Humor is good for the soul. The belly laugh can do more for a human being than most medicinal treatments. Of course, I have nothing to back up that claim. On the other hand, science has proven that laughing is good for us.
I won’t go into all the details of the Science of Laughing, but there is a good article from the Mayo Clinic here. ( https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456. )
It seems that some days are funnier than others too. I remember walking home in Charleston one evening, and the street was devoid of any traffic, cars, pedestrians, or otherwise. And there, in the center of the sidewalk, was a banana peel. Just waiting for me. I was fully prepared for a small car full of clowns to come skidding up at any moment. But, no. Just me. And that banana skin. So instead, I did the little hand signal, gesturing toward my eyes and that pointing back at the peel. “I’ve got eyes on you,” I said. Then I walked WAY around the peel, taking high, pointy-toe steps. When I got to the other side, I turned facing the banana and laughed. “Ha, ha, ha, ha! Not this time, banana!” I said. A moment later, I heard someone laughing from inside one of the houses. I walked away, a bit embarrassed, but chuckling.
Well, yes, it seems that some days are funnier than other days. October 2nd is one of those days. On this day in 1890, Julius Marx (Groucho Marx) was born. Five years later, to the day, in 1895, Bud Abbott (Abbott and Costello). Then five more years, in 1900, Nicolai Poliakoff (Coco the Clown) was born.
In that span, I should also note that in 1893, Leroy Shield, who was the pianist and composer for Laurel & Hardy, was born in Waseca, Minnesota. (d. 1962)
Groucho Marx and those Marx Brothers were certainly a funny, funny team. They don’t make movies like that anymore, I will tell you. I’m not sure how fun Groucho was in real life, though. He was married three times, and all three of those ended in divorce. His wives were significantly younger than him. Collectively, they were 83 years younger. (10, 33, 40 years respectively)
On the screen, though, he made a lot of people laugh. He had a rough go of things in the end. His girlfriend, Erin Fleming, was accused of elder abuse. He had strained relations with his children, as well. He died of pneumonia in 1977.
Bud Abbott was funny, too, in his own way. The straight man, for Abbott and Costello, his dead-pan responses were the best part of the joke. He was, according to Groucho Marx, “the best straight man ever.” But Abbott and Costello didn’t get along behind the scenes. In fact, they had ongoing disputes about their salaries, with Abbott wanting 60-40 of the share. Moreover, both of them were big gamblers and ran into financial difficulties throughout their lives. Yet, Abbott was tried and true to his wife, Betty. They were married to the very end. Abbott died in 1974, of cancer, and his ashes were spread across the Pacific Ocean somewhere.
Finally, Coco the Clown. His life started out rough. Born as Nicolai Poliakoff in Dvinsk, Latvia, which was then part of the Russian Empire. They were Jewish, and his family was extremely poor. Nicolai worked at a local theatre, to add to the money his father earned as a cobbler in supporting the family. Then, his father was drafted to the army in the Russo-Japanese War. So the five-year-old Nicolai started singing for food to avoid starvation. But eventually, Coco grew up to be the funny man, taking buckets of water in the face, and all sorts of other clown gags. Like slipping on banana peels. There is not much on his personal life, but he died in 1974, in England, after a “short illness.”
So sometimes funny, isn’t always what it seems.
Other times, though, it is exactly what we need.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” – A. A. Milne
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“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” – Albert Einstein
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“Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.” – Alan Dundes
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Those funny, not-so-funny, days
