Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-05
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

etc. New York: Doubleday, Page
and Co.
" ENTERTAINING? To be sure
Mr.. Harrington, story teller
is an engaging and popular
IL man. Convincing? Not a bill
- in the world. That is. not con
vincing as an approach, even toward
actually. in the person Of Earl Tinker
z"plutocrat."
Granted that nobody. is "all of a
piece" Admitted that everybody in
feelings and behavior is a ragbag OF
odds and ends-bunches of folly, bits
of wisdom, knotty threads of con-
duct. all woven into a hit -or-miss pat
tern of the 6x3 fabric of individual
existence-so much yielded, even yet
the figure of the plutocrat stands well
outside the bars of believability. And
what is true of Tinker is, in the main,
true of the others gathered here for
the business of this story. Each Is
so exaggerated as to suggest deliber-
ate caricature and comedy. Or. as
If the author were teacher of a class
of primary billiards whose only
medium of instruction were ham,
mering emphasis and the waving of
noisy banners.
Shipboard comedy, save for that
coast strip of Northern Africa which
of late years has come into the active
accounting of the tourist. A dra-
matte curtain shift, in this case. to
ease the. monotony of days at sea.
The actors in the play divide,
roughly, into Americans and Madame
Momoro with her son. Hyacinthe.
The Americans are q boisterous lot.
Earl Tinker in the lead. Boisterous.
except for the super sophisticate trio
of Young men. artists of some sort,
who prove useful in many minor
ways. The drama itself unfolds
along the thread of subtle highway
manship. AS a matter of fact, the
plutocrat just stands around waiting
to be robbed, or so it appears. 1t SIM
ply couldn't happen.
But-turn the matter into double
faced invention. like the allegory or
parable, and there you are! me
plutocrat becomes Mr.. u. S. A. The
lovely and waywise lady, Madame
Momoro becomes-suppose you your
self. take a chance at naming her.
This preliminary gesture accom-
plished. 1.-THE Plutocrat" becomes
most amusing comedy whose inner
substance is rather more than the
wild exuberance of a handtul OF
rich Americans, or the superb nnesse
of a greedy woman. more even imam
the mild romance that rounds up the
matter for the satisfaction OF the
many readers who simply must nave
a love story to make them at all
content with any reading experience:
This gesture made. THE Plutocrat
becomes as convincing as it is divert
ing with Mr.. Harrington doing turn,
international In significance, under
the smiling inspiration. of happy old
Comus himsefs 49,
= -
YOUNG MEN IN LOVE. BY Michael
Arlen, author OF ''The Green Hat"
etc. New York: George II: Doran
Co.
A T the outset here one expects to
<Afollow an Arlenesque trail-a suave
and world-wise way-through the
high emotions and mad behaylors OF
young males in the Elusive pursuit OF
love. The expectation falls away
promptly and Finally sJnstead, here Is
a demonstration scientific in concrete
case and irreeutable evidence, that
every man in love is a young man.
He may be so years old, or 80. 100 pos
sibly. Nevertheless, I'm love, he is. TO
his own eve. lusty with youth, gallant,
heroic, conQue~ing, desirable The
familiar miracle is wrought-fer 1t Is
true miracle-through the swift part.
nership of two fundamentals IN every
human being, vanity and imagination.
BY a cuspocus, clearly celestial IN
origin, these two take possession OF
the old one, projecting him to his
own eyes as In the very depths OF his
soul he believes himself to be. To the
rest of the world he 10 q pitiful buf-
foon Of absurdity, yet he should not
be- for no one, man or woman, gwen
occasion, escapes the domination Of
these two master essences OF human
ity.
But this 10 Michael Arlen's story
For its projection he makes use of
group Of aging men-prosperous and
prominent Londoners. A couple OF
really young men hover around for
the ultimate utility of matrimony,
minor consideration here, except that,
this being a novel, no other acceptable
way of disposing Of the two negligible
young women presents itself. The
real purpose of these two women is
served through their agency as acid
test and solvent to the old ones. ex-
posing each of them as youth en-
bodied. The novel is hardly story,
as stories begin and run along and
end. Rather is it numberless views,
incidents, Examinations Of the central
theme. Rather is it, also. a store Of
wisdom. Somewhere here Arlen
speaks of a Jewish character being
more Of a Jew than Moses. Arlen
himself Is often here more Of wise
man than Solomon. Not smart wis.
dom. not snowy gestures toward
knowledge but simple, profound,
true wisdom. He mentions making
one worth his unhappiness," which
all in itself would give good value to
any book. "She could not know that
it is only on childlike minds that
knowledge descends, for what is 1t
that comes to the sophisticated but
vanity and issue thence but wind?"
And so on, and so on, from every page
a serious and penetrating thought
looks upon the people OF his making
in swift Examinations that reach out
to people of like sieuation everywhere.
When Arlen is pronounced Clever"
Sophisticated" cynical" it is as
sumed that obligation toward him
ceases. But Michael Arlen is so much
more than clever, so much bigger than
the pose generally assigned him, so
much deeper than many of his sur.
face manifestations, that he is well
worth reading twice. ANY of his,
books will stand up sturdily under a
second consideration-andt that is say.
ing a good deal about current writing.
In this particular instance he has
worked out in SURPRISING ingenuity a
theme that is both familiar in example
and quite profound in essence.
X X X
PHEASANT JUNGLES. BY William
Beebe, author of Tropical Wild
Life, etc. Illustrated. New York:
G. p. Putnam's Sons.
WILLIAM BEEBE'S books, one and
" all, add substantial proof to the
fact that nowadays a man may be
distinguished scientist, hardy adven-
turer, prime story-teller-the three in
one. 1t appears that off on the other
side of the World-Ceylon. Burma.