listening in on everything charming

As I continue to explore literature (of interest) of the post World War I and pre World War II era, I happened to find this charmingly, suggestive bit of guidance which was first published in New York in 1932.

What is a good listener?

"Strange as it may seem, a good listener isn't a person who sits and listens. That isn't enough. You must show by your face, your questions, your comments, that you're not merely listening with your ears, but with your mind. You must contribute to the conversation. If you cannot add ideas, you can do your part by having a genuinely wide-awake attitude which is active, not passive.

And do not interrupt. If someone is telling a joke or an anecdote to a group of people and you have already heard it, do not cut in with"Oh! I know that one." It takes the wind out of the storyteller's sails. But, on the contrary, if someone tells a story directly to you and you have heard it, by all means stop the person as soon as you recognize the tale. It's ever so much kinder than waiting to the end and then awarding it a feeble laugh."

Better than Beauty, A guide to Charm - Helen Valentine & Alice Thompson.

I have to confess, that if this is the baseline, I am pretty hopeless, I won't ruin the joke but I am not very actively engaged if the subject doesn't interest me - file under boring Monday business meetings, where a quarter-sized continental cushion would have been handy.