Show Mannerisms Mark Marl the Man ManThey ManThey Man Man- ManThey They All Perform Off Guard I EW YORK Al Smith NEW N jingles coins in his left pocket and the duke of Windsor straightens his necktie Frank Frank- Franklin Franklin lin D. D Roosevelt jerks his head sideways Call them habits manner manner- mannerisms mannerisms mannerisms isms or just plain nervousness nervous nervouS- nervousness nervouSness the ness but they're among distinguishing features youve you've no no- noticed noticed noticed when famous men make speeches or appear before the news- news newsreel newsreel newsreel reel camera Most of us us great or little are thumb button twisters arm swingers or fist clench- clench ers in our forgetful moments This Is the Point A A widely known Boston professor used to enter his classroom holding a short well-sharpened well pencil which he twirled as he talked Now this he would say at in in- intervals intervals 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 late William Jennings Bryan Brynn combined his mannerism with Before his platform ap ap- appearances appearances he would have someone bring an old-fashioned old dishpan with witha a piece of ice to the rostrum As his fiery speech making warmed him I Bryan would run the palm of his hand over the ice then over his forehead To break this routine he I would occasionally step to the front of the platform weaving back and forth Corth 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 gestures of many other speakers Dudley Crafts Watson director of oC music at nt atthe atthe the Chicago art museum went through a repeated routine of taking tak tak- taking taking ing off of his swinging it around in his hand and replacing it to the eye One woman speaker asked me for a handkerchief just before she went on on Miss Wells remembers All through her lecture she stood twisting it in her hands When she returned it the handkerchief looked like a cruller Sen James Reed Heed of Missouri used to have a n habit of chewing tobacco in the courtroom while Sen Seri David I. I Walsh of Massachusetts can cnn 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 Winans nant nans of 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 It Too Such mannerisms are not exclusively exclusively exclusively a modern device Many years ago the highly intellectual Ralph Waldo Emerson had a habit of placing placing placing ing the thumb and forefinger of one hand between the thumb and forefinger fore fore- forefinger forefinger finger of 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 hend virtually pulling the audi audi- audience audience ence up with him Psychologists who have watched such on carryings-on from the spectators spectator's spectators spectator's spectators spectator's tors tor's seat dont don't believe its it's necessarily necessarily necessarily a matter of nervousness Sometimes the speakers are merely throwing off of excess energy Or as one psychologist suggested it may not be so much the energy or the audience as what the speaker had for dinner |