The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1953-07-28
KY Books
'hy A. de Z. Cingras

IlSATURDAY EVENING POS
lSTORIES, lss2. Collection Of shor'
Ist0ries, published By Random
House, lSI Madison Ave, New
York City, so pages.l
Here Is ! collection II happ,
ending stories usually associated
with the American slick magazines
In her literary salad days. TIL.
reviewer objected to happy ending
stories on the basis that they were
false. The wisdom which is uncon
isciously absorbed by additional
years Of living has changed this
attitude considerably.
Actually happy ending stories are
as close to reality as the ones which
close on melancholy note. Life Is
happy or sorrowful depending on
where You slice II. If the charact.
Iers in these stories should be car.
lried on for another month Of exist.
Ience, NJ. Armand BonnevaI, the
chef hero Of Paul Gallicu's s'The
Secret Ingredient" might slip On a
frisking kitten in his own kitchen,
while he prepares his poplard sur.
prise trieze minets, and be crippled
for life. The very next day after
Kay Boyle's selfish lady leaves
Capt. Williams office, the baby
Murphy may get a cold which viii
become . case of pneumonia i'm
pervious to sulfa drugs.
Neatly plotted, the stories are in
some cases contrived with mastery
craftsmanship.
Some are very clever, as the
|sardonieally humorous first story
in the book ''Six Months to Live
|by Robert Standish. It tells about
IAN old man outwitting the inherit
ance tax collectors. Popular sub
lject matter today, the story must
have sold q lot Of copies for the
Post.
The sentimentality Of others Is
almost unrelieved. In Conrad Rich
tiers story. 1.-THE Marriage That
Couldn't Succeed. the blind lady,
the pigeons and the wounded sold.
tier are q little too much for the
more critical readers sense of the
real. The concluding story in the
book, Harry T. Madden's novelette,,
mot What She Pretended is Of
the same saccharine variety.
(THE SPEAKERS TREASURY
OF STORIES FOR ALL COCA
SIONS by Herbert v. Prochnow,
published by Prentice Hall 20
Fifth Avenue New York City 344
pages.
A lot of after dinner speakers
and radio and television emcees
might do wen to have this book on
their library shelves.
WIN an average Of four Jokes,
stories Or quotations to . page, the
|conlents Of the volume might well
substitute for . LOT Of the corn
which Is being dished out verbally
|on al fronts. And at the same
time 1t VIII probably add some
thing to the corn, because the Sc
lections are of varying merit.
After an introduction Of twenty
basic rules for telling stories, sug-
|gestions on how to adapt stories,
and the nature and psychology Of
humor, Mr.. ProchnOw begins his
jokes and stories on page twelve.
He Classics them beginning under
ability and ending 1900 stories
later on page 32S with zeal" And
Immediately following Is an index,
so that the speaker can quickly find
. short yarn on cows, or q joke
about pessimists.
Some Of the anecdotes are excel
lent, as this one dragged in under
the classification Of art:
whistler had 4 French poodle
OF which he was very fond. One
day the poodle had an infection Of
the throat, and Whistler had the
audacity to send for the great
throat specialist, Mackenzie.
when Mackenzie saw that he
had been called to treat q dog, he
was incensed but said nothing. He
prescribed, pocketed his fee, and
drove away.
'The next day he sent hurriedly
for Whistler. Whistler, thinking he
had been summoned on some mat.
ter connected with his beloved dog,
dropped his work and rushed TO the
home of Mackenzie.
ION his arrival, the medical
said. graveIy, How do
you do. Mr.. whistler | wanted to
see you about having my front
door painted"
A portion Of the selections are
the sort appreciated most fully by
the people working in q particular
field. Under author" Mr.. PrOch-
now has this one:
Il dream my stories, said the
well known novelist.
How you must dread going tol
bed" replied the literary critic. =
And tais one:
Writer Here's the manuscript
I offered you last year.
Editor What's the idea bring
ing this thing back when ! reject