We are laughing at the predicament into which our
hero has thrust himself. It is this thought, and not the sight of the
policeman, at which we laugh. The policeman merely stands for the
thought, yet it is humorous action within my meaning of the term in
that the policeman represents the thought.
"In our own comedies Mrs. Drew and I seek to appeal to the mind as
well as to the eye, but to appeal to the mind _through_ the eye. We
value the advantage of brightly-written sub-titles, but believe that
these should supplement and not replace the comedy in the action. The
clever leader may either prepare for the comedy-situation or may
follow and intensify it, but it is always an accessory and not the
chief aim. It is absurd to talk of the leader as an intrusion to be
avoided. It should be avoided only when it really is an intrusion. The
cleverness of an author displays itself in the expertness with which
he handles leaders rather than in his skill in avoiding them."[31]
[Footnote 31: Sidney Drew, "Comedy Picture Production," in _The Moving
Picture World_.]
_6. General Advice_
It is most important that, having started to write a farce, for
instance, you _keep it a farce_ throughout. One fault of many amateur
scripts is that they show a tendency to be a little of everything.
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