A Page of Features
A Page of Features Americano Books and Writers Chatter The Home Front By WILLIAM E. BOHN 4 WEEK or two ago I wm talking about Pern 1?. and k«r V* picture, of old maid teachers. Toe will Had...
...It is always well to have one person in the house who retains the protection of his shirt earing a time of artistic exuberance like this...
...Wrieten...
...Hero yon get a BsBfis»»w*m the fearsome pedagbfical\ep sergeants from the point of view «fa little Irish girl, a bright sensitive kid who was hurt...
...A* Huseo*S ran'* nf'th birthday neareo...
...Thunder and lightning accompanied his birth...
...SB«wai-Vpi—la the resent AtP-toftwing rtmse adv...
...Schwan gives us ? few facts about Ribbentrop to show us that he is not (or, at least, was not in the early years of the regime) a typical Nazi—his respectful treatment of his Jewish friends is a case fn point—nevertheless...
...The cruetoat teachers were those who had come from besnee tuailar to those of the poo* children...
...in The Nation, to suggest that we keep our shirts on and count three before we swear that it is better than War and Peace or A rYowemith...
...How behind the back of...
...ia China, Brooks Atkinson, ia a«^*tox* critic...
...The mere fact that the totalitarian powers put their economy ander rigid state control for imperialist 'ends does not necessarily make Washington's present policy of restricting big business, for the sake of John Doe, a "challenge to freedom...
...sort of folks...
...The wide world beyond the East River and across the seas she can tolerate only on the theory-that the folks there ¦est be, basically, more or less like the Brsoletynitee...
...and it has a hvsge samlsn uf eaesBtent iftmtaaawas...
...operates in Britein...
...To hat it is symbol of the teaming poor who live round Ebbet» Field...
...Her working people—except Communists—are all sombiea wartet for the Thirteenth Street reearraetien...
...These seeaete availaW* through free, varied, and flexible ptedwttieh of the goods for whkh there Vs Kvery demand...
...B^mn parliament shewed an hvterest in the Maat Anrbaasador's unnsnai bearing, and a member suggested that the British Ambassadeur sb Btrrhn ehoaM roar Rule Britannia every time he met the Fuehrer...
...It seemed that in their ftlttor...
...The Dies Comssflass st l*sat has a puls-msgasise haaajpafiaa, aad...
...created Jafijhtljasstetod taatosias, with maOtona eOttto red daefla...
...down to JKstey Baasra, where fit pea eat see rat the eosrtooorn deor that pan neuer Jtea» to the radte (raver even haavd "Papa* Gate Kim the Spot", yea soald gat to aad wasch Eeaem...
...an tetosBgeat pasple tarn ssdy wake...
...aad bis saaaf rnnmwej Eugene Garey are a pretty stolid lot...
...Pennsylvania miners are a hearty, husky, self-reliant bunch of humans—bet net to atoth McKenny's blinded eye...
...TIuaitsHy belie vrag that the *<characteristk Am erica ? methods" in beateeaa would take the country beak to normalcy and prosperity after the war, he overtook...
...Now I have been over those roads put there...
...Ruth McKenny •f*HE professional critics all went unreservedly overboard for ¦** A Tree Grow* in Brooklyn...
...Be is the Communist Gargantua who followed My Sitter Eueen est of Ruth's typewriter...
...I cannot improve on Dr...
...the text that these methods were highly practical only so long aa there waa still "the frontier' witf...
...It aimed to protect, against violence from the left or from the right, the essentials of American democracy— the balance of interests under the Constitution, security for property and for men, and- liberty...
...t MAtlAJ...
...4»d Men Decay •THEN she turned Communist end wrote a proletarian novel...
...1 · The description of our Country which serves as background to the gigantic doings of this wonder child furnishes an interesting example of what Communism does to the minds of, its devotees, •ash McKenny grew ?? jest about where I did...
...This make* the second ssajsr ktas to the CoBaate^Bkjkre...
...arhnear could save from it a few pages that aren't chit-chat and unauthenticated gossip...
...They, opened their investigation at...
...8, i wonder what he'll make of this passage: aewwM atka," wrtesaase <terassB ahahasabar^ aesaspsr tot...
...If he does, it will be a crying »harne...
...Child psychology had * 1...
...Ha claim* that they ware all inspired by T. 8. Eltot, and than potato cast that ? tot* "Wasteland" wa* published to UtXX, "the poor who* saw ** first saastap ef Fssctrs, to power at lu*f Vpkt...
...and pvb4ruffe#(i ? ? «vi iCsjttere shovpffig fshfe ?ovts*t A ^|_^rlraSr ?aat S?JlpBSlj...
...j...
...Toe will Had them in her novel ^*^,***F Thank Goal ???* then I have read another novel, a batter ea, called A Tree Grown in Brooklyn...
...Somehow, his uncompromising Wmm seemed to trim a good example of that fell -blooded Nasi d^tomncy by which he...
...Winston...
...The librarian whs dated «ai the books never looked at the growing girl...
...The book w we»-printed, wett-toenml...
...Ignoring traditional ptucseeuu, which called far Mm to make three beers In the royal presence, he rushed forward, waved his hand andfar the frightened king's nose, and yetted "Heil Hitler...
...There is one brsath-tatdBg error In the proof on page 92 where the Amrtrtan crass «? wnsssfwrssad into the Australian crisis...
...That means that they have hope and humor...
...There are pacts which are helarious the assess, for instance, created fay Eifatentrsp She Bret time he ansa prases ted aa German ambassador to the English knag...
...AN expansion of a speech which the president ** of Brown University delivered to a gathering of businessmen, this book is essentially a wellworded attack on the planned economy which, since leSS, has been supplanting the laissei faire eubmsiiy ia this conn try...
...She fears to go to %jegc for it may rob her of the warm and homely speech of her isttHa heath...
...Kremlin prbbably got the h in*, hat there assy have been aoau check...
...Which waa leaky, lav on his aeth Urtbday II Dace was fleeing to North Italy, s political baaaaea...
...Now Betty Smith is different...
...That ia the grape country, a real paradise...
...I feel that he moves through these pages as a kind of auto ma tor of evU...
...Listen to this you teachers and principals: Brutalizing is the only adjective for the public schools of that «hW^m^JJK« and14...
...because it waa better paying than factory «Ork...
...These barren women spent their fury on other women's children in a twisted, authoritative manner...
...Waarever ha to now, Benito may ? ha vaasSf to read hta Mists sta...
...Altogether, the hook is a philippic against heavy taxation, deficit spending, the dominance of the executive, the transcendanee of federal power and all the other "sins" ascribed to Roosevelt's domestic policy...
...Schwarz writes a sprightly style, and with lurM tmagery—after saymg that Ribbentrop lepwshal on a htrger scale the errors of inrperiel diplomacy ths-t had led to the disaster at IMS, he adds: *4t was like sonrebody who, barring slipped on the staircase, attempts to reach the second floor from the outside by climbing the wall...
...As far as I know this is the first trans-East River epic...
...THE reader of this portrait of...
...Joachim Ribbentrop ?? 4he feeling.that foofrapher 1 Schwerz'* camera is 5.000 miles away from his subject rAvwearfy and a million miles spiritually...
...Fly's "meddling in radio" wfth a lot of fanfare and then cam* abe great expaaea of What one poor little refugee used to say in one ????t> puffs on a etiatld| radio program on «tatias WBNX yet to se^wTtiemned for haaee m^l...
...In scheel taw janitor was the only one who took a human interest in her...
...You don't have to love VersaBJes m order to tute such double deafmg "To many a slnJaBt ia world poiiStes," writes Dr...
...40 popes...
...as a "Make Work" protect "devoted to the achievement of as iitrie as paeaibU, at aa great cost asj>oaeSjle, wrw aa many men ns passable each doaag aa uttle an possible...
...The tone of the whole book ia as detacher...
...In this part of her work she ? aa honest and truly creative artist...
...When her hers motors through the American landscape it withers and shrivels before him...
...amaad cattle ratal Haa the...
...It will rarely not be the last...
...And when he turn* to Vsl...
...fanva a rook at aar files) wostd haw* sat them right . . . Raw tor ele Congressmen think they can get with a Oaija Board' . . . ?> far the Book:—History has its little jokes...
...Do yon know Jake...
...But because she ia a Communist she wrote that way...
...At a time whan the world, worn .out by a hopeless fight against aoeisi insecurity hail* the Bevendea Plan and aha...
...Altogether too often, and this can't be helped, I suppose, since the author has to draw almost exclusively on hearsay and gossip (though this ????11nsAtmmun^flaM boureas is the of consul fn New York...
...BMIaJers of the notorious speed-up schemes)* . . . We've picked a law differences with the AMG set-up ourselves, bat the most colossal serve *t the year was embodtod in the recast fisvtet ¦tatoas...
...His Jdaans Itnffuo* abept the air stone, that marveioas insswtion which be referred to a* an "Warned <far internal) ccmabnstibn machine...
...This was ceptionee tf tytybswy wants to greet his own way.' Another paper rememoered that in the days wf std QwBSB Vteaotia, ene of the despots straight out of the African ? read was received by Her Majesty and showed his eaai'BLiatiuu by knocking his head three times agsinet the floor But undaunted by these paTalleis...
...they took evhhmce that esuld be bad any ahme (Mister Cos ear...
...The charges mask to the Kraal* · Mascow organ...
...Meet Herr Ribbentrop By MILTON HINDUS THIS MAN RIBBENTROP...
...She can write first class dialogue...
...He goes on—and desolation spreads...
...The inhabitants of the boro of cemeteries, be reports, are practically all Harvard men and to learn how the other half murders our common tongue they cross one of the bridges to Manhattan...
...Little Francie-Betty doesn't know, of course, that it flourishes up through the cracks of Manhattan cement and even in tmsh landscapes of New Jersey and Pennsylvania...
...vat aot one name from Herman...
...BHtstk paper* plea** ????: jr* were amd avkan Kbnnetb Roberto poohpoohed 17J6 and all that tm ''Oliver Wtswefl...
...And while the horror of an era when fifteen minion Americans had ??.be ???, a stdl fresh in oar mam j, the «naher tries is fi%h4aa ? wash tim ssairhhm that fun employment ia possible easy at the price of liberty: His counter-prop seal for centering esmrty— what arrogantly—sounds too simple sad ate beautiful to he feasible: TllfcHtah apse a **.· ? so efficient, epea a rsnge so vast, -ape« s neni* #e lissstyniftctJRt tint tite reel wfisAi tii of twbd...
...From Want" prom «? ei the Atlantic ? barter, Dr Wriston tries to sat the steak back nritk each dassgereea doctrines as -Biokogieahy maa is both to hasnrd" or "You cannot bare freeenes wbthttot risk...
...a rh»rh>o# ene s redletter one so to spetk Has titters ever been a gasetaftoa pet »Uboat tire BhsUhni that It wan (oing 1b set things right SSBSS SBSJ - ZSr...
...Brooklyn...
...My life weald not be worth a one point ration stamp if I did...
...War ami Mm vleifimt Ci***, serlude fsatosa to satobtieh "fmtaam af...
...Schwan...
...It should A, the educational authorities «-ood to find otrt how they look to the little victims who «et caught in their machinery...
...naval agreement wfth Germany was also the beg inning of Pftrre Levsls and other French politicians* hatred for England* It te ptem that to have a disunited Europe, wrsh BsBkaad (backed perhaps by the unttsd States^ as the arbiter of its destinies, means aa endless series at wars, each bloodier than the last The quoatiuii is whether a united Europe is opposed to England's interest, and if the answer ia yes, what the consequences are to be...
...The result ia no definitive wiljMaj^m, ftrw...
...N*w York: Harper ? Brother*, 1M3...
...The anchor would entrust the fas* of ahe hundred and thirty-five million Americans to tift efficiency (and ruthlsssness) of a few hundred oapteins of industry like Henry Ford...
...And that they dislike to do...
...caBiag for tappart of the HiHman prepoaals as the crucial "win-tha-war" ten, a eesx or unronma were ? sire among tne tsgnera...
...and fiiaiin of aasembly" and other "demecratie liberties...
...He has bsafi a talBg>a|h asptor fur the New York bau* Now, and is a contributor to thee* pages...
...Like the other kids of her...
...1 But circumstances predisposed me all in favor of Betty and her tree of heaven...
...lliaaiil with red-hot prengs...
...Tbk,nam Comrade ntalm...
...Anyone with half an eye can see Oat this book is · chapter from her own life...
...Julian Meeener...
...not tjeneerned ahead...
...union appeared...
...Ohio, Indiana, IHinois—here and there a-forelorn filling station with a ditheartened attendant—now and then a malarial farmer tottering abont his dilapidated Pl«jftbat ia all that Jake sees waiting for his revolution to bring life and hope...
...She is on the side of life...
...Aunt Sissy, s pi urn pish person of very easy ways had a run-in With teacher and looked tike a fairy princess beside her...
...The author deplores our generation's loss of faith in private enterprise, cells the New Deal's position regarding our national economy pesstwistic end defeatist and scoffs at such modern institutions ? the defunct W.P.A...
...Aa you can tee from our page 1 cabsa, Bolor to now in Italy...
...For the world's grehtoot aagaateer-.sd.· •Ttoate ?????*'* schools hist happens to be Ivy tarn USviaeff, aha sa-Asnbaaafiassrs waV—who estaWisbed the Ricbards-Ogden ayatom m many of im Rastton schools...
...He^etill^seemed^to be friendly ^^^^^l*^" U*m** tiaTNegroes1- atrnggto to'righto...
...at to lephtii the decadent correctness of the Wctoutt republic...
...Itolma—wmaa a lir^torm^traafc...
...toward these unfortunate little ones, they were somehow exorcising their own fearful background...
...He was ?? accredited American corrsapanntoit to Eagknd, and bis cenheetion with the London Vems Chronicle msJisged to wangle the overseas assignment for him...
...At a fateijB correspondent ior the...
...pal Adckpb weat banting aapwiid •of a aaitobte 1 jj abilsg saassat...
...It will warm his heart and appease his wrath, fn tire book Deity's name is Francie Nolan and she loves every stick and stone and smell—not of all fast Brooklyn—but of Williamsburg...
...Tfa...
...Words, Word*:—History wul base ita little irouiea.^ . . ''This weak Winston Churchill delivered a rasher iiuajahil* message to Stalia with his Harvard apaaib far a U. S.-BrUalB penr.anent ajtjanee...
...and va think, W ?harchil, Conservative, might abase a little more respect for the past...
...h waar.t apparent+y very hard to emd-a heaatifal edition of the worhs al Fr.edrveh N .ekaache—and e* .he seat dt an a Iktleesslp...
...In My Sitter Eileen she has set them down just as they are—merely brightened up by her wit and humor...
...1 It is not all bad...
...sssfiaslLii has been aapperted by the Kremlin Bet assyem out Hernden offered to accept articles "from anybody...
...The Commie Una on labor is more and more lmlsftiaguiehsbie from the propaganda of the National Association of Manufacturers...
...Chsrchm aeemed tobe msbiag an sasatasana smssW st^hte...
...publiehcr...
...own account of the eonseenenee* "This demonstration of Nasi hieVjBBidenee in the mm ?* *» **** .»mntorch Wbbentrap ordered widely publicised in Oil BBBB newspapers...
...Nat to participate to hfctwy—that's the ene ambition in oar tflae that caat ha fanileJ, He Prefers "Normalcy...
...Irish workers, Jews, Germans—men, women and Andren—they are all here—sad, pathetic, tragic, funny, heroic— a mixed and mellow medley, the rich and varied seed-bed of a new •art of nation...
...she signed a naval treaty wtxh Germany that waa the first big bole rent in the treaty of Versailles...
...We ware jnt kiainahig to snsrr ^ aar iRtie...
...I «f...
...its miiahsnrtttdi weatth of appor turn use, thst is, in tilt good days of Mark ????* and MaSmtey...
...History continues to he the frsnfl diversion of the ha mas race Tea eat ate that by haw saxtoes we ahrayh at* ts add a hew •age to ft—and not etoi ply ? ???» pace, ha I aa extraordinar» one...
...rsbswagh the aaatteiy of Hitiatf...
...In this morning Time* a solemn guy named Fekfblum rises in wrath and practically says right out that Al Smith is the only fellow he ever heard of who speaks Brooklynese...
...philosophy," wrote Atkinson from Chungking, and weat on to report that "Now there are many more people, hnftsrto afid roads" (he could toil thai, you know, just by k»king)7l)ae*n etover, these Chinese correspondent...
...It is se hard to find your way round over gir~ T...
...St* betrivis in people...
...Early in bis 'teens he led strikes, and before he was out ef them the silken darlings of capitalism began to fight for him...
...she had dealings with policemen, firemen, librarians and Hsilni?- These ware the public servants who helped to assent -bar life...
...la NtMtoen F^-Oda, the United State* no longer is able to exiat as an island af Isiasaa fairs aceaessy Inside and Out By MATTHEW LOW...
...To Jake's aye it presents nothing but death and decay...
...I suspect that Betty Smith knows a thing or two about ideologies end economics...
...wad is saw peepsrhsg s bag leaad ?? Maat wasch he fig eise eeght to ret him a saw aaarapilatiua...
...If some day aha outgrows her partyUse childishness she may do some fine, full-length stories . But her ¦arty blinders force her to give us a picture that is completely false...
...I . I· Smith's...
...and ironic as this, without always being aa amusing, unfortunately...
...He rides .from Buffalo westward...
...VVs^sVt^BtoHte ?? #*¦ atat with ? ctsBthnd Bet...
...Wriston...
...party Baa or ha psf4|'ltoe...
...The gouge rises as we read acaffl of the game England played with Hitler from IMS onwards...
...Claiming to apeak in the name of individualism, optimism and freedom against centralization, "depression thinking," and dictatorship, Dr...
...But to make a man, even an enemy, the peg of yoer own wit ia not she Way to make him come alive...
...At three he knew Shakespeare and at six be astonished bis teachers...
...She deserves all the success the has had...
...At most...
...Chins comes first in the Generalissuno...
...Nevins and Commager, America, the Start/ of a Free People...
...Samuel Putnam, literary hatchet-man for the Stalinists, has gone after the "Na InrttHicam Prs»~ ahd bfvrti^JMmr (which he claim* was "stolen" from the Party) and just about every advanced peat atsj literary critic ia the tanatry...
...la au of Brooklyn IDIDN'T intend to devote a column to any other novel, but I have 1 gat started about this Brooklyn tree, and I may aa well go on...
...W* bad a man eat there covering the GOP conference...
...what she writes ia fun to read...
...I am B*t—«od forbid!—giving my o.k...
...1 ??^ *~rrl fnr lifr in nsr in ism ssssaaa Let Brother Feldblum read Betty Smiths tale...
...Last...
...MS pays...
...Tt was a "Communist Party Ststanseat on aafiiitfi and Negrn Qjaarurty," and it not only diaewhafi the magaxine but made a sharp point of dissociating the fmtgftmn SBttosae ware sever made dearly He waa always evasive shoot 4to> Ratty break...
...Though Dr...
...M.00...
...i Literati ak Ca.;—Sam Solon, New Leader eBiitapendaiit nam,sent 1 cs dhsmtebes ire» Lewd an far torn year*, ha* tarsad Bp at the newest front...
...Ribbevtrop five days later aft a levee, thai time surrounded by the breatMees attention of the whole distinguished gathering, started his antics ?? over again, emitting, however, at the insistence of Downing Street, the armolicrted but stentorian evocation of Ms tribal chief tn Berfin...
...After three day* we raesffvsd sea wire, aad the brief message wa* "Queck, Qsack from...
...far am» future biographer, it has little value...
...Yet the catastrophe of^l929 ought to have made it dear to everyone that the period of unlimited capitalism is over, and that, to avoid complete chaos, the "rugged individualism" of merchant, banker, industrialist and workmen has to be curbed and directed into safe channels by the sdministiavtion...
...She could not stand in front of me and tell me that n*r picture has any relation to the facts...
...By ALFRED WERNEN CHALLENGE TO FREEDOM...
...Hi made R as painted aa to harp on the -common language" argument, and put a ping to far "Basi...
...pea's fiamad:—It was too bad...
...Few teachers had taw tree rocaiion for their work...
...They taught because ? waa one few jobs open to them...
...afip Wirmto, -Let aa las» a Boten Tee Parte aboatit".' Now either fiUstor Church...
...Th* Associated Psess U distributiag his dtopttehet In this eacstfrV, sad a similar release...
...I asa am idsnd completely surrounded by teachers who are anything bat defenseless...
...to any of this...
...But what gat oux dander ap waa hi* phrase exhorting us to get together with Enaliahmen...
...wee amusing...
...But she is not preaching and she is not lying...
...One of hto dJnpetehaa this weak mast^see* hfiajatn^tatordafar perspicuity...
...because they cot a pension when they retired...
...Wriston aims his guns at the "administrative management," the "government by bureaucracy," in short, the "philosophy of social control" which is ruling and, allegedly, rufaring the United States...
...The poor may be ignorant and dirty and tossy...
...It is the "best novel of the year," UB "best first novel in the memory of the oldest press agent," etc, the.' It remained for Diana Trillins...
...Bw P**d...
...BchWBlS, *tMi bewdor...
...Sehwan'e sswaerrbstioa of «dt bmasaiBaiid legend wish wansh we are al fames'isr...
...fcti ?'Jtfjat wonderful...
...most of taw teachers were women made neurotic bw HW1"* iBsttneta...
...Lawrence Ferns worth, wall known reporter of the 8pani*h Civil War, has wen a NVstoan new*sajktr fellowship to Harvard University...
...Married woman were not allowed to teach ? those days...
...because they had a long summer vacation...
...int the Rateh...
...Cak4* Ceagrasstonal Omsmrttoe tear mto the Pwfiaial OoflMaMfiT) »eert^o^ri r^erww . . . Bet Cos aadduily pasted ap aaskaa, sasvad ears sa -Weahhsgtoa...
...Negre aavteltot, to s simflsr way, dropped aasetty out of the party ranks...
...the ear sf as...
...But Betty Smith grew up to the Williamsburg district of...
...haard of in Wffliamaburg ia those days...
...They taught because no one warmte te starry them...
...from ft...
...The cops and the fire-fighters were fine, hearty feUows , whom the children liked and respected...
...I took up this Brooklyn folk-tale just as I threw across.the room Rath McKenny's Jake Home...
...Life for him was one long struggle between duty to the poor working class—utterly lost without him—and the daughters of the rich who seamed even more tragically in need of his ministrations...
...But they are real and they are alive...
...sMItl tVw( a^C- . A? lwVTTl \1\ the Owsasiy r^ar-' asV' erf idaUfis...
...She weat to the tame university and observed about tile...
...Bet the reel wssJtr of the world wifi wet ituw to the eeeBmefi sssm unless he hi able to hey end use the prodnebi nf . Ms toil...
...So has Rath kftkermy...
...RmtHmtrwp^dtwpr out of ssght sdtagiwbST attest She desfteasatie history oi the pears praeeshng tike was» e«ly *so well Dr...
...Ruth McKenny has a fine dramatic sense...
...English," the BBC-word system of teaching the Isagaagi sfi ov* the world (devised by I. A. Richard* aad ?. ? Csjden...
...bat adteRtoA fraekS that the A. Philip Randolph organisation * March-on-Washington Movement," is today the moat effective instrument far hta ? septa...
...farntshed the tip-off...
...she Ultie man's buying power, nerertheless declares "The wealth of the worker Has to the geeds and services st Ms com mind...
...She knows perfectly well that this is no tree picture ff America...
...What ' Roosevelt started, ten years ago, actually was "profoundly conservative—conservative in ' the same sense that Jeffersonian and Wusoniaa democracy had been conservative...
...the Wryrirrr featured a huge Browtter ststement to faver of the sheetionary uvduttrrsl strategy of "incentive pay.* The sssse aagr the 7NHwW ftfwitliitBtJ e leftj s*t^torntl Wttttf tu ffivtcr of tHe ???# wlurifiv from Albert Rsmond, president of the Bedeaax...
...All of which does not mean that th» iant...
...The author's general approach to the social problem is unpleasantly mindful of the happy-go-fucky philosophy of the Harding-Coolidge-Hoover era...
...ted...
...The English presswas not so sanguine about it...
...The tree that appears in her title is, of course, the ailanthus, the tree of jhsavsn...
...didn't knew .srhat that particular tea Pasty waa like —or ha thinks that our ssttive tradilioos aboet the American Raweiatton bass jaet Aisgaba* iato ?? joke...
...While there are certain flaws in the doctrine and the practice of the New Deaf, it is difficult to agree to its wholesale condemnation by Dr...
...flows to the common me...
Vol. 26 • September 1943 • No. 37
