NATIONS' HUMOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22851, 5 October 1937, Page 12

NATIONS' HUMOUR

MATERIAL FOR BOOK TOUR OF CARICATURIST Having visited many countries for the purpose of collecting material for a book dealing with the humour of peoples of the world, a well-known Hungarian caricaturist, humorist and violinist, Mr. Laszlo Schwartz, who last visited New Zealand a number of years ago as a violinist on a concert tour, arrived at Auckland by the Aorangi from Sydney yesterday on his way back to Europe. Ho left Budapest in 1933, and since then has been interviewing men in all walks of life in the countries he has visited, to obtain examples of the humour that is characteristic of each country. As a result of his inquiries, Mr. Schwartz has arrived at conclusions about the reasons for the presence or absence of humour in the different nationalities that have never before been reached. For instance, lie said yesterday that as a result of spending 16 months in India, he had decided that humour in that country was definitely

linked with sadism. Indians in the south laughed most of all when they saw other people being hurt. An injury on a sports field was inevitably responsible for a hurricane of mirth.

The reason to his mind for this form of humour wus to be found partly in the prevalence ol child marriage, and partly in the Indians' religion, which completely monopolised their lives from the time they were born. k Topography also had a great deal to do with the humorous reflexes of various peoples, he said. In Burma ho had found the people to bo one of the most cheer.v in the world. There were more laughs in Burma in an hour than there were in India in a year. Wherever there were mountains and valleys, the people would be quick in their humour; flat countries invariably produced a humourless race.

Suffering and pain were also responsible for the production of a humour that was essentially philosophic, deep rooted and abiding. This was shown by the case of China. The country was a gold-mine of humour, and was in direct contrast to Japan, where the people, lacking a sense of humour, and therefore a sense of proportion, could only be humorous unconsciously.