COMEDY ELEMENT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20060, 5 October 1939, Page 4

COMEDY ELEMENT

LONDON IN WAR-TIME OPTIMISM UPPERMOST PAMPHLET RAID STORY ANECDOTES OVERNIGHT When English people find the strain of a situation becoming a little heavy, they have a habit of turning to humour The latest and best story received 3rom London regarding the developments in the war is that related by Mr. W. Barrington Miller, in a note on life in the metropolis under war conditions. This is the story of the Air Force pilot who came home late from a pamphlet raid over Germany. Explaining his dilatoriness, he* stated that things were so quiet that he went down and pushed the pamphlets under the doors! Of course, there are scores of good yarns, and some of them have a grim turn. On the whole, though, it seems that Londoners —and Londoners are after ail typical of British people—are taking the war of to-day as they took the war of 191418. They realise that they may be brought much more closely into contact with the real perils which were reserved mainly for the combatant forces and ’those who went down to the sea in ships 25 years ago; but that does not make them less appreciative of che lighter side of life. When in the first days of war the black-out at night was almost absolute —an Egyptian plague of darkness, according to Mr. Miller’s description—there were visible only the red, green and amber crosses to which the traffic lights in the streets had been reduced. “Hot cross buns" was the term coined for these at once. Motor Vehicles in Spats Cars and lorries were painted white or cream from the running-boards down, including the tyres, to improve the almost negligible visibility. The Londoner called this practice “putting them in spats.” “Thd general public,” writes Mr. Miller, “seems able to stand anything but unreasonable secrecy or shillyshallying on the part of the State Departments and their offshoots. “Mr. Arthur Greenwood, DeputyLeader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, has greatly heightened his Parliamentary reputation by his championship of the rights of the press and the public. Recently he criticised an action of the War Ministry in over, riding the Ministry of Information, an action which caused wide confusion and uncertainty. /■ “ ‘lf this sort of thing is not stopped, the Government will be playing with the most tricky thing in the country —the psychology of the people,’ declared Mr. Greenwood. “Mr. Bernard Shaw also has had a tilt at officialdom, in respect of the closing of theatres and other places of amusement, under regulations which have been relaxed now. In a letter to The Times, he asked what agent of Hitler had suggested that the British should be deprived of entertainment! * Long Continued Air Raid! “So far the psychology of the people, of which Mr. Greenwood spoke, is sound,” continues Mr. Miller. “The air raid warnings furnished an effective test of the steadiness of Londoners. One woman who retired to the basement of her house on hearing the sirens blare failed to hear the ‘all clear’ signal later, and stayed submerged for three days. She explained later that she thought it was a long raid, but as she had plenty of food and rugs, she felt quite at ease. “Nowadays, the presence of gasmasks, which everyone carries, excites no comment. Their absence does, on the other hand, for police and air raid wardens are constantly on the watch. Sadness is carefully concealed, except perhaps in the case of ‘Bosser’ Martin, the head groundsman at the Oval, who mournfully regards the trenches that have scarred his beloved field, where the turf is being rolled up and stacked until better times return. “For comic relief we have the story of the prudent convict who escaped from the cells at Wandsworth Gaol, and took his gas-mask with him. The cells at the Old Bailey have been converted into air-raid shelters for the innocent and the guilty, with that fine impartiality that distinguishes British justice. Defendants surrender to their bail carrying gas-masks, like everyone else. ■ “A Scots War—Like the Last” “A Scottish pavement artist at Hyde Park Comer attracts attention by the slogans he uses on his placards. One day they a'sked: ‘What shall it profit a man if he gains a Corridor, and lose his own house?’ And speaking of Caledonians, stern and wild, a commentator says that the London Scottish are ‘determined to make this a Scottish war—like the last one.’

“Leader-writers may refer to the Fuehrer in stately terms, but to the London c'har he is merely ‘that saucy ‘ltler.’

"The average London householder still feels that his home is his castle, and one police reservist who knocked up a man to chide him for showing lights was informed about how he should be wearing his steel helmet. Cicely Courtneidge has received a propaganda pamphlet from Dr. Goeibbels, addressed to 'Cecily Courtneidge, Esq.,’ and that is a good laugh for the average Londoner. A crank Who refused to admit that there was a war on carried his gas-mask satchel, but to inquiring friends he triumphantly showed that it was empty! “These are the trifles that serve to keep up our civilian morale, almost as effectively as the sight and knowledge of the huge preparations made for our safety and for the economical use of our troops. Londoners love to read and hear of the comic adjustments which have become necessary, and the Chelmsford solicitor who lately has become batman to one of his own clerks, the holder of a commission in the territorials, no doubt enjoys as much as anyone the evidence his case provides of the ‘all-in’ character of military service in these days.”