layed (so
to speak) in the same setting, with no leader or other scene
separating them--as would be the case in photoplay--this newspaper
"funny" is much better put together, much more logical, and is just
about the same number of scenes as were many of the split-reel
comedies of a few years ago. Almost all of the more popular comic
series in the newspapers, in fact, may be studied with profit by the
would-be writer of screen comedies. There is action, and often very
funny action, in every picture, and the plot moves quickly, logically,
and without the slightest sign of unnecessary detail or irrelevant
action, to an extremely funny climax, which, best of all, is usually a
surprise to the reader.

Apply the same working-principle to the writing of humorous
photoplays, especially the plan of having a surprise climax followed
by a quick denouement, and you can hardly fail to produce a comedy
that will cause the editor to notify you favorably.

CHAPTER XIX

GETTING THE NEW TWIST

_No_ story is an old story if you give it a new "twist"--a fresh turn,
an original surprise, an unexpected course of narration. As a matter
of fact, this is what fiction writers and dramatists have been doing
for hundreds of years; taking an old idea, they have twisted it about,
enlarged upon it, provided a new setting for the story, and created
something new, yet in truth far from new, from the idea furnished by
another writer. Who evolved the "original" plot in any certain case is
a question that will forever remain a question, for the earliest plays
and stories are no longer extant. But this we do know: there are only
a very few original or primary plots, and all the plays, novels, and
short-stories that have been written are variations of these. Some
writers have made the twist more pronounced, and their work, judged by
present-day standards, is classed as original. Others, without trying
to conceal the source of their plots, nevertheless give them new
treatment, and so are not charged with plagiarism. Therefore we may
conclude that that writer is entitled to be called original who is
capable of so twisting and remodeling the theme used by another writer
that it is, in the remodeling, virtually recreated.

_1. An Example from Fiction_

As a concrete example, let us compare Poe's short-story, "The Cask of
Amontillado," with Conan Doyle's "The New Catacomb." In both of these
the theme is revenge, brought about by having the one