Evening star., 1947-12-21

given him a nice bit about Varina
Powell Davis, the heroine of his new
novel, presidents Wife
Along with his jolly disdain for
authors who prefer the ivory tower
to the one-night stand, Mr.. Kane
has little patience with precision
ists' and people who talk out book
instead of writing it down. He has
produced one a year since
Louisiana Hayride" came out in
l94l, and credits his II years as a
reporter on the New Orleans Item
with teaching him to spit it out. "
He's proud of never missing a pub
lishers deadline, even though he
suspects it is pushed up little to
accommodate other writer's who
haven't had the benefit of city room
training.
A Washington Hostess.
Gathering red-hot data on Huey
Long, whom he baited early ana
often in pieces in the Item that
we're later incorporated and ex-
panded In Louisiana Hayride," Mr..
Kane developed healthy respect
for accuracy. He's tireless checker
Of facts who keeps a deskful of
background material on each book.
Early next year he'll return to
Washington to track down further
information about Jefferson Davis
second wife, at the Library of Con-
gress. She had her stormy day as
a Washington hostess when her
husband served as Secretary Of War
in Plerce's cabinet.
Probably the most popular con-
temporary interpreter of the South
(where he is given reams of pub
licity in the papers, to the North
(where they buy his books, Mr..
Kane doesn't consider Washington
a typical Southern city. AS we
walked up F street to Brentano's,
he spoke of his allergy to the
moonlight and magnolias' school
of Southern writing and his convic-
ton that the great Southern legends
should be written straight" A lot
of people evidently agree. AS he
turned in the door, you could see
that he was flexing his autograph
ing fingers experimentally.
X
It's, all new to Andrew Tully,
who's enjoying his first fling at
authorship as much as-well, say, as
much as debutante in her first
season in the sumptuous turn-of-
the-century New York society which
he describes so entertainingly in
Era of Elegance"
Having been in the newspaper
business since he was the worlds
youngest publisher (of the South
bridge, Mass, Press Weekly at %,
he still hasn't gotten used to being
on the other end of an interview,
and starts at the sight of his name
in print other than byline. AS
for going into a bookstore and
seeing his book and maybe even
some day shelling out for a copy,
"it's terrific" he says.
In Washington recently to see old
newspaper cronies and the Army
friends he made in Europe as a war
correspondent for the Boston
Traveller, Mr.. Tully, a very merry
Andrew, said he was not at all
abashed that certain critics had
taken him to task for failing to point
out the social significance of the
plushy capitalists and their sump-
tuous entertainments.
Unblushing Millionaires.
"The thing that struck me about
them,' he said, was that they spent
so much money and went to such
trouble to have a good time. After
all, I come from New England where
people take pleasure in depriving
themselves of pleasure.
An erstwhile feature writer for
the New York World Telegram, who
has retired from active newspaper
work to write biography of the
founder of the American Optical Co.,
Mr.. Tully has become intrigued with
the unplushing millionaire, who,
he thinks, is dying out as type and
much more apt to turn up as a can
O1OdGC O1l lklc oOCldllcO GlChCG Uilhll
as host at a $4,000 ball such as the
one William Collins Whitney gave
in 1900 to launch his niece in society.
OF all the party-givers he studied
for ERA of Elegance, Name Fish
MRS. Stuyvesant in the Social Regis
teri interested him the most. He
didn't exactly. come to love her, but
he thought this mistress of a mil
lion dollar ducal New York palace
(she admitted 1T was uncomfortable
for any one without breeding') put
up the best, if losing, fight against
boredom in that gilt-edged group.
After he has completed his present
book, which is being hammered out
on a strict eight-hour daily schedule
at home, Mr.. Tully would like to 60
to Europe and cover international
affairs. "like a police beat" Big OBJ
stacle is difficulty of convincing Mrs.
Tully that the four little Tullys
would flourish as f1ourishingly in
Geneva as they do in Dobbs Ferry.