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ISBN-10: 1410709124
ISBN-13: 9781410709127
Edition: N/A
List price: $19.95
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Description:
Back in June, 1949, I started taking notes on the jokes that people told me. The great majority of these were cocktail-party stories, in those days generally referred to as "dirty jokes".I did this because I had learned from experience that when I heard a joke for the second time I remembered having heard it before, and, usually, the punch line, but . . . and this was what galvanized me into action--I found that I had not remembered the story well enough to call it to mind in sufficient detail to enable me to tell it to someone else. This, I find, is a common problem among those who strive to be dedicated raconteurs . . . or racontootsies.So, what I did with respect to recording new stories… as I heard them, was to immediately make notes, on anything available, consisting of essential clue words and the punch line. My notes were composed with such particularity as to enable me, in most cases, to type the story in full when I was able to access my typewriter. The next step was to tell the story a few times, with a personal touch perhaps, in such a manner as to eventually develop my reputation as one of the three or four best joke-tellers east of the Rockies.After typing the story up and adding it to my growing file, I'd condense it to a clue line, assign a number and add it to my list. This master list was numbered serially as jokes were acquired, being typed with a pre-Xerox carbon copy. The original was placed in my file, and the carbon copy was on or near my person at all times when I was in a social situation. I became known for carrying this list around with me.I have always made it a practice not to identify a joke on my list by the punch line, for reasons that must be obvious. If I were to show my list to a friend so that he or she might pick out a joke by the number assigned to it, it would ruin the telling of the joke if the punch line were to be prematurely exposed right there on my list.More recently jokes have been flying wildly through cyberspace, somewhat willy-nilly; no one seems to know much about their authorship and although I am presently a non-possessor of a computer, friends frequently download such material and copy the same to me. Some of this is included in the second part of this book.So much for the format of my notes and the list. Now to the reason for publishing this collection that has been growing for lo these many years, to wit: many friends for a magnitudinous numerousity of years have encouraged me to do just that. That's the simple answer, and of course it's somewhat of an ego trip to see a publication with one's name on it.The stories appearing in this publication include many that you have not heard before. Some are stories that I have only heard once, because they are intricately worded or require a dialect or accent of some sort. I have found that few people will go to the trouble of memorizing a story that is intricately worded or will take the time to learn how to mimic, or simply can't manage, an accent or dialect. I feel sure that the reader will concede that a story loses a lot in the telling, or just falls flat, if the story-teller is unable to handle that aspect of the art.The title of the book, PICTURE, IF YOU WILL . . . was selected advisedly. For years I have prefaced most stories I tell with that phrase, because it sets the stage for the audience. When you say it, their minds, respectively, immediately go blank and become receptive. They are ready to picture something; you have their attention. As the story progresses the listener tends to conjure up a picture of what is taking place in the telling, often ascribing personalities to the characters in the story, virtually viewing the prevailing circumstances and the activity inherent in the narrative on hi