Evening star., 1937-09-04

"ow to Lose Friends and Alternate People, Hilarious Parody
Success Books by Irving Tressler, Is Dedicated
Adolf Hitler and Fills Crying Need.
By Mary.Carter Roberts.

ALLEVIATE PEOPLE. BY Irving
D. Tressler. New York: Stackpole
Sons
TT WAS to be expected, of course,
that some robust soul would
eventually see the wide-open door
4 marked Crying Need for a Par
ody" which has been standing before
the eyes of Americas reading public
ever since that nauseous variety of
printed work, the text book on sue
cess" became best seller And now,
thanks, be. such one does come for
ward. He in introduced to us under
the name of Irving D. Tressler, to
which are added the titles, Persona
Non Grata, President of the Irving D.
Tressler Institute of Human Relations
Up to a Certain Point and How to
Keep Them at That Point" His
other works, he tells us, have been
Readers Digest Very Little" and
How to Ride Over Hill and Dale"
In addition to this, his publishers
describe him as follows: For years
he has capitalized upon his amazing
genius for offending others Thou
sands have learned from him the Sc
cret of the Llmburger Personality and,
within the past few years, he has
trained more wet smacks than you
could shake a fist at. Most of the
traffic policemen and all of the bus
drivers in the United States have
been trained in antagonlzlng others
by this man. How to Lose Friends
and Alternate People is the direct re-
suit of Irving D. Tressler's unique
experiences in deliberately rubbing
people the wrong way 1t is the only
working manual which has ever been
written to help people dissolve their
human relationships. 1t is the only
book which is today offsetting the
20-year drive by American advertisers
to make every one in this country
popular with every one else"
Well welcome, DR.. Irving D. Tres
sler Welcome very much.
The book is very funny burlesque.
It not only ridiculeS the success text
of the type from which it has bor-
rowed its name, but also satirizes all
manner of sales talk which is aimed
at making the reader admired and
loved by some mechanical means. How
to achieve the winning personality,
the winning appearance, the convlnc-
ing air, the commanding front-all
these lures held out to the public in
the interest of some one with an arti-
Gle or a course to sell-all these come
under the dour DR.. Tressler's hammer
for some very hard knocks. Sam
piles of his advice are, Keep snarl
on your lips" ANY one can remem-
Der names: few of us have courage
to call them" and IF you can't bear
q person-bore him"
Even the manner in which the sue
eessful success text is dangled before
the public comes in for some delicate
sneers from DR.. Tressler. He an
nounces, for example, on the jacket
of his book, that this is the l,998th
edition and goes on. First impression,
June, 1887; second impression, June.
1887; third impression, not SO good"
And he dedicates his work to "A Man
Who Does Not Need to Read 1t:
Adolph Hitler" Furthermore, he has
an introduction in the hearty, let's
all-get-together manner which the in
PRODUCERS name would indicate-that
name being Thomas Lowell" From
beginning to end, he has hardly
missed trick
Clearly DR.. Tressler has had a lot
of fun doing what lot of US have
wanted to do for quite some months
The reception of this satire at the
hands of the American public de-
serves to be watched with interest.
THE RETURN OF KAI LUNG. BY
Ernest Bramah. New York: Sheri-
dan House.
THIS exquisite work has caused the
reviewer as much pleasure as any,
thing which she has read in long
tlme--oh, a very long time. It is one
more of the "Ka Lung" books, an
other in that admirable series which
already includes The Wallet of Kai
Lung and "Kai Lungs Golden
Hours If you are familiar with those
earlier works, you will understand. If
you are not familiar with them, the
problem of making you appreciate
their delicate favor is a serious one.
For they are highly original. They are
like themselves and very little like
8ny other thing, except as they have
that unnllStaka bic quality of accom-
pllshment which appertains to all
pieces OF fine writing.
The publisher describes Mr.. Bra
nah's achievement in these works as
! mellow blend OF Confucius and P.
8. WodehouSe," and perhaps that is
about as good an estimate as could
be found. The reviewer, to be sure.
was also put in mind of an old play,
The Yellow Jacket in which the
Coburns successfully toured the coun-
try in the days of her own childhood
The humor of the work is somewhat
the same-lt lies in contrasting the
eXqulsltely formal life of the old-time
Chinese aristocrat with the plain
comic facts of plain ay-by-day liv-
ing.
In particular, the Unapproachable
Dagnitary, the Mandarin T'sin Wong.
Is nefariously shorn of his pigtail as
he sleeps. A search is made, both for
the criminal and for the missing orna-
ment. Through mischance, the young
maid, HWa-che, is singled out as the
seer whose vision will restore the loss.
HVa-che has read, in her private
chamber, certain books of barbarian
lore IN which she found described the
methods used by the foreigner in de-
tectlng crlme-she apparently has had
q go at Sherlock Holmes, Philo Vance
and some of the more famous G-men.
She undertakes to find the pigtail and
is assisted in her labors by Chin-tung.
the mandarin's secretary. Hwa-che is
beautiful: Chin -tung is young and
handsome
The delight of the book. of course,
Is IN the perfect polish and propriety
OF Mr.. Bramah's prose, which is as
delicate and flavorful as a fine tea and
as flt to be savored leisurely. Dis
eliminating readers who have not