The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-24
IRWIN $. COBB DEFINES MYTHICAL e JEST LIST
 FOR HIS WEEK END PARTY

Irish American who was, ever intro- duced to the American reading public. Up to the time Peter Dunne discovered him all our fiction Irishmen were Irish- men just out of Ireland-not men whose views were affected by the tran sition to America. r
 Tristan Shandy belongs on my list because he is the first English fiction type to make vulgarity attractive in- stead of just merely vulgar as had been the case of those who preceded him.
 Ma Pettingil really should head the list because she is one of the few femi- nine characters in modern fiction who has humor, philosophy and sweetness. She is not what 50 many witty women are-cruel. You can get better pic ture of the far western COW town of today from her than from a whole shelf full of these deadly, fabulous two gun men, impossible cowboys and man killers,
 Robinson Crusoe Must Explain
 Becky Sharpwell, ill spite of her manifold temperniental defects, Thack- cray made her attractive. She was p)ucky and shrewd and she fought a game fight all her life against over- wkelming odds. I think with her sharp tongue and fascinating selfishness, She would make a rather interesting mem- Der of the party.
 Corporal Mulvaney could debate the issues of the day with Mir. Dooley. And Eencho Panza is a good guest because while Don Quixote is often tiresome Sancho never is.
 Old Cap Collier is on my list because he was one of my first heroes, of my earliest experiences as q reader. And he was all the more attractive beca use the reading was done by stealth and was padded every time I was caught. I want him, too. because he was the grand-daddy of all the vast school of story book detectives that have followed in his foot steps.
 My main reason for inviting Robin son Crusoe were two in number. First. he was one of the idols of my boyhood. scarcely remember the time when I didn't have a sincere affection for him, Second, I've always wanted to find out from him what Defoe failed to explain. And that was the curious climatic con. dltion of that desert island where he was cast away which permitted him to be perfectly comfortable when wearing two-piece suit of heaviest goatskin while Man Friday was equally happy with nothing on but bangle bracelet and birthmark.
 Uncle Remus To Wait On Table
 Bottom the Weaver is eligible be- cause he is the only truly humorous character that Shakespeare ever pro- duced. All the rest of them are clowns and puppets and mentally defective persons. Shakespeare seemed to spe- cialize in cheerful lunatics but Bottom was q real humorist-except when his vanity made him a real actor.
 As southerner I'd want Uncle Re- mus. Naturally we might not want him as a guest since we still draw the color line in some respects. But at least he could wait on the table. He'd give real American tone to the pro- ceedings by reason of the fact that he is an authentic, black-skinned American and so utterly different from the aver age popular conception today of what a real negro is.
 I'm awfully sorry the list is confined to twelve because I wonld like to in- clude Cyrano de Bergerac and DAT tagnan and Robin Hood and that semi fabulous, semi-fiction character, Francois Villon, and Long John Silver. And I'm not so sure but what. I'd invite Mary Roberts Rinehart's "Tish,", too. Tish should make awfuily good company.