Looking for Mabel Normand

 

How to Be a Comedienne

by Mabel Normand

 

Dramatic Mirror, June 19, 1920

Transcribed by

Marilyn Slater

“Looking-for-Mabel”

also

William T. Sherman

has transcribed this article

and tons of other ones in the

Mabel Normand Source Book

 

Comedy Depends on Jazz—The Delicate Art of

Burlesque—The Serious Business of

Being a Comedienne—The Root of Humor

I am not a highbrow. If I were, I wouldn’t be earning my living by being funny—or trying to be. I know more about jazz than I do about classical music. Not that I’m not fond of a concert now and then, but on the whole I like syncopation better. My heart beats to a jazz tune, I guess. "The world goes round to the sound of the international rag," as Irving Berlin said; and I think the rag he meant was that of laughter and pleasure and joy. It’s a good tune! I know it by heart; and my ambition is to be able to play it on the old piano of the world with my eyes shut.

 

I think that one of the secrets of being a comedienne is in knowing jazz because when you know the syncopated tunes, you know the songs to which the average heart responds and so, in a way you know humanity. To be a comedienne you’ve got to be human. That’s the truth of the matter. You’ve got to be able to appreciate that side of people which is queer, ridiculous, and yet lovable. You can’t make people laugh just by being odd. You’ve got to be more than that. You’ve got to be a little bit pathetic.

 

When people laugh most the tears start from their eyes, because laughter and pain aren’t nearly so far a part as they seem to be. Sometimes think they are twins and you can’t knock against their cradle without disturbing both of them, although, if you’re lucky, laughter will be louder than his brother. But you never can tell.