Clean Art

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 41, 12 October 1905, Page 2

Clean Art

'Way back in 1°748, Chesterfield, in one of his letters, ' most particularly warned ' his son against laughter. 'In my mind,' said that cultivated pagan, 'there is nothing so illiberal and ilWwred as au<divbjl'e laufgjhter.' Chesterfield, however, approved of smiliimg. Which was a great mercy. But even smiling is ' 'bad fiorm' among the more elect of the ' uppah suckles ' in England of to-day. ' High! sassiety,' according to Max O'Rell's last book, ' eats, yawns, laughs at nothing ; to use a well-kmowm expression, its members sit " all silent and all damned." It is appalling,' said the man from the land of spasmodic laughter. 'It is bad form to smile, it is bad form to applaud, it is bad form to raise the voice. By Jove ! soon it will be bad form to breathe.' Wo in New Zealand may not go so far as ChamxfO'rt, and maintain that ' the most wasted of all days id that on winch o-ne has not laughed.' But the kill-joy life has no charm for these non-Puritan lainds, awl _ Australasians iiWor.ol their pleasures sadly, nor fad to recognise the germ of mirth in Peter Pindar's couplet :—: — ' Care to o<ur coffin adds a nail, mo doirbt, Ami every grin, so merry, draws one out.' Thoro is many a laughing Saint upon our calendar besides Fra Fihppo Nen, whose happy heart never seemed to forget the joys of Christmas, nor the inspired word of the Apostle of the Gentiles : ' Rejoice in the Lord ; again I\ say to you, Always rejoice.' ♦ The laughing philosopher as well as the laughing Saint has his place and function m tini ' wale o' tears.' 1 Ridentetn dicere verum Quid vetat ? ' There is nothing to prevent one from conveying lessons of truth with a laugh wreathing one's features. This seemed to 'have been a principle with the late Mel. B. Spurr, whbsiei clean nn<d striking monologue entertainments, both in their aim and substance and manner, placed him upon the high int<ellect<ual level of the two Coquelins in France. Upon Spurr's monument devise No full and flattering epitaph, But carve there only : " Here he lies Who helped tho weary world to laugh ! " '

So wrote an admirer. The recently published biography .of Mr. Spuxr contains' some useful hints given to begitiners by the gifted entertainer— hints which we comjmend in. a very special way to organisers of Catholic entertainments who are tempted to permit the singing of certain rough or suggesti\e ' comic ' songs, or the whoops and jerks and spasms of the epileptic' baboon who poses as a ' stage Irishman. 1 Mr. Spurr applied the lash to the miscalled ' artists ' who ' make what wo call " big money " by singing songs and giving sketches ihat aie bimply poisonous and are a disgrace to our common nature.' fie hold that the public really 'doesn't ask for "brainless buffoonery or doubl' entendre.'

''I started out some seventeen years ago,' said he, addressing a group of budding ' artists,' ' to entertain the puWic, with one fixed conviction— thiat I would giv.a the world; of my "best and esohew all evil methods, if I died in ai ditch— -and I have not yet died in a ditoh ! To such as essay to -win the public favor by questionable means, I would say : «•• Think twice before you (put an impure thought into a pure mind." Don't sniff pollution ; lift your eyes and see all the pure, good hunnor of which this world is full, and try' to re^ produce it tor the 'benefit of that world (and yourself incidentally, of course) ; give them a good laugh at a good tiling ; lift the pall of gloom and depression under which suffering mankind is so often found lying* if only for a few moments, ami whether what yoa d)o be called " art " or not, and whether you receive £100 a week for your efforts or a humble fiver, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you have htomestly earned what you receive, and by pure and conscientious effort have added to the gaiety of the nation without sullying its purity or insulting its intelligence.' This extract deserves to be framed and h/ung up in every greenroom in the country.