languages do not lend themselves to double meanings as they do in English. V ' v will sv Rogers. '"'' getting the most possible laughter out of his spectators by giving their adrenal bodies a series of gradually increasing in-creasing shocks On tho "other hand, the bull as, for example, a man makes his own imported cigars," can be translated into any other civilized language and retain its humor. It is the idea, not the words, that appears ap-pears ridiculous and funny. In ridicule we have the same basic element that we find In the misadventure, misadven-ture, the desire to cause discomfort in another, or see it produced. In ridicule nnd irony the intention is to cause mental men-tal discomfort not as coarsely painful as actual criticism or abuse would produce. pro-duce. It is a refinement of mental distress. dis-tress. - - . "Snub" Pollard, another ). of the film comedians ' whose success depends on nover bein; M funny 1 as he can be for too long at a time ' While there is much in 2MMF ever, - lav life that is comic Hflufv 'ind cau.-e mirth, the great ! y field for tho comic is the stage, the speaking stage for the spoken humor, the film star for the comic in action. It La hardly necessary to discuss the spoken comedy. The more highly civilized civil-ized und refined people become the more they seek tho comedy which appeals to the reason, the double entendre, the bull, clever repartee, wit and raillery. The . oarseij mind, upon which this form of humor would be lost, seeks the farce with its gross incongruities, coarse jokes and suggestive situations. It is simply a matter of mental capacity and refinement refine-ment and the result of environment. The comic in the films is an entirely different proposition. It used to appeal only to those who want fun in the simplest sim-plest manner possible, through ludicrous situations which excite mirth, with but little effort of the reasoning faculty. As in the spoken farce, its humor often depended de-pended largely upon grotesque makeup, make-up, slap-stick antics and situations so ' agg- 1 ated that tUafl j unnaturalness vmI i 1 obvious to thvC 1 -implest minds. Jm I recent yeafM j i discriminathyiH ( public vhas d-l j manded a morffl yS J J intellectual fonS comedy, comedB ' with .i plot whielfl requires some ' " telligence to follow and which does not depend upon the grotesqiB nake-up for its laughs, but upon naturlH vet funny incidents that occur in course of the plot. ;B The most successful of the ni-K rn film . :,A-dLin:: g: plays "f this . harBCteWM Xhej give i audiences credit for har-J ing some intelligence and being willinfl to devote that intelligence to the unrsvj , i-.g simple pint, find they depenlB upon slight mishaps an. I nu-.'ventnre ,,I en and unexpected but not unlik- which in rea life WOUM ,aue a laugh; incongruities which am irrational vet are mrt with, to furniS the comedy element. V The most successful film comcdianH the one wl inny jl he might I.e. at ka-t not until the VCljM ;,max of the cinedy is reached tMg c who leads us by easy stages to s:tM tions more and more ludicrous, so ; thjl the capacity of our adrenal .lands is not exhausted too soon. 'fl .Man is an animal that laughs Thi ,.ne attribute .ufikes to distinguish hM from all o-h.- animals Other amnttM ,;ivo ihe sanu mechanism that produe laughter the diaphragm the chest cles, muscle.' of the neck and face iqH vocal cr,j. Some show m varioUM wavs th. : ' ' i.ka.-urabM sensations from certain actions, such ickling, which causes huehter in hUDjm beings; some make sounds that rescmbMI laughter. But none of them laugh. j 4 There is nothing m annual life rcsel"j bling or analog'.u mrth. and c0m quently there i absent the . action to mirth, which is the laugh. lM reaso i is ': "r,h ;; atl emJJ tion that has been developed throUJJ civilization and does not arise from tMi fundamental instincts, self-prcservuo and race preservation. Civilization is basically the result jfj efforts to simplify the I robkm? 0' and lessen their serious aspects. 1 nrt"JI intelligent co-operation, nui'ual con J .ions and sacrifices and individual for; m 'an . " l:ave tJ3m vised Where! y the struck lor ,s" 3 has been simplitiod and all ot J wakm- hours are no longer ". the hunt f, r food. It f vu"31 leisure and he has found' ways to Pr"W agreeable mental impressions ana urable conception arising tr-ni ;l K pressions or created by the 'Ja And one of the most .-aluablc of ways is found in tho iiovle comedte ., |