[Illustration] [Illustration] BURLESQUES [Illustration MR. GEORGE GRAVES IN "PRINCESS CAPRICE"] BURLESQUES BY H. M. BATEMAN WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY A. E. JOHNSON [Illustration] LONDON DUCKWORTH & CO. 3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN [Illustration _First Published 1916_] PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY WM. BRENDON AND SON, LTD. PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND [Illustration] INTRODUCTORY NOTE Mr. H. M. Bateman possesses in remarkable degree that rare gift, a real power of comic draughtsmanship. He is capable not only of comic vision, but of comic expression. His "line" is an instinctive expression of the comic: it reveals an innate feeling for the essentially humorous. To put it briefly, if somewhat vaguely, he "draws funnily." He is the terse and witty pictorial _raconteur_--a shrewd observer who can sum up a character, or conjure up a scene, with a few strokes of such penetrating insight that they carry instant conviction. Humour of the kind which the drawings in this volume embody is so spontaneous, and the expression of it so direct and incisive, that there is perhaps a tendency to overlook the intensity of the effort which produces the seemingly effortless result. Mr. Bateman's method is sometimes described as caricature, but that is to miss its true significance, though the term may seem, upon the surface, appropriate enough. Caricature is the art of inducing humour, by dint of satirical exaggeration, in a subject not necessarily humorous of itself. Mr. Bateman's more difficult function is to reveal humour, not to impose it. There is no trace of the self-conscious humorist in these drawings. Facetiousness is a quality conspicuously and gratefully absent. The artist's only concern is to pluck the very heart out of his subject, and that his mind has a trend towards the humorous aspect of life is merely accidental. For it is the humour of life, not merely of men, that attracts him, and even when he deals with seemingly quite trivial subjects, there is nothing petty or trite about his comic treatment of them. He generalises. His observations are of types, not of individuals, of situations rather than of scenes. He draws for us people whom we all know but none of us have actually seen, for when he portrays a type his sketch embodies all the salient characteristics that go to make that type. If he draws a plumber, for example, he shows us the Compleat Plumber--more like a plumber than any plumber ever was. And as with character, so with action--whatever Mr. Bateman elects to make his puppets do, they do it with an intensity and vigour beyond all practical possibility, but not (and this is the artist's secret) beyond the bounds of imagination and belief. When a man is seen running in a Bateman drawing he does not merely run--he _runs_; if he slumbers, one can veritably hear him snore! The intensity of the artist's imaginative effort visualises for us that which cannot humanly be, but would be if it could. Pictorial exponents of the comic art are few, for of so-called "humorous drawings" not many are inspired by the true comic spirit. It is a fortunate opportunity, therefore, which the present volume provides of preserving in collected form so much that bears the evident stamp of the real thing. A. E. J. [Illustration] [Illustration] LIST OF DRAWINGS PAGE THEY CALL IT "FAME" 1 MAESTROS: THE IMPRESSIVE 3 MAESTROS: THE UNEMOTIONAL 5 MAESTROS: THE SENTIMENTAL 7 THE WINTER VEST 9 THE MAN WHO WON A MOTOR-CAR 11 THE ACCOMPANIST WHO DID HER BEST 13 THE POTTER-ABOUT-THE-HALL-ALL-DAY PERSON 15 THE GRUMBLE-AT-THE-FOOD-AND-EVERYTHING-ELSE PERSON 17 "I REMEMBER IN 1870----" 19 THE TEMPER 21 GENUINE ANTIQUES 23 SIGHTS UP IN TOWN 25 SIGHTS DOWN IN THE COUNTRY 27 LITTLE TICH 29 THE BLUE 31 PREPARATIONS FOR A GREAT OFFENSIVE 32, 33 GARÇON! 35 MAN AND WIFE 37 SPEECHMAKERS: THE FAITHFUL OLD DOG 39 SPEECHMAKERS: THE WORM 41 TWINS 43 PLATONIC 45 ALL THIS FOR 3D., 6D., AND 1/- 47 THE MISSED PUTT 49 THE MAN WHO ONLY WANTED TWO HALFPENNIES FOR A PENNY 51 PSYCHIC: GLOOM 53 LOST--A PEKINESE DOG 55 DANCERS AND DANCES: SPANISH 57 DANCERS AND DANCES: AMERICAN 59 DANCERS AND DANCES: ORIENTAL 61 THE PUBLIC LIBRARY 63 MERELY A MATTER OF SECONDS 65 A HEART TO HEART TALK 67 HOW I WON THE MARATHON 69 99° IN THE SHADE 71 [Illustration] _The drawings contained in this book originally appeared, with some exceptions, in "The Sketch," "London Opinion," "The Graphic," "The Bystander," "Printer's Pie" and "Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News." The author is indebted to the proprietors of these journals for permission to issue them in this volume._ [Illustration THEY CALL IT "FAME"] [Illustration] [Illustration MAESTROS I. The Impressive: Rachmaninoff's "Prelude"] [Illustration] [Illustration MAESTROS II. The Unemotional: Bach's "Italian Fugue"] [Illustration] [Illustration MAESTROS III. The Sentimental: A Chopin Nocturne] [Illustration] [Illustration STUDIES OF A RESPECTABLE MIDDLE-AGED GENTLEMAN WEARING A NEW WINTER VEST FOR THE FIRST TIME] [Illustration] [Illustration THE MAN WHO WON A MOTOR-CAR] [Illustration] [Illustration THE ACCOMPANIST WHO DID HER BEST] [Illustration] [Illustration HOTEL HOGS The potter-about-the-hall-all-day-and-watch-the-new-arrivals person] [Illustration] [Illustration HOTEL HOGS The grumble-at-the-food-and-everything-else person] [Illustration] [Illustration "I REMEMBER IN 1870----" London clubmen in war-time parading for practice in writing to the papers] [Illustration] [Illustration THE TEMPER] [Illustration THE GOBLETS\] [Illustration GENUINE ANTIQUES] [Illustration] [Illustration SIGHTS UP IN TOWN] [Illustration] [Illustration SIGHTS DOWN IN THE COUNTRY] [Illustration] [Illustration LITTLE TICH] [Illustration] [Illustration THE BLUE] [Illustration PREPARATIONS FOR--] [Illustration --A GREAT OFFENSIVE] [Illustration] [Illustration "GARÇON!"] [Illustration] [Illustration MAN AND WIFE] [Illustration] [Illustration SPEECHES AND THEIR MAKERS The Faithful Old Dog] [Illustration] [Illustration SPEECHES AND THEIR MAKERS The Worm] [Illustration] [Illustration TWINS] [Illustration] [Illustration PLATONIC] [Illustration] [Illustration ALL THIS FOR 3D.\, 6D.\, AND 1/-] [Illustration] [Illustration THE MISSED PUTT] [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration THE MAN WHO ONLY WANTED TWO HALFPENNIES FOR A PENNY] [Illustration] [Illustration PSYCHIC] [Illustration] [Illustration LOST--A PEKINESE DOG] [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration DANCERS AND DANCES Spanish] [Illustration] [Illustration DANCERS AND DANCES American] [Illustration] [Illustration DANCERS AND DANCES Oriental] [Illustration] [Illustration THE PUBLIC LIBRARY] [Illustration] [Illustration MERELY A MATTER OF SECONDS] [Illustration] [Illustration A HEART-TO-HEART TALK] [Illustration] [Illustration HOW I WON THE MARATHON] [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration 99° IN THE SHADE] [Illustration] * * * * * Transcriber's Notes Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired. Italic text is denoted by _underscore_ and bold text by =equal signs=. The following numerous errors were left as is: endquote missing punctuation No punctuation at para end