Should a comic reveal be a surprise or should the audience know first, according to period photoplay and playwriting manuals?
Sargent's rule is to keep the spectator advised and the players in ignorance: in his Griggs-restaurant example the laugh broadens from the moment the audience knows he cannot pay, whereas a reveal at the end gives one short laugh; but he also says anticipation starts the laugh and surprise should complete it (small man beats big man). Esenwein and Leeds recommend ending a comic series on a surprise climax followed by a quick denouement. Archer (stage, 1912) warns it is worse than useless to awaken an expectation and then disappoint it. The sources therefore split: anticipation for sustained laughter, surprise as the topper.
Sargent's rule is to keep the spectator advised and the players in ignorance: in his Griggs-restaurant example the laugh broadens from the moment the audience knows he cannot pay, whereas a reveal at the end gives one short laugh; but he also says anticipation starts the laugh and surprise should complete it (small man beats big man). Esenwein and Leeds recommend ending a comic series on a surprise climax followed by a quick denouement. Archer (stage, 1912) warns it is worse than useless to awaken an expectation and then disappoint it. The sources therefore split: anticipation for sustained laughter, surprise as the topper.
Curator qualifications: All excerpts located; preparation vs surprise disagreement (Sargent vs Esenwein/Leeds, and Sargent's own nuance) kept.
Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.
Structured fields
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"url": "https://archive.org/stream/techniqueofphoto00sarg/techniqueofphoto00sarg_djvu.txt",
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}Evidence claims
- [sourced_fact] Sargent's rule is to keep the spectator advised and the players in ignorance: in his Griggs-restaurant example the laugh broadens from the moment the audience knows he cannot pay, whereas a reveal at the end gives one short laugh; but he also says anticipation starts the laugh and surprise should complete it (small man beats big man). Esenwein and Leeds recommend ending a comic series on a surprise climax followed by a quick denouement. Archer (stage, 1912) warns it is worse than useless to awaken an expectation and then disappoint it. The sources therefore split: anticipation for sustained laughter, surprise as the topper. · locator: candidate evidence excerpts source
Rights
| component | license | hosting | redistribution | modification | training | Evidence and notes |
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| documentation | unknown | permitted | permitted | unknown | unknown | Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources. |