New-York tribune., 1922-10-01

{, sports writer. dramatic critic,
book reviewer, daily "colyum-
MIST lecturer and syndicate feature
! man, will be at ali surprised TO learn
! that he has written novel, And an
almost great novel. Tomorrow he may
/ give q violin recital at Carnegie Hall
! or vocal concert at the Hippodrome
or he may prove to this world that fol
I years he has secretly had talent for
! gymnastics that he is, in addition to
the multifarious gifts he possesses, g
1 coal baron, and, rot content with that
controls the parking privilege for
motors at the Polo Grounds. within 9
! fortnight we may wake up to yead that
/ Mr.. Belasco is about 30 produce the
first Of a trilogy OF his plays, and tha,
| Haywood Broun's blank verse lihretto
written in the subway between assign,
ments, is to be get TO music by Pucclni
! politan. There il nothing, seemingly
that this ambidextrous individual can
not do and do we'll.
When did this astonishing Journalist
! find time TO write a full-length novel
called, happily, "Tha Boy Grew Older 4?
This fresh evidence Of his genius
is more or less autobiographical-thers
,, is no shadow of doubt as TO that, even
| TO one who knows him, unfortunately
| but slightly. The early incidents are
| disguised very thinly; mention, now
and again, of real people Is done, on
! the face of it, to give verisimilitude
where this could have been achieved
without the process. Yet interviewer
with reality there is a thread Of pure
| fiction. The result is definite picture
vivid revelation of the daily life Of a
f, Journalist who loves his newspaper as
| he loves life itself: q man with o
passion for words as we'll as for people
man with sympathy and comprehen-
sion, humor and sense Of the under
! lying pathos of existence. a man with
| big forgiveness in his heart who is
! glad to be a part OF the pageant Of
| life.
! Peter Neale meets Maria Algare3. q
/ young foreign singer and dancer, while
i she is performing in vnudeville-not a
star, since she herself says "the eight
| Bandana sisters dress with me-" He
| falls in love with her--it is sudden
| infatuation, If you will, but none the
less convincing. They are married; and
/ it IS Maria Of the understanding heart
/ who tells Peter that what ne needs is
I son. She will give him one. And
she does. Then, because she was meant
| for the act of motherhood-and nothing
! else in the marriage RELATIONSHIP
abandons both Peter and the child, leav-
( ing a meager note behind her, which
/ tells of her flight to Paris. She must
express herself in terms of art-there
Is no other life for her. Curiously
enough, this Maria, though we see SO
little Of her in the early pages OF the
book, and though she is limned so
delicately stands out with distinctness
Ia esh-and blood creation. I could
wish that Mr.. Broun had told us more
! of the hero's life with her before the
wedding; yet am not sure that this
is necessary. Yet 1t would have en-
riched the volume to know, perhaps, q
little moro of the casual singer who
could airily desert her newborn son.
The real story begins with Maria's
disappearance; and never has the rela-
tionship between boy and his father
been SO searchingly revealed. There
is, OF course, on every page the gentle
humor of Mr.. Broun; but, better still,
there is sense of the hidden tragedy
/ of the lonely Peter. Heartbreak he
knows. but he goes on, like the Spartan
he ia, and all the little intimac;es of
nursing the child, finding the proper
help the adjustment Of his own busy
days to the fact of the boys presence
| in the h@me--tlis IL done will, sim
eerity and warmth Of feeling that brings
a lump to the throat of even this bach
eior reviewer The love that poor