Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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to make. Just taste this. He put a spoonful of a certain liquid to the Lieu- tenant 's lips. The Lieutenant tasted the liquid and said, What's the matter with that? I think that is very fine soup. The private replied, Yeah, that's what l told the mess sergeant. He said it was coffee. Selectees and draft boards in the United States have been the subjects of innumerable jokes also. One of the old chestnuts pertaining to these is the one told about the determined selec- tee who approached his draft board officer with the remark, They can't make me fight! To which the draft board officer re- plied, Maybe not, but they can take you where the fighting is and you can use your own judgment. The following one satirizes the ex- aminations, or lack of examinations. which the draft board oficers were giving selectees when men were badly needed. A young man, classified in 1-A, was examined by the local draft board's doctor. Does this mean I'm in the Army? he asked. Me, with my bad eyes? You're in, said the doctor, un- less they flunk you at the Army Medi- cal Office at Governor's Island. How bad must my vision be before they flunk me at Governoris Island? asked the nervous selectee. The way they 're taking 'em now, said the doctor, if you can find Gov- ernor's Island, you're in! British War humor is similar to ours in directing its darts at home front shortages, high prices, and travel con- ditions. However, as was mentioned before, Britons are more polite in lampooning these things than Ameri- cans are. They are also a little more indirect although the satire is still easily apparent. The following is an example of a Briton's treatment of the food shortage. An English officer, home on leave, went to a fashionable West End res- taurant, expecting to sit down to a hearty meal. He gave his order to the waiter as follows: UI should like a porterhouse steak drowned in mush- rooms, with some delicately browned toast and plenty of butter. The waiter retorted, Pardon me, sir, are you trying to order or just reminiscing? ' ' But there was one subject about which the British could joke that Americans, never having experienced bombing, could not. Being bombed is not usually considered conducive to the display of humor but the British, with their indomitable spirit, managed to see the lighter side of the blitz at times. For example, a middle-aged London woman one day early in 1942, during a lull in the Luftwaffeis activi- ties, told Mrs. Vincent Sheean, wife of the famous author: You know, I think a lot of us here really miss the blitz. Those nasty Jerries certainly took our minds off the war.

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ll-IIIKIKKKKIRIIISKKKKKKUCEKUIIIII-lil-K Humor has been very much alive, l10t only here, but all over the world during the war. Naturally most of it has arisen out of the situations of war. We find interesting diferences, how- ever, among the various countries as to the types and targets of war humor. For instance, the Americans and the British have the admirable quality of being able to laugh at themselves while the Russians used the enemy as the chief target. The Germans often ridi- culed themselves but most of their self- ridicule was unintentional and the oc- cupied countries, of course, used the Germans as targets for their satire. Americans usually tell jokes satir- izing the home front, conditions in the service, or draft boards and selec- tees. The British do this also but their humor is more polite than ours. A11 example of our humor concern- ing our home front is the following. It satirizes the first-aid courses taken by many people during the early days of the war. At a crowded Broadway first night early in the season, a member of the audience was suddenly overcome by the heat, and fell to the floor of the lobby in a dead faint. 'Step aside, cried a stout lady officiously. I am a first-aid student and I know how to give him artificial respiration. ' ' Her husband blanched with fear and pulled her by the arm. For Heaven 's sakesf' he implored, Hdonit do that to a sick man. C The British have a more courteous way of exhibiting such humor. Here is an example of ho wa Briton satir- ized the rising costs of hotel rooms in America. A young officer of the British Mer- chant Marine had put into port at New York. Members of the British Mer- chant Marine are provided with very little pocket money for shore leave and this oificer was no exception. Never- theless, he decided to put up at a famous Park Avenue hotel. When he registered, he neglected to inquire what the daily room rate would be. On the morning of his departure he was pre- sented with his bill. He gazed at it a moment and then sought the cashier. Am I correct, he asked, 'tin as- suming that suggestions from your pa- trons are welcome? They certainly are, said the cash- ier. Hasn,t everything been going satisfactorily ? I' ' Everything has been fine, agreed the officer, but I have noticed that you have a sign posted in all your rooms which reads, 'Have you left auything?' May I suggest that you alter the phraseology of the signs a bit so that they read, 'Have you any- thing left?' Army cooking has been the butt of many jokes connected with Army life. Ilere is an example of one of these. Outside the mess hall of Fort Devens a private approached an officer and saluted. Looking very disgusted hc said, Lieutenant, I have a complaint

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llllllillllllilllllllllllll That again shows the power of humor to persist even in the darkest moments of war. Our other Big Three allies, the Russians. also had a sense of humor left despite the fact that their land was ravaged by the German hordes early in the war. However, living in a dictatorship where jokes on the gov- ernment, home front, etc., are not so popular and because they take them- selves and their experiment in govern- ment very seriously, the Russians did not satirize themselves as much as the British and Americans. Most of their humor was directed against the Ger- mans. One joke that is especially liked in Russia was this o11e which describes the wit of the Russian soldiers in deal- ing with complaining Germans. A Russian soldier was leading a cap- tured German spy to a lonesome place outside of a Russian town for the pur- pose of executing him without head- quarters knowing about it. All in all, the Russian and his prisoner covered ten miles before the former was satis- fied as to the proper place for getting rid of the Nazi. The German was a little puzzled and irritated. He turned around said to his guard, f'l expected to get killed when caught but why do l have to walk ten miles before being shot? The Russian soldier replied slyly, What are you worrying about? l've got to walk back. - And, contrary to general opinion, the Germans also showed an occasional glimmer of humor during the war, al- though in many instances their humor was unintentional. Some of the things they said which seemed humorous to us were really meant to be taken seri- ously. The following. which we might interpret as satire, is an example of such. A wounded Nazi soldier returned to Berlin for treatment. He went to the hospital where he saw two doors. One sign read Officers,,' the other HTroops. He walked through the Troops door and was confronted by two other doors marked Seriously VVounded and Slightly NVounded.,' He walked through the .door marked Slightly Wounded and again discov- ered two doors. This time the signs read. Nazi party membersn and Non-Nazi party members. He en- tered the door marked 'tNon-Nazi party members and found that he was right out in the street again. He reported to his family: T didnit get any treatment for my wounds - but the organization was perfect. Of course, some of the German humor was intentional. The Nazis could see the lighter side of war just as we could but not as often and not with as much breeziness. Many of their intentional jokes revealed the increasingly differ- ent task the Nazis had in trying to hold down the inhabitants of the oc- cupied countries and the often disas- trous consequences for the persons at- tempting to do such. One of these tells of a Gestapo of-