Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-11-21
BOOKS IN
REVIEW
BY Benjamin eC,assstes

! By Benjamin DeCasssfes
LIE HAS preceded kings. en-
IL perors and presidents, dukes
and duchesses, princes and prin-
cesses to dinner. Oscar Of the
Waldorf, of born In
Switzerland in 1866. He has pre-
sided over the Waldorf-Astoria,
which is the Parnassus Of High
brow Bohemia, for more than so
years. Here, then, is Oscar In a
book-"Oscar of the Waldorf"
by Karl Schiftgiesser (Dutton),
with a foreword by Oscar HIM
self and an introduction by
Frank Crowninshield. Like a
Colossus of Rhodes. Oscar be-
strides the world at Park ave-
nue. and 50th street, for he says:
81 have had the advantage Of
sta n ing at an international
crossroad where men from all
lands came to exchange goods
and ideas and plan world
changes which I have later seen
come to pass"
And this is a nostalgia scena-
rio by that famous wit, racon-
teur and Judge of rare brandies,
Frank Crowninshield:
when the old Waldorf was
enjoying its greatest prestige
few men had fortunes Of moro
than a million dollars. Worth
was the only French dressmalxer
one seemed TO hear about.
Champagne - even the famous
Incompatible vintage OF 1884
sold for $50 n case. That happy
era, so full Of beauty and color,
even of substance and dignity, n
no more. IL has vanished along
with the Chopin waltzes, the
satin dresses with long trains
and the gathering paradcs of
four-in-hands."
The book - which contains
some errors-is the life Of Oscar
and the old Waldorf joyful
escape" from the war into the
Land OF the High Hat and the
Hanson Cab.
A YOUNG fellow down In old
IA Athens, about $500 years
ago, asked Socrates whether he
(the young fellow should re-
main single or get married. Old
Soc, who had rust missed by q
rabbits whisker q black eye at
the hands of his wife, xantippe,
replied in his full-throated wis
dom:
kid. whichever you do you'll
regret"
Sam Braden, the central char
acter in Martin Flavin's Jour
ney in the Dark" (Harper). gets
about everything In life that an
average American wants. Sam
rounded up millions, but his life
WAS empty Why. Welt, MIR
Flavin doesn't say so, but Sam
was just business man. and
when a man In that and nothing
more his face after S. or there
about will look like an empty
Egyptian tomb--no soul, not
even q dead one, inside.
Sam Braden also wanted TO
belong 10 the social world in
which the Wyatts moved so
easily. and in time he did. Most
of all, he wanted Eileen Wyatt.
and this, too, he achieved. but
only after a fashion. To explain
this average man who had
wanted success above every
thing. who achieved an envisble
degree OF IL and yet who never
escaped from the prison OF his
loneliness, Martin Flavin takes
the reader back 10 the demo-
cratic world that existed along
the Mississippi in the eighties,
TO the influence which shaped
the boy and fixed the pattern
of the man. Most important,
perhaps, were the Wyatts---
Eileen and her cousin NELL.
Everything Sam ever hoped for.
everything he later became,
bore directly upon his child
hood relationship with them.
was measured by the standards
they fixed. And yet 10 him life
was a flop"
It's a fine book. a Harpers
prize novel for 1894.
I IBERIA. in West Africa, is .
IL kind OF American protecto-
rate. at is a Negro republic.
ard every once in a while it
gets written up. Top Hats and
Tom Toms" by Elizabeth Dear
min Furbay (Ziff-Davis Coz.
which will appear tomorrow, is
the most thorough study of
Liberia. its institutions and its
people I've read.
Although nearly a century
has elapsed since Liberia
reached nationhood, descend
ants of the early settlers,