My Mission

Robert Sale-Hill’s poem, The True Origin and History of “The Dude” (The New York World, January 14, 1883) introduced the world to the word Dude, and kicked off a full-on Dude craze. A-Dude-a-Day[i] Blog is dedicated to preserving and sharing pics, pieces and poems from the early days of the Dude-craze of 1883. You can read more about the history and origin of the word Dude on my blogpost, "Dudes, Dodos and Fopdoodles" on my other blog, Early Sports 'n' Pop-Culture History Blog.


Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Banana Peel Dude

In 1883, Dudes were funny, and people slipping on banana peels were funny; a dude slipping on a banana peel was hilarious!
The "Langtry Twist."       The "Dude Kick."     The "Vanderbilt Slide." 

Puck, Volume 13, Number 335, August 8, 1883, Page 376.


Even a serious psychologist thought it was funny, even if his explanation of why was humorless.

Wit or humor is an aesthetic essence expressed by juxtaposition of incongruous ideas.  Both wit and humor touch our sense of laughter.

Nature of the Ludicrous. The ludicrous takes several forms, wit and humor. . . .  In its essence the ludicrous is a subtle something, an invisible touch through the incongruous juxtaposition of ideas or facts.  Incongruity seems to be the suggestive, the expressive medium of the ludicrous.  The Broadway dude reduced to a horizontal position by the innocent banana peel is an incongruous situation that wakes up aesthetic appreciation in almost every breast. 

Charles C. Boyer, Concrete Psychology: An Inductive Investigation of Intellect, Sensibility and Will, Kutztown, Pennsylvania, Journal and Patriot Printing House, 1890, page 282.
 


(For a history of Banana Peel humor, see: A Slippery History of the Banana Peel Gag.)

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