Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1895 — Professional Joke Writers. [ARTICLE]

Professional Joke Writers.

There is a coterie of about forty writers, most of whom live in this city, who do nothing els ebut write for the comic papers. They do not wait for a happy inspiration, but make the inspiration come to them. They write jokes and verse for a living, and with some of them it is a good living, indeed. These are the men the comic papers depend upon for most of their material, and at least ten of them make from S4O to SBO a week “just joke writing.” Some of these are well known to the general public from their names over verses or short sketches. But some of them, again, who write merely short “squibs,” are known only to the editor. It iS no uncommon thing for any one of these men to turn out from fifty to two hundred jokes a week.