Judge — November 1935 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

Judging the Books HAs LEHR was the Gagman of the 400 of the ‘90s. Every page of his biography “King Lehr” as wept forth by his bride abeth Drexel Lehr, is redolent of the fast ones and the social pranks of that nimble half-wit Judge, -ood clean expensive fun, rr instance after arranging a quiet little $200,000 party at Delmonico’s, which everybody attended my deahs, and which provided champagne baths, trim- mings and food no king could afford, Harry would wow them by loudly de- aiding boiled eggs and a glass of milk. To the further public amusement he would go for dips in fountains with heiresses or commandeer a streetcar and play conductor and motorman with a Mrs. Vanderbilt. Harry, in other words, was just a scream and his exquisitely juvenile pranks make one wonder how capitalism has survived this long. For Harry thrived in the days when we obviously were a democratic absolute monarchy. Society was stinking with and was ruled by the lady stuffed It was harder to crash than Mr. Rockefeller’s church. Harry, because of his peculiar pansy qualities and wit, be- came a confidant of the ruling queens, guardian at the social portals, and court jester rolled into one. He was a sort of sycophantic Oscar Wilde without the literature. True his gags don't hold up particularly well through the years and there is an Elsa Maxwell flavor to his career generally but he is a definite hothouse type that could only survive in such a stuffy, ridiculous, overweening era as the ‘90s. As book “King Lehr” sounds ghosted. Also the widow Lehr does the un-F, P. Aian thing too often by telling how funny Harry was when he pulled that fast one on the Crown Prince, but fails to go into details just what it we he said or did. One always suspects that he pulled the chair out from under the Crown Prince and slapped Mrs. Astor on the veranda. Just the same it’s an entertaining book. There is a True Confessions out of Town Topics out of the Hearst Supple- ment air to the writing and the scandal is easy on the gossip nerve. There is a pretty nostalgic breath-taking dip into the high-hat 90s, and it’s fun to look back on how silly we were. shirts, VE always been a big Maugham man and we'd like to continue so So when Mr. Maugham comes along with “Don Fernando” in which our hero tries to pull a Havelock Ellis doing a litry travelogue on Spain and fails be- cause he hasn't the white whiskers and city, we've just got to skip it, R Psmith” is really Enter Wodehouse. One of the first works of the Laugh King (how does he think ‘em up!) it is the blueprint on which Wodehouse has got his later laughs, As such it’s full of wim and wigor and if the years have reduced it from an adult book to a juvenile, it has a strong chance to join Huck I , the Tennessee Shad, Stover and Willie Bax- ter up on the All Time shel Among other republished works th is “Autumn” in which the tender leaf of Robert Nathan begins to sprout into full blooming whimsey ; and a Milne omnibus full of When We Were Very Young, Pooh, Pooh on Pooh, etc. New Mr. John Winkler, having pulled Mr. Hearst, John D., Mor- gan and Carnegie to pieces, dollar by dollar, turns his attention to those deal- ers in death, paint, Cellophane, ink, pa- per, cars, politics, plumbing, dyes, rayon, combs, mirrors, belts, shoe-buckles, toys, napkin rings, glass, buttons, bil- liard balls, tooth brushes, film, Ethyl, artificial leather and money—the du Ponts. With his usual carefree, half- defiant, almost liberal skill, Mr. Winkler gives you the family tree, sprig by sprig, fruit by fruit. Now we think it only fair in view of what Mr. Winkler’s done for them, that the du Ponts turn around and write a book about Mr. Winkler. “Richard Savage” by Gwyn Jones I —a long and at times tedious his- torical novel—becomes a best seller, will do so because of its nicety of prose and the continual shocks the reader is sub, y the aud: and caddish spirit of its main character. The scene is the London of Pope, Steele and Swift, a brawling dirty town in the hands of magniloquent society and haughty literary elegants. struts amongst them, an arrogant im- pecunious dandy, a tenacious hanger-on and at times a pleasing if sharp-tongued companion. In this first novel, Mr. Jones has suc- ceeded admirably in creating the un- savory flavor of 18th Century London and the brawling throughout the pages is good exciting stuff. S for Mr. Kitchin’s “Prisoner of the GPU,” the best criticism of it we can offer is the fact that Mr. Hearst ran it serially in his yellow anti-red papers. —Tep SHane. November, 1938. Volume 109. nc. Publication ‘office, 404 18 East 48th St., New York, at Mount, Mor Nilan, Assistant Treasurer. Whole No. 2684. erth Wesley Ave, Mount Morris, Il . Entered as -Class Matter, . 1933, Ii, under act’ of March 3, 1879, atted 1995. in the U.'S. aad Gre Britain; Subscription rate $1.50 a year; Canada and foreign, $2.50; 1Se a co} President and Treasurer; Jack Shuttleworth, Vice President; Frank C. Fisher, Particular attention is called to the fact that ever Published monthly by Judge Magazine, Editorial and ‘executive offee Copyrighted 1955, in the S. and Great PR Fred L. Rogan, retary; Sadie M. article and p appearing in Juvce is protected under the provisions of Section 3 of the Copyrigt Law of the US, 1 \ / FATAL FUMES FOILED ADAME, if your husband's surly pipe reminds you of burning rubber, won't you please remind him to get a pack of pipe cleaners and a tin of Sir Walter Raleigh Smoking Tobacco? Yes, it’s that milder blend of Kentucky Burleys you've admired in other men’s pipes. Well-aged, slow- burning, cool on the tongue, fra- grant on the nose. It’s so much milder to smoke and better to smell that you'll both be happier when he tries it. Buy him a tin this very day! Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation ville, Kentucky. Dept. R-s11 +++. FREE BOOKLET tells how to make your pipe taste better, sweeter. Write for a copy. SIR WALTER RALEIGH 7 Somer ot Later - You Favorite Jot