In labeling (or libeling) this tome with the more or less recondite
title “Best Jokes of 1927,” some people may be inclined to criticize
them in the name of Joe Miller. But to do so would be unfair. These
jokes are new, in fact so new that they could not possibly have been
“sprung” in any other year before 1927 Anno Domini.
To say that some of them smack or reek of the sarcophagus or that they
first saw the light of day in the thick silts from Abyssinia would be
for my critics to show their total ineptitude.
But I am maundering. What I wish to say is that each day sees so much
of the new that all our jokes of whatever color are refreshed and
reborn in an argot which would have caused great amaze both in Greece
and Egypt not to mention the United States in 1910.
My own criticism of the title is that it is wholly inadequate. It is so
much more than just a book of jokes. It is a book of self-development.
It could at once be called, “How to Love” (see page 60) and “Etiquette
for Boston Parlors” (such is the subtlety and purity of these jokes).
More than that it is an “open sesame” to most of the more sensitive
circles.
Further information about their selection would be tiresome and
tedious. It will suffice to say that they were selected from selections
that had previously been selected by the young man selected to select
them, which young man was myself.
As an added bit of information about the nature of these “wheezes”
let me add that they are not all as innocent as they appear on the
surface. _Prend garde_ therefore when you feel inclined to exchange
witticisms with your minister. He might, this is only a speculation,
he might see something reprehensible in it, that you in your innocence
had overlooked. In case you are too innocent to understand some of
these jokes, do not let your conscience bother you, for I have been
exceedingly careful to keep within the requirements of the federal Pure
Food and Drugs Act.