Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1940-12-28
Route 49,
A Swell New
Greene Novel
Newsmon's Book Depicts
Jersey Farm Life
BY DAMON RUNYON


certainly most deceptive. Ernie
Hemingway looks like a long,
shoreman dressed up. Bud Kel-
land suggests a veteran hustler
around the race tracks.
Somerset Vaughan could be
the manager of a gents furnish
ing establishment. And we see
Ward Greene as quite homelike
passing the collection box
through a Baptist congregation.
Greene is the greatest throw
off of them all. Never in this
world would we peg him as
hanger-outer in Jersey wayside
inns, such as he writes about in
his latest novel, Route 2S."
published by Doubleday, Doran
& Co. But we must say we can
not reconcile the in t i m a c
knowledge he displays of those
places with any idea that it may
be based on hearsay.
Not any more than we could
accept the clear insight of the
old time parlors that he indi-
Gated in his Cora Potts as
natural instinct for absorbing
the testimony of others. In
short, we think that Greene
writes as an eyewitness. He
must have been present. From
now on we must view all soft
spoken, mild-mannered, minis
terial looking writer's with
suspicion.
"RoUTE rs" is swell story
~ and adds to Ward Greene's
rapidly easing stature
among the novelists of the
United States. 1t is his fifth.
just before Route 2S' was
Death in the Deep South,
which was the sensation of its
time and was the basis OF one
of the most exciting moving pic
lures ever made. There was
also Cora Potts" to Startle the
reading public and to fascinate
Henry l.. Mencken. who thought
Cora one of the greatest char
acters in American fiction.
Green also wrote Ride the
Nightmare and Weep No
More" and then he got himself
a farm over in New Jersey and
proceeded to acquire the mate
rial for Route 2S," which may
be his best. 1t represents a dis
tinct change in locale for the
author who had been writing
mainly of his homeland below
the Mason and Dixon line, and
a lot of us newspaper fellows
who infested Hunterdon County.
New Jersey. during the Haupt-
mann trial at Pennington have
right TO feel sore because we
did not think of the background
first.
MOST of US were familiar with
A'I the type of tavern like the
valley inn which figures. though
only incidentally, in GreeneS
tale as that is where we used 10
spend our time between court
sessions. But only about one in a
thousand newspapermen pos
sesses the energy required to
write a novel in his off-hours,
so the ground lay fallow until
the one in a thousand. in this
case, Ward Greene, came along
to discover some amazing char
acterS. Greene's strength is
character depletion, but he can
also make story move at high
speed
This is a story of a curious
American Scene-of the buyers
and sellers of the Jersey farms.
of the little towns. of contrasts
of society. packed around
drama with an astonishing eli
max. The language is real. an
other strong point in all of
Greene's writing. He makes peo-
pie talk like people. The story
will make a great movie. with
types and background new TO
the screen.
WARD GREENE has been a
w newSpaperman most of his
life. He. writes his novels after
his regular office hours. which
makes him one of the marvels of
his profession. He was born in
ASheville \. C.. but grew UP in
Atlanta. He went TO the Uni
Nerslty of the South at Sewanee.
Tenn. and started in the news
paper game as a reporter on the
Atlanta Journal. He was with
that paper for 10 years.
Then he came to New York
and worked for the Herald Trib-
une about a year. when the At
lanta Journal induced him to q
TO Paris as correspondent. When
he returned to this country he
joined the King Features Syndi-
cate as special writer and now
he is one of the executives of
the organization. and sits back
of big desk. looking most
severe and dispensing a pro-
nounced Southern accent.
The severity is just another
Fl.Faltar .xTT l. =. l..