The Funny Men, part 1

 

He's the odd looking fellow
with a goofy face that only a mother could love.

Or that bloke at the pub
whose loud braying can almost shatter glass.

Maybe he's that daft store clerk
who never understands your questions
and can't stop talking.

Or that looney uncle
who wears mismatched outfits
and tells never ending stories.

Each one is a merry chap
we've all met or known.
Men full of mirth and jollity
that keep us laughing
at the follies of life.

The funny men.

Today I present a small collection
of five jokesters, all German entertainers from around 1910. 

Their jokes and comical skits expired long ago
yet even a century later 
their zany faces can still amuse us. 

My first funny man is called "Peterchen, der schönste Mann Deutschlands" ~ "Little Peter, the most handsome man in Germany".  I'll let German readers be the judge of that but if he was sitting next to the only free seat on a train, I'd keep moving down to the next carriage.

Peterchen's post card is printed on a woven green/cream paper stock by Nordische Kunstanstalt (Nordic Art Institute) Ernst Schmiat & Co. of Lübeck, a major German port city on the Baltic Sea, about 40 miles northeast of Hamburg. The card was sent by a soldier using free military post on 29 March 1916.

* * *

The postcard of my second jokester identifies him as Paul Becker als "Clarinetten-Carl", Carola-Sänger, Leipzig. I'm not sure what a Carola-Sänger is, but other German postcards from this era that use this phrase have pictures of male vocal groups, so I think Becker was probably a lead singer in that kind of ensemble. His "Clarinetist Carl" was surely a comical bumpkin-like character that he portrayed in his music hall act. His little E-flat clarinet is indeed a very laughable instrument which has a squawk that could wake up any audience and make them scream for it to stop. 

This card was printed by the publisher Dr. Trinkler of Leipzig. It was never mailed but has qualities similar to other postcards dating to the wartime years 1914-1918. Clarinetten Carl resembles the music hall clowns in my story Artists of Das Wandertheater from February 2017. I bet he was a popular with the troops.

* * *

The third comic's picture comes from a postcard captioned Harry Schoss, das rheinische Unikum ~ the Rhenish Unique. This promotional card shows Schoss in three small portraits, with his wacky character with a big nose pictured on the left. His other photos reveal he was a debonair gentleman whose real schnoz was more appealing. Another meaning for the German word Unikum might be "one-of-a-kind". My guess is that the humor came from his character's ridiculous simpleton features. Like Peterchen, Harry Schoss resembles the comedian and film star Jerry Lewis, the so called "The King of Comedy". 

This postcard's stamp was removed so the full postmark is missing and I can't place it in Germany other than it's in Ostfriesland which is the northwest region of East Frisia on the North Sea. The writer however dated his message as 26 March 1914, just four months before the start of war.

* * *

The looney uncle is Miklós Nagy, Komicker der Truppe „Csárdás”. His elaborate jacket, monocle, beany cap, and pig nose (realistic but surely fake) mark him as an ethnic comic character. His postcard is a montage with two more photos of Miklós showing him in another exotic folk costume wearing a fez hat and then in a standard men's suit. A Csárdás is a traditional Hungarian folk dance and in this era Hungarian music troupes were regular features of theaters in central Europe. The equivalent character in American theaters were often a Jewish, Irish, or Dutch comic character that mocked ethnic stereotypes of dialect and intelligence in ways that are now considered improper and not at all funny. 

This postcard was sent from Bochum, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia near Dortmund, on 9 October 1909.

* * *

My last funny man is Alfredo Kuppler, Salon & Charakter humorist. Alfredo is one of those comedians who have a very flexible face and mouth that seems to be made of rubber. His postcard is another montage of six small photos, with one showing him with a serious expression, another portraying an elderly man, and four closeups showing off his wildly expressive face. In some ways the preposterous twist of a jester's mug is a universal humor that needs no translation or explanation. I believe making a funny face might be the root of mankind's first joker, entertaining a family tribe by telling stories around the campfire. 

Alfredo Kuppler's postcard was sent by a soldier by military post, but not during the war. The postmark date is 15.2.08 or 15 February 1908. The recipient was another soldier, a Pionier, or pioneer, a specialist infantryman, serving as a combat engineer in an army telegraph department in Berlin. 

Humor is the most ephemeral of artforms. What makes someone laughable is difficult to explain and often impossible to describe. Sometimes you just had to be there in order to get the gag. In our 21st century we can't fully appreciate the hilarity of these men or understand what exactly made them funny men. Jokes and wit do not age well. But I've collected enough postcards of comedians from this era to recognize that they were once considered pretty amusing. This is the start of a series with more funny fellows to come.

And when the world is falling apart, when everything seems grim and dreadful, we depend on the silliness of comedians to bring us out of despair and make us all laugh at the absurdity of the human condition. Don't cry. Be happy. That's what real funny business is all about. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where everyone is topsy-turvy this weekend.