Show mannerisms mark the man they all perform off guard EW YORK al smith NEW Nj jingles ingles coins in his left pocket and the duke of windsor straightens his necktie Pr franklin anklin D roosevelt jerks his head sideways call them habits manner alms or just plain nervous ss but among the distinguishing features youve noticed when famous men make speeches or appear before the newsreel camera most of us great or little are thumb twiddle rs button twisters arm swingers or fist 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 would say at intervals ter vals 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 do it each hour the late william jennings bryan combined his mannerism with U auty before his platform ap U ances he would have someone tiling rig an old fashioned dishpan with a piece of ice to the rostrum As his fiery speechmaking speech making warmed him bryan would run the palm of his hand over the ice then over his forehead to break this 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 gestures of many other speakers dudley crafts watson director of music at the chicago art museum went through a repeated routine of taking off his manacle mo nacle 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 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 of missouri used to have a habit of chewing tobacco in the courtroom while sen david I 1 walsh of massachusetts can never speak without thrusting his left thumb into the corner of his trousers pocket ex gov john G winant of new hampshire used to hang his arms straight down his sides and walk sideways ac across ross the stage like a small boy reciting his piece emerson had it too such mannerisms are not exclusively a modern device many years ago the highly intellectual ralph waldo emerson had a habit of placing the thumb and forefinger of one hand between the thumb and forefinger of the other moving them gently while speaking henry ward beecher would emphasize the climax of his speech by rising to his toes and throwing his arms over his head virtually pulling the audience up with him psychologists who have watched such carryings on from the spectators seat dont believe its necessarily a matter of 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 what the speaker had for dinner |