The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-03-11

SNdSo "NkhAhk w ah fhASA NShh"h' Doubleday, Doran; $O,
 Tho author of Low Man on n Totem Pole" has produced another rib tickler in this review of his life as Q newspaperman Along with the heavy volumes on war and It's ravages, this gem hits you like Q ray of sunshine and doubles you up with laughter about every other page.
 It's seldom Q book rolls you in the aiSles like Olson and Johnson, or Abbott and Costello, but 10 vivid and humorous arc Smiths anecdotes and descriptions of people he has met that you find yourself laughing out loud.
 Particularly funny are Smiths ac- counts of his meetings with Leo Llndy, New York restaura;eur, who raves about big eaters; Jack Pfefer, wrestling impresarlo, who calls all grapplers either "A bom, A gorilla A at'lete": and Salvador Dali, the artist who once painted 0 night mare for Hollywood that turned out to bo 50 realistic that technicians employed to re2reate the sketch gave up in despair,
 Smith takes you back of the scenes with such figures as Fred Allen, Bing Crosby (you have to sec his va rious brothers firsD: H. l., Mencken Joseph Duminger, the SpirituallStlc seance debunker--well, it's just . three-ring circus!
 
 NOVELS-Bentce Kelly Harris, who has already written two re- markable novels about the contem- porary south, adds Sweet Beulah Land" Doubleday, Doran: $2,75) to the list of her literary achieve men 6, and with it establishes her. self in the top rank of contempo- rary American novelists. Mrs. liar ris has written in the past of the southern farmer and southern small town. Tn sweet Beulah Land" the two elements converge on one an- other as do the traditions of the old and new south. ReVerberations of the love affair between aristocra- tic Alicia Donrer and Lan, the itl- nerant laborer whom she fears to marry because of social hostility, are felt in the lives of everyone around them, and reveal many per- sonalities beside their own.
 Another and even more signi. cant facet of American life is bril- liantly handled by Ruth McKenny, whose novel Jake Home" (Harcourt Brace: $3) tells the story of a great labor leader. No book this year has presented such a dynamic charac- ter.
 Painted in broad, vivid strokes against the background of the Am erican labor movement. the figure of Jake Home stands out with di- mensional clarity. His saga covers the country and innumerable en- counters with many people. all of whom contribute to his development as an emotional and philosophical power. Not book for the tender minded, Jake Home forcefully, if with a certain bias, attacks a sub ject of which few current writers have the background or compulsior necessary for interpretation.
 HI ~ FChip Ntth more universal in its appeal, is "The Human Comedy" by the amazing William Saroyan (Harcourt Brace: $3) Earoyan tends to be a writer about whom people feel violently Ever since his first appearance on the literary scene his admirers have been battling with those to whom His work is nearly incomprehensible, That great war should be ended with the appearance of this story Of a little boy. his mother. sister. and soldier brother. Tenderly and sim ply told. The Human Comedy must Do placed high on the list of the sea. sons best books.
 FROM FURRIN' SHORES
 CHILE. by Erna Ferguson (Knopf: 93.50), is 6 kn0wledgeable study of one of the most interesting of the republics to the south. Full of anec- d0tes. conversational reporting and intimate portraits Of Chlleans in all walks of life. Mrs. Fergusson's book is 60 readable that its underlying serious excellence might almost be overlooked. 90 accustomed have we become to heavy-handed treatment Ia soelo-politieal studies.