conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is a plot for a book about Eddie\'s, Stan, Smith entitled Pack Up Your Troubles?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Pack Up Your Troubles (1932 film): In 1917, Stan (Stan Laurel) and Ollie (Oliver Hardy) are drafted into the American Expeditionary Force to fight in World War Their ineptitude during basic training antagonizes the drill sergeant and they are assigned to kitchen duties.\nThey misunderstand the cook\'s instructions and empty the garbage cans into the general\'s private dining room.\nThe cook (George Marshall), who is thrown in the stockade with them, curses their "snitching" and threatens them with violence after they are released.\nThey escape his wrath when they are shipped to the trenches in France.\nServing close to the front line, they befriend soldier Eddie Smith, who receives a Dear John letter from his wife.\nWhen Eddie is killed in action, the boys determine to rescue Eddie\'s daughter (Jacquie Lyn) from her brutal stepfather and deliver her to Eddie\'s parents.\nThey distinguish themselves in combat by losing control of a tank and accidentally forcing a German platoon into the open.\nAfter the Armistice, Stan and Ollie venture to New York City to retrieve the girl and look for Eddie\'s parents.\nUsing the city telephone directory, the task proves both monumental and problematic as the boys blindly attempt to visit each Smith until they find the grandparents.\nAfter taking punches from an annoyed prizefighter and disrupting a society wedding, they resort to telephoning first.\nWhile operating their lunch wagon, the boys are approached by an unpleasant civil servant (Charles Middleton) who demands Eddie\'s child so that she can be placed in an orphanage.\nThe boys refuse, and the man says he will return with the police to have the boys arrested.\nThey try to secure a loan with their lunch wagon to finance their escape to another city, but the banker smirks that he\'d have to be unconscious to make such a deal.\nWhile laughing, he topples a bust onto his own head and knocks himself out.\nTaking this as approval, the boys take what they need from the bank vault.\nTailed to their apartment by the police, the boys unsuccessfully try to hide Eddie\'s daughter in a dumbwaiter.\nThe police bring the three of them to the banker for identification, and it is discovered that he is the Smith they had been seeking.\nFollowing a happy reunion, the banker drops the charges and invites them as his guests for dinner.\nThe cook storms out of the kitchen to tell his boss that he will not adjust the service on a moment\'s notice, and recognizes Laurel and Hardy as the "snitches".\nThe cook chases them with a kitchen knife.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is the first five paragraphs for this book?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Pack Up Your Troubles
  Humorous postcards also drew upon and were inspired by the clever captions and sloganeering of the British advertising industry. This was an extensive business prior to the outbreak of war, second only to that of the USA, and one that was mandated by the government to support the war effort. Comic postcards not only amused and entertained, but they were specifically created with government approval to bolster morale and lift up the spirits. Numerous positive messages, some in rhyming poetic form, were printed and distributed on cards that featured comic devices such as birds, cats, dogs, children and adults alongside slogans such as 'Cheerio', 'Keep Smiling', 'Keep Your Pecker Up' and 'Tails Up'. The cards categorically answered the question 'Are We Downhearted?' with a definitive 'No!' The latter was also a popular wartime song of 1914 sung by Arthur Boyton. (See Figs 8, and.)
  Collectively, the postcard artists covered all the formats, styles, techniques and tropes of British humour of the period. The cartoon formats were: the episodic, that is a series of captioned scenes leading to a comic conclusion; divided, or split scenes; and novelty cards that if turned upside down, or sometimes held up to the light, would reveal the Kaiser's face and features (in particular his familiar upturned moustache and pickelhaube helmet with its spread-winged eagle), or the comic expressions of British soldiers and sailors. There were also 'jig-saw puzzle' cards that were issued in sets and would reveal the design only after all the cards were acquired and joined together. The most popular format, however, was the single-scene card featuring a brief caption, rhyming lines or a conversation between the comic characters. As comic cards were also sold in France, a selection of them had captions in both English and French and sometimes in English and Russian.
  The types of humour and the means of expressing it included: the absurd and eccentric; animals (especially birds, cats – a small number by Louis Wain – dogs and insects); the British class system; bullying and harsh criticism; caricature; children (the cutesy, patriotic and sentimental); demonisation; disparagement; double-entendres; fervour; flags and maps (patriotic); innuendo; irony; pranks and practical jokes; race and regional stereotypes; sarcasm; satire; self-deprecation; silhouettes; embarrassing social situations; parodies of stereotypes especially sexual ones and sexism; teasing and wit; fairytale; wacky, weird and zany; and on occasions the ugly and vulgar.
  Sometimes the children in comic cards were provocatively attired and scantily clad, which by the standards of today would be questionable, although this does not appear to have been perceived as peculiar at the time and it was a comic format utilised by both male and female artists. Some of the most memorable cards depicting children, in or out of uniform, drinking and smoking were produced by the Battersea-based London artist Thomas Gilson (1885–1971). (See Fig 11.)
  Germany has a long and distinguished tradition of printing; it was here that high-quality printing, initially in the form of lithography, was developed and refined. Other more efficient and faster printing processes followed, including the high-speed steam press invented by Friedrich Gottlob Koenig (1774–1833) and later, in various parts of Europe, the rotary press. A large number of the postcards of the Great War were produced on photo-mechanical printing plates.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is four more paragraphs? End with the sentence ' Fergus Mackain, published by G Savigny, Paris.'.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Life continues as normal amidst the bombed building and wasted landscape with dead cows demonstrating stoicism. Bruce Bairnsfather, published by The Bystander.
  British resolve is demonstrated under extreme duress. Bruce Bairnsfather, published by The Bystander.
  The quirkiness of the British Tommy and the absurdity of war are captured here. Bruce Bairnsfather, published by The Bystander.
  The signage within the complex trench system is featured here. Fergus Mackain, published by G Savigny, Paris.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is the last five paragraphs?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A rare card featuring the subject of a soldier being demobbed. Note the sign with the word 'Demobilization' and the kit bag inscribed 'Home For Good'. Doug Tempest, published by Bamforth & Co.
  A sailor and his girlfriend represented by children decked out in red, white and blue (the colours of the Union Jack) sit astride an anchor – a symbol of hope. Fred Spurgin, published by Art and Humour.
  The information given here about the principal postcard artists who produced comic Great War postcards is largely drawn from an examination of the England & Wales 1911 census returns, supplemented with some additional sources. It reveals fascinating new aspects of the artists' lives, although in comparison with the biographies available on fine artists the details are often sparse.
  In most cases the postcard artists assigned the copyright of their designs to the publisher, of which there were many in the Great War period. Almost all of these publishing companies have long since ceased trading, the original printing plates have been destroyed, lost or recycled, and their assets have been liquidated, leaving no clear indication of who holds the copyright. Reasonable reproduction fees will be paid to the copyright holder(s) on the provision of proof of a contract valid under UK law in 2016. Please send details to: YCNYPostcard@aol.com.
  James Taylor has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A rare card featuring the subject of a soldier being demobbed. Note the sign with the word 'Demobilization' and the kit bag inscribed 'Home For Good'. Doug Tempest, published by Bamforth & Co.
  A sailor and his girlfriend represented by children decked out in red, white and blue (the colours of the Union Jack) sit astride an anchor – a symbol of hope. Fred Spurgin, published by Art and Humour.
  The information given here about the principal postcard artists who produced comic Great War postcards is largely drawn from an examination of the England & Wales 1911 census returns, supplemented with some additional sources. It reveals fascinating new aspects of the artists' lives, although in comparison with the biographies available on fine artists the details are often sparse.
  In most cases the postcard artists assigned the copyright of their designs to the publisher, of which there were many in the Great War period. Almost all of these publishing companies have long since ceased trading, the original printing plates have been destroyed, lost or recycled, and their assets have been liquidated, leaving no clear indication of who holds the copyright. Reasonable reproduction fees will be paid to the copyright holder(s) on the provision of proof of a contract valid under UK law in 2016. Please send details to: YCNYPostcard@aol.com.