Evening star., 1923-04-24
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
MUMBO JUMBO. Henry Clews, jr
Boni & Liveright.

oohi * AifCTiBut.
Mumbo Jumbo is the god of hum
bug. Humbug is the essence of de-
mOcracy. This. at any rate. is the
way Henry Clews. jr.. has figured 1t
out. 1t is upon such calculations
that he has built "Mumbo Jumbo"
comedy Of universal humbuggery.
Not one play. however. nor even
dozen of them, could contain the
feelings and opinions of Mr.. Clews
on the subject Of modern democratic
decadence. Therefore, to meet a
very real need for means of adequate
expression he has adopted the Shavian
literary device of the long preface.
Here he has given himself room to
spread his theme out to it's full ex-
tent. Here he finds himself able to
shake it and beat and bedevil it gen.
orally, without hfndrance, in behalf
of personal easement and public ad-
monition.
The play itself is fantastic affair
that centers. finally, in the inmates
and activities of a. sanatorium-
replica in miniature, one takes it. OF
this modern madhouse Of world.
The gates of this institution are for
ever on the hinge to admit another,
and another. ard another-each land
ed on the offside Of sanity through
the delusions and hypocrisies and
rivalries and disappointments OF a
state founded on the affirmation that
Nd
are fashions in lunacy, 1t appears, as
well as in all other human interests.
No longer does Buddha refiesh him
self in these possessed people. nor
Confucius, nor Mahomet, nor Jesus;
no longer Alexander, nor Caesar. nor
Napoleon-leaderS all. Instead, the
prepossessions of this place are those
Of notorious communists. pacitsts.
anarchists, bolshevists. The entrants
here come happy in the belief that
they are Charlie Chaplins and Mary
Pickfods. Carpenters and Demp-
seys. messy futurist painters and
messier free versifers. occultists,
feminists. If the book had held off
A week longer we should have seen.
without a doubt, marathon dancers
shutting and shimmying through the
gates OF this retreat for the moron
and the half-baked generally.
Again. after the fashion of Shaw
and somewhat in the manner of the
old play, characters here are intro
duced in elaborate consideration. For
instance. John Rrown-later known
as Mervyn." Tall. slender, his hair
long and straight. in the way of
young artists. He has the slow,
vague movements of the somna ambu-
list. With long. slender hands and
feet. small mouth and ears. diminu-
tive teeth and scanty beard. he has
all the characteristics of n declining
aristocracY of the past-for the eff
fete. newspapered, so-called aristoc-
racy of today is so intermarried with
millionaire butcher. grocer, pork
packer and Jew that it has become
degenerate. not from overrefinement.
but rather from overcrassness. and
more often than not outporks pork
packer in hog -wallowing vuIgarity."
"Mervyn is art. weakened, corrupted.
diseased. degenerated and driven mad
by democracy. science and power ma
chinery. which have turned the studio
into publicity Bureau" and so on and so
on. The presentation of the characters
you see. not only presents them, but
ii at the same time restates the au-
InOr Cneme OF mOuGTn democratic
degeneracy, and. again, it provides
something of vent for his own sur
charged feelings of resentment and
rebellion. Interesting and illuminat-
ing. this procession of the personages
of the drama One laughs over the
antics of these actors. They are mad
as March hares. all of them. as mad
as fluent and offended author can
make them. Savagely he parades
them in their Stiffness and vulgarities
-.
not at the wit. for it is hardly wit
rather. a broad-footed. square-step-
ping humor. with a sharp pebble in
it's boot. If one. however. feels dis
posed to contend that this is wit. he
must admit that it works through
blows. not by thrusts-the meat-ax
rather than the rapier.
n X y <
One wonders how Henry Clews.
jr.. got that way. Right here the
long preface comes forward in ex-
planation. It turns out from this
that Mr.. Clews is both an individual
fst and an aristocrat. Now his brand
Of individualism is not that defined
and advocated in Herbert Hoover's
american Individualism." This. you
recall. is friendly and encouraging
ative of every man under a thousand
rights conferred bv nor republiran
form of government. The kind that
Mr.. ,Clews indorsas is of Euronean
s-ripe. monarchical and political.
orders are capable of preserving and
nerpetuating the fine flower of civil
lization. The business of the MANY
of YOU and me-is to look after the
huge bulk of necessities REQUIRED not
spirits above US who. seeing visions
and dreaming dreams. must be pro-
tected by us in security and leisure.
while they embody these dreams in
pure art. and set for us meanwhile
an unattainah1e ideal in the fine art
of living. The people are not un to
this big motive and movement. They
cannot deliver the goods. And no
more mischievous thing has been
done. so far than holding out to them
bright promises and providing a large
leisure for their inevitable failures
This equality business has befuddled
the common people into vain imaein-
ines. pretentious gestures. meretr-
cious achievement. This is respon-
sihle for the present mania Of cult
and ism-this leisure and this lie
about equality. Just added brains
artifcfally stimulated to eccentric and
meaningless motions. like the ierk-
ings Of dead frogs 1eEs-endlessly
harmful. though. these antics Of the
common people
The arch enemy Of true civilization
is that man Watt who discovered the
pestiferous power Of steam to make
machinery go. thereby Iiberating to
idleness or chosen pursuits millions
of hands. hitherto held to the soil.
All the takers In this overpopulated
world Of takers go back to the leisure
that Watt created for them. with it's
false hopes and it's Indifferent work
along strange lines. Bound, vet. to
he the worlds undoing. this. In the
see who some of these agents of
destruction are:-scientinc hooligans.