Evening star., 1939-01-01
Pictorial News Engrossed
Periodicals Last Year
Short Stories Reached New Low
And Cameras Were Not
Always Candid

IIlcIC WILL DC NOtlCc OF some recent
event, such as, for example, the max.
ing OF a statistical survey OF the
births Of children to chorus girls.
News indeed. The picture may
truly be superior to the word In
carrying an impression, but all the
more reason is there for its use to
be carefully watched.
1t is not the reviewers purpose to
expatiate on the evils which these
disgusting sheets may-and do
spread. She mentions their appear
ance on the public newsstands SIM
ply as one of the foremost develop
ments Of the past year in magazine
publication.
X II
1t may also be said that the sup
posedly news" pictorials are not the
only offenders in the use of the
picture. In other magazines one
finds the photograph employed to
give an allegedly impartial presen-
tation Of real news events, but ac-
tually as slanted as. it is said, are
stories in the Daily Worker. 1t
could be pointed out here that,
while the camera conveys a scene
more vividly than can print, 1t also
conveys 1t more limitedly. We have
heard so much about the imparti-
ality of the machine itself that We
are apt to forget the procession Of
human hands through which the
machines fruit passes Yet, as far
as the reviewer knows, there is no
more reason to believe that the
picture departments of magazines
are uninfuenced oy policy than
there is to think the same thing of
editorials.
Indeed it would seem that the
development of the news picture has
only given strength to the possibili-
ties OF editorializing. Recent arti-
cles, for example, have commented
on the tremendously partial report
ing OF European news done by q
number of American correspondents,
men whose job it is to present news
fairly and dispassionately. Nothing
was said in these pieces of unfair
pictorial news presentation. Yet the
reviewer remembers at least one ter
rlbly frank confession; it was made
by correspondent who covered the
Ethiopian war and was published,
if memory serves, in Harper's Maga-
zine.
This man described the posing OF
war scenes" by photographers miles
from the front, in the then peaceful
city of Adds Ababa Servants in
the hotel where the correspondents
were living, he said, obligingly al
lowed themselves to be bandaged
and bloodied, the blood being shoe
blacklng, and thus tricked out they
were photographed in dramatic at
| tltudes AS front-line casualties. If
such a thing can be done once it
can be done again. and even if such
extremes of deceit are not used,
there is much opportunity for selec-
ton in picture presentation.
Again the reviewer would say that
she is not concerned to expiate over
effects. She would only piont out
that since the picture is becoming
the great instrument of news pres
entation, observers may we'll view
1t with at least the same reserva-
tions which they bring to perusal OF
print. The candor of the camera Ia
after all really no greater than the
candor of the publisher who edits
the pictures.
Coming to the decline Of fiction in
our magazines, the reviewer feels a
sorrowful reluctance to comment
She has already done so many
times! But surely it is a significant
thlng that, as the editorial passion
Tor practical articles grows, all other
magazine material declines, alike In
quantity and quality. Recently the
american Mercury carried a state
ment that 1t was using little fiction
because it could find little that was
worth publication. But the Mercury
is not alone in this plight, if one
is to judge by the stories commonly
used IN the better monthlies.
There seems to be no doubt about
lt-the art OF the short story is for
the time being in eclipse. One finds
1t unbearably stereotyped every
where. 1t has lost its life. it has
become conventionalized. There are
story writers a-plenty who can turn
out neat work-yes. But their work
oeglns and ends in their own heads.
IL mas nothing to do with the mag
innocent mystery of being alive. 1t is
Just cunning commercial trickery.
Crltlcs have lately poured out
a great volume of praise over the
work of John Steinbeck. for ex-
ample. 1t is said that his stories
are the masterpieces of recent
years, Well, you are invited to ex-
anime closely the recent collection
OF Mr.. Steinbeck's work which
came out under the title The Long
valley. Except for the long tale
called The Red Pony" the re-
viewer found nothing in the volume
which showed first-hand obser-
Vatlon or experience of life.
Jesse Stuart is another bad dis
appointment in fiction writing,
mentionable here because his name,
like Mr.. Steinbecks. appears al
most monthly in the magazine
and sometimes oftener. The young
kentuckian began very well. He
used to write with honesty. But
lately he has sold his virtue. He
writes lamentable STACEY tripe in
the worst John Fox jr. tradition.
Certain it is, at an, rate, that the
editors must bear their RESPONSE
bihty too. There is very little evi-
dence that they know q good story
from a poor one, for no fiction
publishing periodical has any con-
sistent level of goodness. In the
same issue one may find the ex-
tremes OF badness and goodness
such as they currently are. The
claim has often been made, to be
sure, that magazines buy names
instead of Uork opd thew 4. 49,.