Judge — June 11, 1932 — page 29: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ing ing act. JUDGING tHe BOOKS BOOK we've been waiting for a long time is Mr. Phil Stong's Iowa Farm novel “State EB dently it also voices the bucoli ments of the group of literati who operate the Lit. Guild, as they sent it to their subscribers last month, as a little ief from the usual encyclopedias selected. What Mr, s, in a word, ich a bad time after rs now, the American farm in literature has been a loathsome prison, cruelly enclosing young dreamers of the type set forth in O'Neill’s “Beyond the Horizon.” These young idealists have ed the smell of cows, they have not enjoyed wholesome home cooking, they have not cared about the | uptist. They have run a y to the city to become chiropractors or to write terrible novels about the terrible life down on the farm or to open lamp shade shoppes or to mar terrible women. To the farm problem they have added the farm novel relief problem. Stong has done an amazing He has put this idea in re- verse and created a fine number. He shows us four member: farm family who have honest self-respect and a genuine love for the land that supports them. There are a husband and wife who have not wearied of ch other’s time worn jok a son and daughter who have heard of the ndments and who know their Il be spent down on the farm and are content that it be so. Mr. Stong’s plan is simple; also effective. The Frake family packs up and travels to the annual fair at Des Moines. The Frake hog “Blue Boy” is crowned king of porkdom, the Frake son and daughter find out about love and they all go home. There are no regrets expressed any- where, It is good to know there are people like the Frakes in Iowa and men like Mr. Stong around to write about them. HORNE SMITH, who has kicked up quite a little dust in the lend- ing libraries, especially among the old ladies with pekes, is a first $ eX- ample of what comes of mixing mud and whimsey. Attempting to merge the worst features of Lucius Apuleius (whom he gets all wrong) and Snooks Milne (whom he libels) he makes such a mess of it, his books bring on the bellyache. We like our mud and whimsey straight, when we like them. On such ground plan, Mr. Smith will take a fat and balmy gent of 40, as repressed a Kansas senator, turn him into an animal or a spirit, and set him loose in a welter of wha Mr. Thorne considers pret loose and high living. It all odors of violent rebellion on the fat man’s part asrainst the kind of respectability you get in suburban Montclairs but Mr. Thorne’s ideas on rebellion, humor and good writing don’t agree with “Topper Takes A Trip” is Mr. Smith's latest tomato. Avot a book of poems called “The Adventure of the Heckled Band” by J. G. Witham, the authors have this to say:—H. L. Mencken “The Moron’s Manual”; Irvin Cobb “This makes the depre sion complete ‘Oh, I —ghastly P. G. Wodehouse; nere’s that wastebasket” H. I. Phillips; “This is E hayv Bugs Baer; and “This book is a hummer—a_ho- hummer” Chas. Hanson Towne. As astute and gifted as we hold most of the above fellows, after reading Mr. Witham’s rhythmic bits, we can only feel they were leaning backwards in understatement. Maybe Witham bribed them. following “ HE Diary of an Ex-President” by John Wintergreen (with the leering ghost-like face of Morrie Ryskind in the background) should do you for laughs this week. You will recall that John Wintergreen is the unhappy warrior of “Of Thee I Sing,” that fine piece of irreverent tongue sticking out. His diary is a revelation of the spicy sort of life a Republican chief executive carries on. Don’t miss it, it’s better than a stack of tabloids. ‘0 lighten up the week’s burden, you might ease your brains off | with a few whacks at the short murders in H. C. Bailey’s “Case for Mr. Fortune.” You will find Reggie Fortune no Father Brown nor Mr. Bailey a Chesterton. On the other hand, neither has any bad manners to speak of and a lot of nice things could be said about them, too. U ER no conditions be caught with a copy of Warwick Deep- ing’s “Old Wine and New.” It’s another one of those weeping Deep- | ing wailings of a good and noble man | smells | tweedsie) fought over by two women | (who smokes a pipe and —one good, one bad for him. The regular Warwick Deeping old whines in new battles. —Ted Shane >>> ICE = ExtraCooL —for qu eker ng Reflect on this, you shavers! There's only one thing that makes shaving really comfortable, That's coolness! eloser shav Lavender Mentholated Shaving Cream —made by Langlois—is so cooling that you can shave close, shave often, with- out the least discomfort. And how it takes the fight out of beards! Without razor pull, without sting, whiskers come off right at the skin line. After shaving, give your skin a dash of Lavender Lotion. 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