TELLING A STORY

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13933, 11 July 1919, Page 4

TELLING A STORY

"If you have only one story to. tell, don't tell it," advises George Robey in his "Art of telling a story." "It's sure to he familiar to everyone else. If you have more than one story, make sure of yourself before plunging wildly at the serious business of telling tales— and, -while plunging, (remember, if you can, these modest axioms: (1) Get the point of your story crystal-clear in ;jyour brain before' you start. If it is 'blurred, try another story th%t isn't. (2) . Boil down your sentences to the fewest possible words. In brevity lies success. (3) Don't thrusti any sort of story into any sort of conversation. Wait for a favourable opportunity. Am anecdote gain® enormously in value if told at th& right and suitable moment. (4r) Never laugh at your own story till it is told—'and tli;:n not too much. The man who chortles while he is recounting an aiijecdote has not mastered! the most.' elementary rule of story-tellmg. (5) If the only .stories you can. tell dealt witth your personal c :perience or the peculiarities of you-v off-spring (if any) keep silent, for pity's sake —and your own, re] tation. It's strange that, altV- ?h Brown, loves to recount his own •laings and the screamingly funny ;-y----•jngs of his nearest and '•■■'dearth-, Jones simply . hates to listen to such stories. Though when 1 c starts himself, ten to one jtie'll e,tnbarik on a tale about the little Joneses. But make a story impersomal, and it generally, gets home. (6) Make your point once, and leave it at that. ~ The fellow who elaborates his best joke is a;crimin(al. '' ! •' '••.;'■■ '.-