Evening star., 1938-09-18

ME more tne neWsstSnoS oA
1 the Nation are being glad
I dened by the quarterly splen-
~ dor Of Verve, that magazine
Of be-cultured-or-die recently tnau-
gurated by Esquire's Mister Smart.
Mister Smart u Of Chicago and late
Of the garment trade, but Verve II Of
Paris and OF Paris and of Paris. 1t is 20
much Of Paris, indeed, that 1t can only
be described n Chicago boys dream.
It is heavy with an awed. hushed
elegance, It Is handed to you. like an
orchid or . bomb. IN . well-chosen
box and its paper Is slicker than .
pomaded ganester's hair. 1t Is filled
with pictures Of scarlet and much fine
gold, of distractions and mot too
much) nudity. It has splendid white
margins, too. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS let
1t be forgotten-a text. But the title
is all wrong. to this reviewers way Of
thinking. There Is about As much
verve to 1t ~ to Vice President's
funeral. It Is like . lady from Chi
cago) dressed for court presentation
and afraid to move lest she fall over
her train.
But the reviewer will never say that
Verve Is without its Purpose Not At
all. Verve should FIJI A Place Verve
should. indeed. become . sort of Emily
Post for the nouveaux Of culture. In
the FIRST place, 1t costs $3.50. and
therefore must be quality" In the
second place. its contributors are
mainly Frenchmen. and therefore
must be sophisticated" And in the
third place, nobody can understand
what its articles are about, except that
they talk mistily Of art. therefore 1t
must be really artistic"
So much for verve The reviewer is
feeling a ground swell. And q very
strong one.
RUr OH 1t not time to write a
little about sophistication? The
word Is greatly in use, certainly. One
not only reads 1t often: one hears 1t,
too. One uses it-quite fearlessly,
naturally even. And 30 \ critic may
ask-what does 1t mean? The an
swer is . sophisticated one. 1t means
all things to all men and women. Let
us look reverently at . few OF these
interpretations.
Item: A lady Of fashion now in her
forties. belle in her debutante days.
married to q diplomat and visiting
in this country after many years in
the more brilliant capitals of Europe
This lady Is talking to the reviewer
and-very properly-talking about
books. For in what else could .
book reviewer be interested? The
lady. by her choice Of subject. Is DEM
onstrating her fine social training
or her tact, to put 1t brutally. She
says. Il don't like that writer. OF
course, I know that he is sophisticated
But that's just the trouble I think he
carries 1t too far. He's too sexy. Don't
you Think" So sophistication. to
. lady Of fashion. position and Euro
pean residence. means sex. Or "sexy,"
il you like "sexy" better.
Item: A former secretary of the
reviewers. back in the time when
the reviewer wrote ad copy, II you
please. Says this secretary, in breath
less enthusiasm. "Oh, Miss So-and- so
Is frightfully sophisticated. isn't she?
She enamels her hngernails dead
black" So sophistication can also
mean 4 certain state of the nails.
Item: A young man who wants to
write (books). The young man Is
discouraged by rejection slips. He
says to the attentively hearkening
reviewer: If 1 knew some foreign
languages I know my stun would sell.
That's what you need Something
to make your scripts sound sophisti-
Gated" So sophistication can mean
using foreign phrases.
And again item: An elderly man.
retired from business, sitting on the
porch Of an inn at 4 summer resort.
These young people are certainly
sophisticated" he declares. They
mix the fanciest kind of drinks. Now
never take anything but q little
straight. That's the way We did it
in my day But then-we weren't 70