Evening star., 1945-02-04
Among
the Authors
By Carolyn Coeeins.


Baron Joseph Van Der Elst is a
tall, enthusiastic gentleman who
was lucky enough to have an avoca-
ton which proved valuable when
his diplomatic career was over. His
last post-in Budapest, where he
represented Belgium-ended with his
coming to New York by way of Rus
sia, Manchukuo, Japan and Hawaii.
Not one to complain Of travelling the
long way round with his American
wife and their four children, who
have butter -colored hair, he settled
the family in New York and began
lecturing on art Enormously popu-
lar with audiences, he has a new
book about "The Last Flowering of
the Middle Ages" which is a beauty.
The story about the people and
painters of Flanders is told in the
same fireside manner he has when
speaking. according to Florence
Bergman, art critic, whose review
appeared in The Star January 81,
Baron Van der Elst has the knack
of vivid phrasing which results in
many quotable sentences and gives
his book marked reliability" Among
the more than 100 fine illustrations
which appear in the book, Miss
Bergman calls attention to two
which are treasures of the National
Gallery of Art: Gerard David's
Flight Into Egypt" and Van der
Weyden's Portrait of Lady," both
from the Mellon Collection) Be-
tween speaking tours he settles down
with the family in their apartment,
which was decorated by Dorothy
Draper.
There is an actress who the other
day turned down making a picture
because the tax-take would mean
1.-The work would only net me about
$4,000. Authors, the poor, hard
working things, seldom have such
complaints but this year things
have changed, with more writer's in
the big brackets than the world has
ever seen. Instead of 1000 or IS 600
copies of an authors book selling
when successful in peacetime I.
there are about 80 books in either
the quarter-m million or half million
sales class. A country which sud-
denly decided it wanted to learn
things, or be amused, or both, has
brought figures like these about
Edna Ferber's Great Son." out
a week ago. has almost reached the
half million already. So have
Samuel ShelIabarger's Captain
From CASTLE Gwethalyn
Graham's Earth and High Heaven"
. Eric Knights "Lassie Come
Home" MY Friend Flicka"
and "Thunderhead" by Mary O'Hara
.. Bob Hopes II Never Left Home.
. Marguerite Stems 31a -year-old
The Sun Is My Undoing," has
piled up record But a re-
ligious book written 40 years ago,
"Hurlbut's Story OF the Bible" tops
them all. Two million-yes, we
mean 1000, ,0O0-have sold to date
If we aren't careful the public
is going to be hterate, even though
not literary.
You may think pretty ELISA Landi
is an actress but she is stubborn
woman who considers six novels
sufficient to prove she is writer.
She wrote the last of the sixth which
will be out in March as "The Pear
Tree" while playing in Tomorrow
the World" in Chicago. Since she
was also anticipating the arrival of
her daughter Caroline at the time,
it complicated writing bit. Five
minutes at a time it took three
years to do the book. We asked
how many plays she has appeared in
and it seems she had asked herself
that question one night recently
Before she fell asleep she counted As.
4 Il **+
Ralph Gustafson, a fine tall dark
young man with the British War
Information, is the first Canadian
poet whose work has been published
in this country. It is Flight Into
Darkness" and the author has won
all kinds of medals and compn-
ments-the finest coming from a
soldiers who had read the AN
thology Of Canadian Poetry" which
Gustafson edited. The soldier wrote:
There is much in this war to change
a man &. and there is little time
to read things that will divert ones
mind from this present world
mental sulfanilimide you might call
1t. The beauty expressed in the
poems did much to help"