He was sad with the sadness of hopeless frustration. The
gift of laughter in his case had its source in a wounded heart
and in bleeding sensibilities.
*****
That laughter for which we are so justly famed has had
in late years its over-tones of pain. Now for some time past
it has been used by colored men who have gained a precarious
footing on the stage to conceal the very real dolor raging in
their breasts. To be by force of circumstances the most dramatic figure in a country; to be possessed of the wells of feeling,
of the most spontaneous instinct for effective action and to be
shunted no less always into the role of the ridiculous and
funny,--that is enough to create the quality of bitterness for
which we are ever so often rebuked. Yet that same laughter
influenced by these same untoward obstacles has within the last
four years known a deflection into another channel, still productive of mirth, but even more than that of a sort of cosmic
gladness, the joy which arises spontaneously in the spectator
as a result of the sight of its no less spontaneous bubbling in
others. What hurt most in the spectacle of the Bert Williams'
funny man and his forerunners was the fact that the laughter
which he created must be objective. But the new "funny man"
among black comedians is essentially funny himself. He is
joy and mischief and rich, homely native humor personified.
He radiates good feeling and happiness; it is with him now a
state of being purely subjective. The spectator is infected
with his high spirits and his excessive good will; a stream of
well-being is projected across the footlights into the consciousness of the beholder.
This phenomenon has been especially visible in the rendition of the colored musical "shows,” Shuffle Along, Runnin' Wild, Liza, which livened up Broadway recently for a too brief season.
Those of us who were lucky enough to compare with the usual banality of musical comedy, the verve and pep, the liveliness and gayety of those productions will not soon forget them. The medley of shades, the rich colorings, the abundance of fun and spirits on the part of the players all combined to produce 'an atmosphere which was
