HUMOUR

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 117, 20 May 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

HUMOUR

DO WOMEN POSSESS IT?

KEENER THAN MEN'S,

Tho subject of whether "women possess humour has been a perennial one with man since the day he hit his cave wife over the head with a thigh bone and then felt peeved because she failed to see the humour of the situation. Miss Marjorio Harrison has taken up the cudgels in an English paper. She writes: — Yet it is these facts that strengthen me in my opinion that "a sense of humour," as we understand the term to-day, is more highly developed in women than in men; for it has little to do with loud laughter, and those people with merry morning faces are not necessarily those blessed with the saving grace. Two men at least support me in this view. Mr. Ben Travers, the author of "A Bit of a Test" and other farces, has said frankly that "women have a far keener sense of humour than men," and adds tho enlightening remark thi,t "that means a woman does not laugh as readily." Another champion of women in this matter is Mr. Herbert Marshall, whose W'ide experience of British and American audiences has led liim to precisely the same conclusion. Women Are Subtler. But Mr. Marshall considers that it is largely a matter of definition. Men, he says, are more hearty, more jovial. Jovial is definitely a male adjective, and Mr, Marshall is aware of that. Wotnen, ho considers, have an appreciation of more subtle situations that may pass a man by but will cause a woman to smile to herself rather than laugh loudly with others.

Feminine humour is more intelligent, more highly evolved, and more sophisticated. It is the reverse of the primitive idea of fun which is the sense of superiority induced by the discomfiture of others. And this difference, Mr. Marshall thinks, is the outcome of a woman's greater sense of sympathy. During the run of the circus at Olympia you can always see primitive humour illustrated by the shrill, delighted laughter of the children whenover a clown trips over himself, falls down a ladder or off a bicycle. Their treble laughter is backed by the bass of their father's guffaws. Their mothers do not laugh at these slap-stick antics. They are unfunny in a woman's view. Laughter and tears are closely allied. The greatest comedian in the world is Charlie Chaplin, but in every film he makes there is an underlying motive of sadness. As lie picks himself up from any one of a hundred absurd situations one has the feeling that he w ruefully awaro of liis own stupidity. Harold Lloyd runs him close as a comedian, and displays the same touch of wistfulness. Both illustrate rather the aloofness that is able to see the reverse side of a distressing personal situation than a primitive delight in the misfortune of someone else. In this respect a sense of humour and a sense of moral balance and sanity arj one and the same thing. A Saving Sense. I wonder how many tragedies have been saved by a sense of comedy. How many people must have given lip the idea of putting their heads in gas ovens because, in the midst of overwhelming depression, they ha ve been able to see the absurdity of the situation ? A sense of humour in man or woman is both born and made. It is born of imagination and made keen and fine by the sledge hammer blows of life. It is often the great compensation for a very bad time. The fine flower of humour rarely blooms iti extreme youth—the time when life is very real and earnest. A similar sense of humour i 3 a delightful thing to encounter. It is one of the strong links of friendship and a great bond between two people. National Humour. Each nationality has its own brand of humour. Germany is the home of fantasy. America is the fr.ctory of wisecracks; American humour is slick, sharp, and sophisticated. Mr. 'Marshall told me that, with all his wide experience of the United States, he had not yet learned what to say, but he had got as far as learning what not to say. "Where humour is concerned," he said, "tlicy do indeed speak another language." The French have a pretty wit. The English are the masters of the difficult art of nonsense.

The best tilings in life are love, courage and fun, and all the world over there are men and women who fjnd life pleasanf because at their birth a fairy-godmother bestowed the rich gift of fun, without which couragc is grim rather than gallant, and love an intense emotion rather than the sweet flower of contentment.