Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-03-17
% Americana should Say So"
60 Collier's-"S Saleratus Smith"
go Cosmopolitan-"The Tango Thief"
CD Everybody Making Money"
FORTY STORIES
VXTHAT constitutes the goodness of good
w story?

WHt@T storys constitutes the goodness of " good
There many standards of goodness.
Goodness in people, for instance. To some
the idea of a good man necessarily involves
being a church member, while to others it
merely suggests honesty and integrity and
| decent living. So good story may mean a
story that gets printed in magazine, as
compared with all the thousands that travel
YEARLY back to their writer's in the return
envelope; while, again, a good story may
mean a story that tickles the imagination
and leaves you refreshed and stimulated, or
1t may be one that will make you burst out
crying. Even that is not very definite, how
ever, for there are as many ways of tickling
imaginations there are imaginatons to
tickle. The various magazines have quite a
distinct individuality in the types of stories
they print, so much so that there are story
brokers who make their lvings reading story
manuscripts and deciding to which magazines
they should be submitted. James Montgom-
cry Flagg shows the various types cleverly
in his skit "I Should Say So" in the Amer
lean Magazine this month. which describes
Breaking Into the Art Game" %. He char
laCterizes the various styles of fiction and pic
lures likely to make a hit with the various
magazines for the guidance of would-be IL
lustrators:
American observation-disclosures who became
Governors or Ambassadors to Russia; COM
mon fellows playing comets in Earrets in In
diana; sweetly pretty girls doing nothing
whatever Sweetly.
Ladies' Home Journal-Rabbits; nine girls
in kmonOs making fudge reCklessy; COM
mencement: stuffed shirt handing rolls of
blank paper tied with pink ribbon to hun
dreds of thousands of beautiful and pure
young ladies'
McClures-Covers of girls showing acres of
neck and an expression papa" would not toll
crate.
smopolitan-Illustratons for Brisbanic
sermons; smudge-faCed Greek looking soulful
at you because milestone hangs around his
neck-galley burning on horizon doesn't mean
anything in particular, but seems psyche
logical.
Harpers-Southern kunnel, in Buffalo Bill
makeup starving to death at the plaza; "od
cullud gem'n" on his knees before old Mar
stah" begging him to share his watermelon
Life-Cupids; man, girl, moon; moon, GIRL
man; Cupids.
Saturday Evening Post-NIan seated at
desk; ditto standing by DESK ditto walking
away from desk.
Taking this as a basis of classification for
the various magazines, the 40 stories in a
group of magazines of the month may be
further subdivided by their own individual
subjects. Ten of them are serial stories, and
consequently and necessarily involve or
more love interests each. OF the remaining
80 short storles IL are frankly love stories,
three are about married people and triangles,
five are adventure and detective yarns, five
are about boys and six are miscellaneous.
Financially speaking, the most spectacular
story is the thousand dollar prize story
printed in Golfers last month (2). Oddly
enough, 1t is not love story, but "A revival
story, with the further religious smack that
it carries the Endorsement of BILLY" Sunday,
to whom it was submitted before it appeared.
The story Is about tough Negro, "Saleratus
amply protected" gambling joint in a small
town. Suddenly he became religious. smashed
up his gambling OUTFIT with an ak, in the
midst OF his astonished patrons, addressing
them afterward in the style of a colored
BILLY" Sunday.
He dropped his AK with a thump and
Low down, lousy. mean as de meanest of yo'
Is, yO' has in yo' away down where yo' for
get all about tt-yo got sweet place. Listen
yere! Bring 1t up like de cow do her cud
1t tastes good. has my mouth fun now,
and de more yo' tastes, de faster it comes
Look haT, Jim Slocum-I see yo'! None Of
dat Dct liver half-moon lip o. yourn hang
ing down like de handle of a cFutch showin'
yo' underteeth. Don't go comteplatin' no
rough housin'! Yo' knows mel rs goin'
down TO de meetin' to take my stand ana
yo' all got to go long and hear yo'selves
whizzin' down de gilded chute.
''Looka yere," he roared "dar amt a mig
ger yere but what's born bone believer in
de fFluences. Yo's afraid of ghosts. Yos
afraid OF de evil eye. Yos afraid OF de Bad
Man. 70 every one knows dars somethin'
he distorted his face into an appalling ex
preston, and crouching down lower vet
slowly swung the whites OF rolled up evas
around upon them ITS yers. De rooms