“Well, sir, you are the first live man I have ever shaved.”
The man was an undertaker’s barber!
Nat Goodwin tells how Billy Mannering, a brilliant old time negro comedian, sprang the unexpected on a hotel proprietor. The company was having hard luck on one night stands. Country hotels were as bad in those days as now—even worse. The boys were eating breakfast one morning when Bill came down late and said:
“Boys, how is it? About the same as all the rest of the hotels?”
“Yes, Billy.”
In came the proprietor and said: “Good-morning, gentlemen.”
Billy asked: “Who are you?”
“I’m the proprietor, sir.”
“So you’re the proprietor! Do you know you are a brave man? If I were you, I would live out in the woods, and not come near the hotel. I would be afraid to face my boarders.”