Editing Slapstick (section)

==20th century fad==
Examples of the use of the slapstick in public places as a [[fad]] in the early 20th century include:

During the 1911 [[Veiled Prophet Parade]] in St. Louis, according to the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://stltoday.newspapers.com/image/139348844|first=Marguerite|last=Martyn|author-link=Marguerite Martyn|title=Great Crowds Lined Streets to See Pageant and Make Merry|newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date=October 4, 1911|at=Image 11|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

{{quote|The slapstick, so long indispensable to low comedy, found a new use among the crowds&nbsp;... they used the slapstick to the extreme embarrassment of many women. The carnival spirit, for the most part tempered by high good humor, at times verged on [[rowdyism]]. Girls used a stick ripped with feathers to tickle the faces of young men, and they retaliated vigorously with the slapstick.}}

An [[editorial]] in the ''Asbury Park Press'', New Jersey, said in 1914:<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/142740822|title=[No headline]|newspaper=Asbury Park Press |location=New Jersey|date=July 20, 1914|at=column 2|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

{{quote|Slapsticks are the latest "fun-making" fad for [[masque]] fetes&nbsp;...  Orders to stop the slapstick nuisance should be issued by the police and the [[Asbury Park]] carnival commissioners. Any device that cannot be operated or used without inflicting unmerited pain and injury should be excluded&nbsp;...}}