The Washington herald., 1920-12-02
IVAN COMES IN
FOR HIS JOKE
Mussovitch, Great Russian,
Nearly Had Celebration
ALI His Own.
By o. O. M,INTYRE.


NEW YORK. Dec. Lit was the
after-dinner hour. Chairs were
drawn up in q circle and cigars
lighted. All were in immaculate
dinner dress and their expressions
bespoke intelligence Of a high or
der. The conversation drifted to
literature. Some person spoke Of
Ivan Mussovitch. the great Russian
realist.
"A great writer who has never
been received according to his true
WORTH" said the speaker. All heads
nodded in approval. Scenting sym
pathy, the speaker-a novelist him
self-continued to sound the praises
OF the mighty Russian. Others,
he said, have only grazed the sur
face Of life-but Mussovitch has
gone to the heart Of things-shown
US our emotions and revealed the
things We knew were true, yet
which We feared to look upon"
Il was wondering the other day"
said one Of the group-a magazine
writer, "the age Of Mussovitch. A
man to have written with his un-
Outstanding must have lived a num-
Der of years" 81.
''Mussovitch," said his admirer,
will be SO years old the third day
of December. and while that subject
Is up, / think 1t Is fitting that we
who know Of his great work shall
In some way commemorate the aus
picious day. Let II be known as
Ivan Mussovitch Day and let the
men of American letters get togeth-
er and pay him tribute"
No one dissented. All agreed that
1t would be a splendid thing to do.
A temporary chairman-the novel;
ist who brought up his name and
admired him so-was appointed.
Later on a permanent organization
was to be formed.
That was, however, as far as II
has gone. The story has just leak
ed out and / have the word of the
responsible practical joker that II
Is all true. There Is no Ivan Mus
sovitch so far as he knows. The
writer manufactured his name on
the spur of the moment to test his
theory that among a group of writ
ing men no one will ever admit they
have not heard Of any writer.
However. most any one of the
crowd will now admit, IL asked. that
he never heard of Ivan Mussovitch.
And he will throw in a couple of
bushes to boot.
There Is an Indiana novelist who
has a home on the seashore in the
East. He also has a magnificent
yacht. Thk summer he had as
house guestF a man and wife from
the Middle West. They were home
spun folk and frankly admitted 1t
was their first view of the ocean.
Naturally the yacht interested them.
But 1t was temporarily out of COM
mission and so each morning the
husband would come down in silk
hat and frock coat. join his wife on
the porch with: We'll. mother.
wonder IL we go on the vessel to-
day"
The other day I had a half hours
talk with n business man whose
name is known from coast to coast.
] asked him about his prejudices
when meeting men. He said quickly:
II rarely judge a man by his first
talk. There is only one thing that
prejudices me and that Is q religious
no religious belief himself-but I
distrust him il he SCOTS at the re-
ligion of Others"
Playwrighting honors seem to go
to Frank Craven this season. His
The First Year" in which he plays
himself won all the critics. There
is not a moment of suspense in the
entire play. 1t is a simple portrayal
Of the first year of married life
full of such human touches that
everybody who sees il wonders why
he had not written the play himself.
Craven is proving a dangerous rival
of George NJ. Cohan in the actor
playwright field.