Screaming

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30472, 20 June 1964, Page 4

Screaming

(A Fourth Leader In "The Times")

Across the world go the popular troupes of musicians and singers and their reception in various countries is the same, complimentary to

i an extreme of hysteria and , monotonous in the noise , evoked. The description of I their audience and more • especially of those who cannot i get in and must besiege barred doors is repeated in town after town. The crowd is young and screaming. The i scream, or screech as we say of a species of owl, is not euphonious and we may sympathise with the Orpheans of our brash new world who are constantly surrounded by it, though some would say that their own melodies are asking for this response. However that may. be, ours is a highly vocal society with the baronial title of “Screaming Lord Sutch” on one of its peaks. It is odd that to the

early Victorians the word screamer was a term of high praise since in common conversation it denoted “a person, animal, or thing of exceptional size, attractiveness, etc.; a splendid specimen.” If the usage lasted for a generation one can think of Dr. W. G. Grace as the champion screamer of the cricket field. Yet while a screamer Was an ace of men, a howler was a bad. mistake.

Only rarely does it imply distaste or denigration. Scandals and nuisances scream out for remedy, but usually the uproar is one of approbation. Those announcing the triumph of a farcical comedy label it "a continuous scream,” a claim which might deter but does not, since tranquillity is no part of the general idea of entertainment.

We have recently, it is true, modified the language of mirth by the current phrase “out for a giggle.” The comedian’s triumph is to set playgoers “rolling in the aisles” as well as continuously screaming and that leaves one wondering what happens to the delighted occupants of the middle of a row; do they force a passage to join the gangway rollers or writhe happily where they sit? A droll figure is said to look “a perfect scream,” which is more kindly than calling him a perfect fright. The ecstatic teenager might be thought of as ululating, but there is a lament Implied in that. He, or more often she, is in bliss, a state which has various modes of expression. Of these purring is the most agreeable, but we cannot expect our screams to take lessons from a cat.