Imperial Valley press., 1944-12-01
NUBBlNS
BY
BURRIS JENKINS

Book we hinted at yesterday is that
of Joe f. Brown. called Your Kids
and Mine" published by Doubleday
Doran. Just little book. You car
read il i'm couple of hours or so;
nut YOU can't read il out loud tC
your wife or your sweetheart or your
children. You'll just br, ak down
more emotion packed into the little
compass of that book than you'll
find floating round anywhere else
that we know of. To begin with
Joe f.. Brown lost his oldest SON
Captain Don Brown, in the flying
s-rvice; and everywhere that Joe f.
went he tried TO make the boys
Husband he went everywhere
they knew about Captain Don.
There is no pr tention about Joe
f. Brown. He is a comedian, a clown,
brought up on the edge of the circus
and. according to himself, with
nothing to thank for his fortune
exc Mt his ugly face, his wide mouth
and his spirit of fun making. The
theme of the whole book is "The
value of laugh
Az for the authorship of "Nub-
bin." the name is appropriately writ
ten as Jenkins. You know, in the
British Isl 6. the word jenkins IS
SYNONYMOUS with the word reporter.
Thus when YOU say, There was
jenkins out at my house today you
simply mean there was a newspaper
man there. Hard TO say VIII nher the
Jenkinses. who, of course, originally
were all Welsh, have any particular
superabundant flow of words, ike
their superabundant flow OF song,
or not. Not all the Welsh ar orators
like Lloyd George and not all OF
them are first-water tenors, nut
most of them can make speech or
sing a song. ...- .... $500 .-.-#-.-.,',r
Not long since the writ OF this
paragraph got post card from
some man i'm neighbOring state
siened with the name jenkins ana
saying, amongst other things, DID
YOU know you are Welsh? All Jen-
kinses are. Thy are lOng-lived, 100.
I have an old grandmother in Wales
a hundred and three and going
strong. ..
And did you know that Marshal
Timoshenko of Russia is really n
Welshman?" -
That certainly is a new one on
this writer. T mOshenkO is the Off
Ger who commanded the defense OF
Moscow, turned back the Germans
and fought for months and y'ar
or two before other generals arose
to rival his fame. His pictures
showed him square built and heavy
with a -shaven. gOod-humored
smiling face. Anybody would be
glad to claim kin with him. Then
tn correspondent continued, yes,
sir. he is Welshman and his real
name is Timot by jenkins. 1t
wouldn't be anything surprising II
he happened to be a cousin OF yours,
or mine."
Joe E. Brown takes sideswipe at
Raymond Gram Swing and his mo-
j lass s candy voice, or treacle voice,
a little swipe that might be taken as
ill-humored or prejudice. Probably
not. because all the great humorists
have been too kindly and gentt,
ever to hurt anybody. To be sure,
some have been very biting, like
Dean Swift, but most ar more like
+ Mark Twain, too kind to wound.
! Raymond Gram Swing had to pay
a big price for that voice. Like
/ Demosthenes and Phillips Brooks
he had none to begin with. Under
careful instruction and with tireless
toll through months and years ho
ACQUIRED that voice. 1t may SOUND a
little artificially sweet to some ears
but to most of US it is pleasing none
theless. Perhaps Joe E. Brown didn't
know thes, facts or had forgotten
them. When great aggregations OF
listeners, clubs, the united listeners
to many stations and many radio
companies have cast their vote sc
consistent for Mr.. Swing as theil
favorite commentator, his voice
must at least be pleasing to man!
millions. One is just forced to beiieV'
that Joe E. Brown went over thi'
matter in a hurry or without think
ing car fully of the grave response
bility anyone incurs who puts any
thing into Geld, hard type.