Do you know what
the best sound in the world is?
The best sound in the world is
by far
…the sound of your laughter.
from If You Laugh, I’m Starting This Book Over
written by Chris Harris
illustrated by Serge Bloch
Little, Brown and Company, 2022
(accessed on YouTube 5/5/25)
Euclid Beach was an amusement park in Cleveland when I was growing up. I remember going with our parents in the summer. My favorite part of the park was not the rides, not the cotton candy, or even the beach. I liked all that just fine, but Laffing Sal was the highlight for me. Partly because I thought she was really funny, but more so, I think, because my dad did.
She was enormous, way taller than any grown-up I knew. She stood in a glass case in front of the fun house. When I was small, I thought she was real. I think Dad thought that was funnier than Laffing Sal, herself.
Even though my sister and my mom thought she was creepy, Dad would laugh and laugh and so did I. So did my brother. Laffing Sal bent from her large waist and her arms moved and her head, too. Her laugh was raucous. She stood 6’10” including her 12” pedestal. She was commissioned by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company of Pennsylvania and built in Canton, Ohio by the Old King Cole Papier Mache Company.
Many amusement parks hosted Laffing Sals. She was made of seven layers of card stock mounted over steel coils. Her arms and legs were attached with fabric, staples, pins, nuts, and bolts. Her laugh track was hidden in her pedestal on top of a stack of 78 rpm records. After she had laughed through her whole stack, an attendant restacked them, and off she’d go again.
And so did we.
Her laugh was contagious. Sometimes a crowd would gather around, but Dad, my brother, and I would stay there the longest. It was hard to leave her laughing.
She worked with a push-button. That’s how I finally found out she was not a real person dressed up in her enclosure. I tried to find out about Tanya Garth, the woman who gave her laugh to Sal, but came to a dead end.
You can hear her here, though.
Euclid Beach closed in 1969. In 1997, John Tomaro and John Frato bought Sal at an auction. They took her to events in Northeast Ohio to keep the traditions of Euclid Beach alive. Now she resides in part of the area once occupied by the original Euclid Beach and is run by the Cleveland MetroParks.
Even though Sal was placed outside the Fun House, she wasn’t spooky. But could she really be good for our health? Is there any truth to the saying laughter is the best medicine?
Not surprisingly, the simple answer is yes.
We laugh for different reasons and all of them relate to our need for social connection, says Sophie Scott, one of the world’s leading experts on laughter. “We’re 30 times more likely to laugh if we’re with someone else than if we are alone,” especially if we know and feel comfortable with them.
We laugh to mask difficult emotions, too. Think of nervous laughter. Or fear. I used to laugh when Mom yelled at me for not cleaning up my room or not turning in my homework on time. That never went well. For either of us.
We laugh to feel emotionally connected with a group. The contagious element of laughter is a form of social bonding. We use laughter to demonstrate joy and affection.
We laugh as a physical response to a joke, as a reaction to our environment, or to being tickled. Even through all the ticklish controversy (which is a subject for a different day).
Dr. Scott also finds that laughter relieves stress. Levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) go down, and adrenaline and endorphins are released, making us feel happier and more relaxed.
Some studies say that laughter may relieve pain. Even though the research is in its early stages, finding that endorphins are released when we laugh will probably reinforce the idea.
Laughter burns calories. A Vanderbilt University study found that laughing for 10 to 15 minutes burns about 40 calories.
Research from Loma Linda University shows that laughing improves short-term memory in adults in their 60s and 70s.
Laughter is probably good for our hearts, too. That 10 - 15 minute calorie-burn increases our heart rates and oxygen levels.
From the time we are babies, humans distinguish the difference between a polite titter and a genuine guffaw. People are good at telling the difference between voluntary and involuntary laughter. And we get better and better as we age.
Faking our laughter shows our ability to adjust to social norms. It is an indication of our emotional intelligence as we “read” the people we are with.
Fake laughter uses our voluntary muscles. The areas in our brains that light up with our emotional activity are quiet.
Genuine laughter, though, is a whole body affair. It’s spontaneous. The emotional centers in our brains are lit up and dancing.
It’s the difference between jumping for joy and performing a choreographed number.
Genuine laughter is a heart-thing, literally.
But what if you don’t laugh very much any more, or even at all? That can really happen. Susanne White of caregiverwarrior.com lists several suggestions to get your laugh back.
Watch funny movies or TV shows.
Watch those funny cat videos or listen to YouTube laugh tracks.
Consciously look for the funny side in a situation. Find the cosmic irony. It’s there.
Watch yourself laugh in a mirror. Fake it till you make it. A real chortle may escape. Keep practicing.
Seek out people who make you laugh.
On March 1, 2022, I wrote this and it’s still true. “The world is not a funny place right now, I know. But laughter is healthy. It is good for our souls. So this week’s challenge is: Find something funny and tell someone close to you what you found.”
I just finished reading Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books, 2019). It’s a thought-provoking, truth-seeking, relationship-exploring story of a crime that may never have happened in a place where eight unlikely strangers find understanding. And a father and son do, too. This is one I will read again!
Stay curious! (and do something silly)
the best sound in the world is?
The best sound in the world is
by far
…the sound of your laughter.
from If You Laugh, I’m Starting This Book Over
written by Chris Harris
illustrated by Serge Bloch
Little, Brown and Company, 2022
(accessed on YouTube 5/5/25)
Euclid Beach was an amusement park in Cleveland when I was growing up. I remember going with our parents in the summer. My favorite part of the park was not the rides, not the cotton candy, or even the beach. I liked all that just fine, but Laffing Sal was the highlight for me. Partly because I thought she was really funny, but more so, I think, because my dad did.
She was enormous, way taller than any grown-up I knew. She stood in a glass case in front of the fun house. When I was small, I thought she was real. I think Dad thought that was funnier than Laffing Sal, herself.
Even though my sister and my mom thought she was creepy, Dad would laugh and laugh and so did I. So did my brother. Laffing Sal bent from her large waist and her arms moved and her head, too. Her laugh was raucous. She stood 6’10” including her 12” pedestal. She was commissioned by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company of Pennsylvania and built in Canton, Ohio by the Old King Cole Papier Mache Company.
Many amusement parks hosted Laffing Sals. She was made of seven layers of card stock mounted over steel coils. Her arms and legs were attached with fabric, staples, pins, nuts, and bolts. Her laugh track was hidden in her pedestal on top of a stack of 78 rpm records. After she had laughed through her whole stack, an attendant restacked them, and off she’d go again.
And so did we.
Her laugh was contagious. Sometimes a crowd would gather around, but Dad, my brother, and I would stay there the longest. It was hard to leave her laughing.
She worked with a push-button. That’s how I finally found out she was not a real person dressed up in her enclosure. I tried to find out about Tanya Garth, the woman who gave her laugh to Sal, but came to a dead end.
You can hear her here, though.
Euclid Beach closed in 1969. In 1997, John Tomaro and John Frato bought Sal at an auction. They took her to events in Northeast Ohio to keep the traditions of Euclid Beach alive. Now she resides in part of the area once occupied by the original Euclid Beach and is run by the Cleveland MetroParks.
Even though Sal was placed outside the Fun House, she wasn’t spooky. But could she really be good for our health? Is there any truth to the saying laughter is the best medicine?
Not surprisingly, the simple answer is yes.
We laugh for different reasons and all of them relate to our need for social connection, says Sophie Scott, one of the world’s leading experts on laughter. “We’re 30 times more likely to laugh if we’re with someone else than if we are alone,” especially if we know and feel comfortable with them.
We laugh to mask difficult emotions, too. Think of nervous laughter. Or fear. I used to laugh when Mom yelled at me for not cleaning up my room or not turning in my homework on time. That never went well. For either of us.
We laugh to feel emotionally connected with a group. The contagious element of laughter is a form of social bonding. We use laughter to demonstrate joy and affection.
We laugh as a physical response to a joke, as a reaction to our environment, or to being tickled. Even through all the ticklish controversy (which is a subject for a different day).
Dr. Scott also finds that laughter relieves stress. Levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) go down, and adrenaline and endorphins are released, making us feel happier and more relaxed.
Some studies say that laughter may relieve pain. Even though the research is in its early stages, finding that endorphins are released when we laugh will probably reinforce the idea.
Laughter burns calories. A Vanderbilt University study found that laughing for 10 to 15 minutes burns about 40 calories.
Research from Loma Linda University shows that laughing improves short-term memory in adults in their 60s and 70s.
Laughter is probably good for our hearts, too. That 10 - 15 minute calorie-burn increases our heart rates and oxygen levels.
From the time we are babies, humans distinguish the difference between a polite titter and a genuine guffaw. People are good at telling the difference between voluntary and involuntary laughter. And we get better and better as we age.
Faking our laughter shows our ability to adjust to social norms. It is an indication of our emotional intelligence as we “read” the people we are with.
Fake laughter uses our voluntary muscles. The areas in our brains that light up with our emotional activity are quiet.
Genuine laughter, though, is a whole body affair. It’s spontaneous. The emotional centers in our brains are lit up and dancing.
It’s the difference between jumping for joy and performing a choreographed number.
Genuine laughter is a heart-thing, literally.
But what if you don’t laugh very much any more, or even at all? That can really happen. Susanne White of caregiverwarrior.com lists several suggestions to get your laugh back.
Watch funny movies or TV shows.
Watch those funny cat videos or listen to YouTube laugh tracks.
Consciously look for the funny side in a situation. Find the cosmic irony. It’s there.
Watch yourself laugh in a mirror. Fake it till you make it. A real chortle may escape. Keep practicing.
Seek out people who make you laugh.
On March 1, 2022, I wrote this and it’s still true. “The world is not a funny place right now, I know. But laughter is healthy. It is good for our souls. So this week’s challenge is: Find something funny and tell someone close to you what you found.”
I just finished reading Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books, 2019). It’s a thought-provoking, truth-seeking, relationship-exploring story of a crime that may never have happened in a place where eight unlikely strangers find understanding. And a father and son do, too. This is one I will read again!
Stay curious! (and do something silly)
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