(d) Dialogue Wins Laughter.  There are three sources from which laughter rises out of dialogue.  First, from the word that is a witticism, existing for its own sake.  Second, from the word that is an intensely individual expression of character—­the character-revealing phrase.  Third, the word that is funny because it is spoken at the right instant in the action.  All three have a place in the playlet, but the last, the dialogue that rises out of and illuminates a situation, is productive of the best results.  This is but another way of saying what cannot be too often repeated, that the playlet is plot. [1]

[1] See Chapter V, in which humor was discussed in relation to the monologue.

Even in dialect, dialogue does not bother with anything much but plot-expression of character.  Indicate the odd twist of a character’s thoughts as clearly as you can, but never try to reproduce all his speech phonetically.  If you do, you will end disastrously, for your manuscript will look like a scrambled alphabet which nobody can decipher.  In writing dialect merely suggest the broken English here and there—­follow the method so clearly shown in “The German Senator.”  Remember that the actor who will be engaged to play the part has studied the expression of that particular type all his life.  His method of conveying what you intend is likely to be different from your method.  Trust him—­for you must.

(e) Dialogue Advances the Action and Rounds Out the Plot.  Precisely in the way that incidents are brought out clearly by dialogue, dialogue advances the action and rounds out the plot at the curtain.  Clear as I hope the method has been made, I wish to point out two dialogue peculiarities which come with the rise of emotion.

First, as the action quickens, there inevitably occurs a compression inherent in the dramatic that is felt by the dialogue.  Joe Maxwell’s epitome of vaudeville as he once expressed it to me in a most suggestive discussion of the two-a-day, illustrates this point better, perhaps, than a chapter would explain:  “Vaudeville is meat,” he said, “the meat of action, the meat of words.”  There is no time in vaudeville climaxes for one word that does not point out, or clinch home the action.  Here action speaks louder than words.  Furthermore, in the speed of bodily movement there is actually no time for words.  If two men are grappling in a life and death struggle they can’t stop for speech.

And second, as the playlet nears its ending there is no need for explanatory words—­if the preceding action has been dramatic.  Every new situation rises out of the old, the audience knows it all now, they even foresee the climax, and, in a well constructed playlet, they feel the coming-to-an-end thrill that is in the air.  What need is there for dialogue?  Only a need for the clearing, clinching kind, and for