Tramp trod long road
QUESTION Does the comic tramp pre-date Charlie Chaplin? UNTIL the 1870s, the word tramp was an English verb referring to a long walk or march. In the wake of the Panic of 1873 – a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted until 1877 – it was used to describe unemployed men travelling across the US
Tramps became a popular trope in variety and vaudeville, at first with negative connotations.
They were depicted as drunk, unemployed, violent and unable to control their bodies. However, they soon took on a heroic or sentimental aspect.
Manchester-born John Wild is thought to be the first comic tramp. He emigrated to the US where he made his name as a performer in minstrel shows in the 1860s before moving into variety. He was a big draw at the Theatre Comique, New York, starring in sketches written by Ned Harrigan, one half of America’s most popular comic duo with Tony Hart.
Wild starred in three popular and influential sketches: Terrible Example (1874) and Down Broadway (1875) written by Harrigan, and the self-penned One, Two, Three (1874).
Newspapers cheered his ‘marvellous sketch of the bummer, whom we now call a tramp’. After his death, the New York Dramatic Mirror explained: ‘In a terrible example he used to convulse audiences by his comicalities as a reckless tramp... Wild’s early tramp impersonations formed the model on which many subsequent characterisations of that type were founded both in vaudeville and farce comedy.’
He was followed by more complex and sympathetic figures, such as Lew Bloom and Nat M. Wills. Bloom started out as a circus clown, pugilist and actor. In 1888, he played a tramp in a play called The Red Spider. His portrayal was so popular he worked up a vaudeville act around it which he performed for decades. His Society Tramp was a taciturn philosopher who was put upon by the world.
Nat M. Wills was the most popular US stage tramp at the turn of the 20th century. He was a debonair man whose alter ego, the Happy Tramp, was a dishevelled, toothless, cigar-smoking rogue.
He released some of the first comedy records, with monologues and songs.
Another popular act was the tramp juggler. Jim Harrigan was a struggling juggler who one day arrived at a show without his stage outfit. He borrowed a hotch-potch of clothes from other performers and became an instant hit with his tramp act.
His routine inspired a young William Claude Dukenfield to adopt a similar costume of scruffy beard and shabby tuxedo.
He went into vaudeville as a genteel tramp juggler in 1898, using the name W. C. Fields, and went on to become one of America’s greatest comedians.
So Charlie Chaplin was building upon a long tradition when he donned his derby (or bowler) hat, affixed his toothbrush moustache and stepped into his impossibly large shoes at the Keystone Film Company in 1914.
His first outing as the tramp was in Mabel’s Strange Predicament, though Kid Auto Races At Venice, his third film, was the first to be released.
Justine Holden, Bristol.
QUESTION Why does it take three years to get a degree in Britain and four in the US?
IN THE US, the first two years of college are devoted to general education. Implemented by Harvard and other Ivy League colleges
after World War II, this was designed to make up for deficiencies and variation in high school education across the country. In the US, there is fractured authority over schools due to local, state and national interests and regulation.
The US college system has retained general education as its baseline. The specialised knowledge of the major (core specialisation), sometimes combined with a minor, constitutes the rest of the curriculum.
Students in England and Wales are expected to be at a higher level at matriculation because A-levels are more rigorous than the last two years of high school.
This is because of subject specialisation and the fact 25% of students leave school at 16.
An undergraduate honours degree in Scotland takes four years. This is in part because 16to-18-year-olds usually take five Highers rather than three A-levels. Scottish universities also allow you to try a range of subjects before specialising.
Nathan Yardley, Staffordshire.
QUESTION Are Finnish babies given a government issue cot?
SINCE 1938, expectant Finnish mothers have been given a maternity package of baby grows, a sleeping bag, outdoor wear, bathing products, nappies and a cardboard box with a small mattress. Mothers have a choice between taking the box or a grant of €140. Most opt for the package because it’s worth more.
The boxes were originally provided to just low-income mothers, but were made universal in 1949. The idea is that no matter what their social background, all children get an equal start in life.
In the 1930s, Finland was a very poor country and infant mortality was high – 65 out of 1,000 babies died. It was common for babies to sleep in the same bed as their parents and the boxes were designed to discourage this dangerous practice.
The boxes have been credited with a dramatic cut in infant mortality to two per 1,000 today. However, this is also due to the introduction of pre-natal care for all women in the 1940s, followed in the 1960s by a national health insurance system and a central hospital network.
Celia Grant, East Yorkshire.
■ Is there a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Irish Daily Mail, DMG Media, Two Haddington Buildings, 20-38 Haddington Road, Dublin 4, D04 HE94. You can also fax them to 0044 1952 510906 or you can email them to charles. legge@dailymail.ie. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.