The Era " Fall-Down-Funny Thread " Thread

[Waterloo50]

 

[kholland]

​

George McClellan trying to play "referee" between Lincoln and Davis.

 

[John Hartwell]

Abraham Lincoln said that his favorite humorist was Artemus Ward, the nom de plume of Charles Farrar Browne. Browne was born in Waterford, Maine. He began life as a compositor and occasional contributor to the daily and weekly journals. In 1858, he published in The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) the first of the "Artemus Ward" series, which, in a collected form, achieved great popularity in both America and England. Artemus was a travelling showman, a would-be Barnum, who brought his wonders and mysteries to cities and towns all across the country. Just before revealing his planned Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet, Lincoln read aloud to them Ward's latest:

HIGH-HANDED OUTRAGE AT UTIKY.

In the Faul of 1856, I showed my show in Utiky, a trooly grate sitty in the State of New York.

The people gave me a cordyal recepshun. The press was loud in her prases.

1 day as I was givin a descripshun of my Beests and Snaiks in my usual flowry stile what was my skorn & disgust to see a big burly feller walk up to the cage containin my wax figgers of the Lord's Last Supper, and cease Judas Iscarrot by the feet and drag him out on the ground. He then commenced fur to pound him as hard as he cood.

"What under the son are you abowt?" cried I.

Sez he, "What did you bring this pussilanermus cuss here fur?" & he hit the wax figger another tremenjis blow on the hed.

Sez I, "You egrejus a*s that air's a wax figger — a representashun of the false 'Postle,"

Sez he, "That's all very well fur you to say but I tell you, old man, that Judas Iscarrot can't show hisself in Utiky with impunerty by a darn site!" with which observashun he kaved in Judassis hed. The young man belonged to 1 of the first famerlies in Utiky. I sood him, and the Joory brawt in a verdick of Arson in the 3d degree.


For another example of Ward's humor, this time with a Civil War related theme, see: The Crisis.
The 1867 collection, Artemus Ward, his Book is online at: https://archive.org/stream/artemuswardhisbo01ward#page/n5/mode/2up

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Far from politics, fashion frequently was topical and not in a good way. Hoops have always, always baffled me- as in why? Regency fashions were on the way to being so simple! Well, they were. Straight, simple lines from a high waist- to me, the most elegant form our ancestors wore. What in blazes launched them backwards who can say? There's a thread here! Not everyone was enchanted with this bizarre trend.

One cartoonist thought crinolines would make great sea bathing articles.

These are all from a cartoon page on Pinterest, highlighting how absurd many felt hoops were.

 

[Keiri]

I don't get it.

Abraham Lincoln said that his favorite humorist was Artemus Ward, the nom de plume of Charles Farrar Browne. Browne was born in Waterford, Maine. He began life as a compositor and occasional contributor to the daily and weekly journals. In 1858, he published in The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) the first of the "Artemus Ward" series, which, in a collected form, achieved great popularity in both America and England. Artemus was a travelling showman, a would-be Barnum, who brought his wonders and mysteries to cities and towns all across the country. Just before revealing his planned Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet, Lincoln read aloud to them Ward's latest:

HIGH-HANDED OUTRAGE AT UTIKY.

In the Faul of 1856, I showed my show in Utiky, a trooly grate sitty in the State of New York.

The people gave me a cordyal recepshun. The press was loud in her prases.

1 day as I was givin a descripshun of my Beests and Snaiks in my usual flowry stile what was my skorn & disgust to see a big burly feller walk up to the cage containin my wax figgers of the Lord's Last Supper, and cease Judas Iscarrot by the feet and drag him out on the ground. He then commenced fur to pound him as hard as he cood.

"What under the son are you abowt?" cried I.

Sez he, "What did you bring this pussilanermus cuss here fur?" & he hit the wax figger another tremenjis blow on the hed.

Sez I, "You egrejus a*s that air's a wax figger — a representashun of the false 'Postle,"

Sez he, "That's all very well fur you to say but I tell you, old man, that Judas Iscarrot can't show hisself in Utiky with impunerty by a darn site!" with which observashun he kaved in Judassis hed. The young man belonged to 1 of the first famerlies in Utiky. I sood him, and the Joory brawt in a verdick of Arson in the 3d degree.


For another example of Ward's humor, this time with a Civil War related theme, see: The Crisis.
The 1867 collection, Artemus Ward, his Book is online at: https://archive.org/stream/artemuswardhisbo01ward#page/n5/mode/2up

 

[Mike Serpa]

I don't get it.

Me niether.

 

[LoriAnn]

Punch, Jan 19, 1861:

The Mrs. looks like a dude. Then again, maybe I've seen a little too much of that over the past two weeks, and my perception is a little skewed.

 

[LoriAnn]

I don't know if this is strictly CW era, but it's referred to as "Victorian". Plus it's kinda funny.

pinterest

 

[James B White]

I don't get it.

Utica NY was known for harboring strong antislavery types and suspected underground railroad workers. Googled for a quickie article here. They were a cliche city of people who wouldn't stand for the sin of slavery.

So our hero, Ward, shows up with his usual beasts, snakes and waxworks, and is giving his usual showman's spiel, when one of the locals starts pummeling his wax Judas. Ward tries to get him to stop, but he won't. His reason? "I tell you, old man, that Judas Iscarrot can't show hisself in Utiky [Utica] with impunerty by a darn site." Those Uticans just won't stand for any wickedness, and if they find it, they'll do something about it.

 

[Keiri]

Wouldn't that be a good thing, even then?

I've read in many newspapers during the war things that purport to be jokes, but are really not funny to me. Of course I can think of a million reasons why. But I wonder if any of you find something funny looking back now through the eyes of today? We might have better luck finding humor that way!

Utica NY was known for harboring strong antislavery types and suspected underground railroad workers. Googled for a quickie article here. They were a cliche city of people who wouldn't stand for the sin of slavery.

So our hero, Ward, shows up with his usual beasts, snakes and waxworks, and is giving his usual showman's spiel, when one of the locals starts pummeling his wax Judas. Ward tries to get him to stop, but he won't. His reason? "I tell you, old man, that Judas Iscarrot can't show hisself in Utiky [Utica] with impunerty by a darn site." Those Uticans just won't stand for any wickedness, and if they find it, they'll do something about it.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Oh I think there's a tongue in cheek suggestion Uticans somehow went a Bridge Too Far and ended up becoming Jiminy Cricket across the board- Judas being a whole, 'nother, and ancient moral debt owed by one man to God himself can't possibly be connected to the stance against slavery. Holding Judas's debt against the person presenting his ( long dead ) image really is fall down funny. Well, so is the conviction one has the right to self-deputize, police the universe we all share and have it fit subjective standards- on everyone's behalf.

 

[James B White]

Wouldn't that be a good thing, even then?

Not if it leads to beating up innocent waxworks. I think the joke was in the exaggeration.

I've read in many newspapers during the war things that purport to be jokes, but are really not funny to me. Of course I can think of a million reasons why. But I wonder if any of you find something funny looking back now through the eyes of today? We might have better luck finding humor that way!

There are lots of jokes even today, when I'm awash in contemporary context, that I "get" but don't find particularly funny. Others I do, but only for a short while, when they're fresh. Like grumpy cat or anything Seinfeld like "no soup for you." There are period equivalents, like "come out from under that hat" or "mister, here's your mule" that seemed to spread hard and burn out fast.

I think Ward is pretty consistently funny, but his stories need the dialect. Not sure if they'd work without that. I was looking over a collection of his to see if I still liked it at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6946/6946-h/6946-h.htm, and the following cracked me up. He's visiting famous sites in New England. "The winder of my room commands a exileratin view of Copps' Hill, where Cotton Mather, the father of the Reformers and sich, lies berrid. There is men even now who worship Cotton... " I didn't see that coming at all.

Still, I think period jokes work best, the more context one knows. Further complicating matters are British jokes reprinted in Harper's Weekly. Like us watching British TV humor, you've got to know a bit of two cultures or miss some of the subtleties.

 

[Keiri]

Oh! I know. I was researching an ancestor of my fiance's, and he has a diary of the war. When he was stationed at Camp Randall, the barracks were under construction. So many of the men, to get out of the snow, slept in the animal pens. The men would make mooing and oinking and braying noises right before bedtime to mock the situation. There also was a man who - rather insubordinately, managed to make farting noises with his armpit every time an officer would open his mouth to try to speak.

 

[John Hartwell]

Buying Life Insurance:

[Boston Herald, Feb. 7, 1864]​

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

HOW does anyone have time for Facebook?? Era papers are the BEST. That's hysterical! Not much changes!! Someone had to fill out the usual " And what is your mother's maiden name, her blood type, where did her mother go to school and if she had cats, what color were they? " questions.

" Constitutionality of the 10 Commandments.... " - oh goodness, going to hurt something, laughing.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

So thought hard about posting this as funny- being wounded is not, this man's spirit makes you laugh, is the thing. Why there is not a Calvin Aldus parade each year in Belfast, Maine is a matter for the town counsel. Perhaps he would be unremarkable there- parts of Maine we navigated growing up, tough to tell the difference between an osprey and one of their mosquitos. Hardy?

15 bullets through his uniform, one glancing from his skull, 4 charges over him, as he lay there, 6 wounds in and through him next, left for dead, woke up, was taken to the hospital, escaped from the hospital with all those wounds in him and boots marks all over his back, forged a pass to get back to the front- surgeons must have finally sent him all the way to Maine, where it's tougher to get back to Petersburg. Calvin, God love you, on behalf of all mothers, please stay down.

 

[civilken]

Buying Life Insurance:

View attachment 167439
[Boston Herald, Feb. 7, 1864]​

it's hard to laugh at someone who sounds the same way I do on the computer..