The Laugh Maker

In Short

James Oliver Curwood’s 1912 short story follows Bobby McTabb, a fabulously fat and eternally cheerful man who arrives in the sleepy village of Fawcettville with empty pockets and wins every heart before absconding with one hundred and forty thousand dollars. Fleeing north, Bobby survives a grueling trek through the wilderness, loses sixty pounds, and strikes it rich in the mining boom. When a carnival funhouse mirror shatters his new identity, he returns to Fawcettville to make amends. It has endured for its eccentric blend of gentle humor, wilderness grit, and extravagant romanticism.

The Story

Bobby McTabb arrives in Fawcettville, a small town ripe for a boom, looking like a millionaire with his patent leather shoes and rosy, laughing face. In reality, he possesses only one hundred and twenty-seven dollars, but he successfully founds a bank and captures the affection of the entire community. For two years he serves as Sunday-school superintendent and spreads infectious optimism, even as sweet-eyed Kitty Duchene captures his heart while privately wishing he were not so fat. Suddenly, Bobby vanishes, taking one hundred and forty thousand dollars of the town's money with him.

Instead of fleeing to Europe, Bobby heads into the northern wilderness from Duluth. His romantic escape quickly turns into a grueling nightmare as heat, black flies, and an aggressive bear batter the tenderfoot. Starving and exhausted, he is rescued by a tie-cutter named Cassidy, only to discover he has lost sixty pounds. Reborn and energized, Bobby heads into the western mining country, where his fortunes skyrocket. Over the next two years, working hard in cowhide boots, he drops from two hundred and eighty to one hundred and sixty pounds and accumulates a million-dollar fortune under the alias J. Wesley Brown.

Now tall and lean, Bobby meets Kitty Duchene once again in Winnipeg. Recognizing neither his old name nor his former silhouette, Kitty falls in love with him and accepts his marriage proposal, expressing her deepest wish to return to her old home in Fawcettville. But Bobby’s joy is short-lived. During a carnival date, they wander into a House of Mystery, and a distortion mirror instantly reflects his original, rotund self. Horrified and enlightened, Kitty recognizes him as Robert McTabb and flees in agony.

Left with few options, Bobby decides on an eccentric course of redemption. He liquidates his properties, returns secretly to Fawcettville under cover of night, and rents his old bank building. He plasters the village with bold notices and delivers sealed letters to local farmers explaining his bizarre crusade. When dawn breaks, Bobby stands before his newly opened office bearing a sign for loans and insurance. The town erupts in joyful reunion, and Kitty arrives to embrace him, finally understanding the depth of his devotion. The story concludes with Bobby’s open letter to his old friends, revealing that he has returned not just their original funds, but seven dollars for every single dollar he took.

How It Unfolds

• The voyage begins: Bobby charms Fawcettville into absolute trust before vanishing into the northern wilderness with one hundred and forty thousand dollars of the town's money.
• The wilderness trial: Striking north into the rough country, the formerly stout tenderfoot suffers through black flies, exhausting terrain, and a bear raid that strips him of his provisions.
• A new man: Rescued by a tie-cutter after six days, Bobby discovers he has lost sixty pounds and gained a lean, hardened physique that transforms his entire life.
• The mining bonanza: Rechristened as J. Wesley Brown, Bobby plunges into the rough mining country and amasses a million-dollar fortune over the course of two years.
• The carnival mirror: While courting Kitty Duchene in Winnipeg, Bobby steps in front of a funhouse mirror that instantly restores his old fat frame, shattering his disguise before the woman he loves.
• The triumphant return: Arriving back in Fawcettville with his fortune intact, Bobby distributes posters and letters offering a sevenfold return to every depositor, leading to a joyful reconciliation with both the villagers and Kitty.

The People

Bobby McTabb begins as a gloriously fat, perpetually smiling optimist who wants nothing more than to make his neighbors laugh, though his secret desire for wealth leads him to embezzle from the bank he built. Stripped of his heavy frame by the wilderness, he becomes J. Wesley Brown, a wealthy, hard-working mining promoter who wins the respect of rough men and the love of Kitty Duchene. Ultimately, he sheds his aliases and returns to his true identity, choosing generous restitution over flight.

Kitty Duchene is a tall, sweet-natured young woman with pure blue eyes and gold-brown hair who likes Bobby from the start but cannot love him while he is excessively heavy. As J. Wesley Brown, she finds herself drawn to him all over again and accepts his hand in marriage, dreaming of their return to Fawcettville. When the carnival mirror exposes his true identity, her shock turns to profound understanding and lasting devotion upon realizing the true measure of his affection.

In Its Own Voice

You can laugh too much. You can be too cheerful. You can look too much on the sunny side of life.

The narrator establishes the unorthodox moral of the tale right at the outset.

For three days after this the black flies fed on him and the fruit diet ate at his vitals.

The text captures the brutal physical toll of Bobby's ill-fated trek through the northern wilderness.

I have realized, since then, that the joke was not a good one—but never for an instant have I believed that you would lose confidence in me.

Bobby addresses his former neighbors in a heartfelt letter explaining his wildly unconventional scheme.

What It's Really About

Curwood’s tale explores the strange interplay between optimism, deception, and genuine community bonds. It asks whether an act of betrayal can be redeemed not through silent penance, but through an extravagant, theatrical gesture of love. Beneath the colorful premise of a disappearing embezzler lies an examination of personal reinformation and the physical burdens we carry. Bobby’s journey literalizes the idea of shedding dead weight, suggesting that true transformation requires both physical hardship and emotional reckoning. The narrative questions the conventional boundaries of crime and punishment, proposing that a community built on shared laughter and mutual affection might value a penitent trickster far more than a standard criminal.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love eccentric turn-of-the-century regional fiction, grand romantic gestures, and tales of personal reinvention will find plenty to enjoy here. Reading it feels like sitting down with a master storyteller by a campfire, listening to an unbelievable yarn delivered with absolute deadpan confidence. While modern readers may note the leisurely pacing and period melodrama characteristic of early 1910s adventure writing, these elements lend the story its distinct, nostalgic flavor. What ultimately stays with you is Bobby McTabb’s irrepressible spirit and the sheer audacity of his romantic redemption. It is a warm, delightfully absurd piece of Americana that rewards anyone looking for an unconventional escape into the past.