davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1953-04-19
DumbbeTs and Carrot
Strips: The Story Of
Bernorr MocFudden

BY Mary MacFadden and
Emile Gauvreau.
Henry Holt & Co.: $685.
Bernarr MacFadden, the
physical culturist. and his
wife Mary, once dubbed by
him "Great Britain's Perfect
Woman" did not part friends,
and, womanlike. she is having
the last word. With much as
perity and no taste at all, and
with the help of a diSen-
chanted ex-MacFadden en-
ploye who provides the "true
story" touch, she shows the
muscle-man at home.
Some of Mr.. MacFadden's
notions have now come into
respectable medical practice.
Others never have and never
will. His ideas on childbirth
were particularly Spartan as
Mrs. MacFadden'S narrowing
recapitulations of her nine
confinements without doctors
help, amply reveal.
Her recollections Of the
dizzy days of the burgeoning
MacFadden publications and
the presidential boom the
strong man could not hold up
are screamingly funny.
The man behind the muscles
was a formidable eccentric,
according to her tale. Trudg-
ing miles in his bare feet and
his ventilated hat, chewing
carrots and quaffing beet
juice, he subjected his family,
the first physical culture
family" to cruel tests of phys
ical endurance. He became
so enmeshed in his political
and literary ventures, he had
to send his wife memos nam
ing their last two children.
These preoccupationS, remarks
the long-suffering Mary in
her uncorseted memoirs, may
have brought them millions;
they did not bring them hap
plneSS. M. Meg.
Evening star., 1953-04-19
Atom at Spitheod
BY David Divine. (Macnuilan; $275J
Reviewed BY WiIIiom Hines

The channel between Ports
mouth and the Isle of Wight
will be jammed on June 18
with the ships of all nations
and the beauty and chivalry
of the United Kingdom. The
occasion? The coronation re-
view of the Royal Navy at
Spithead.
Never before in history,
states David Devine. has it
been possible to destroy at
one blow the greatest part Of
a major navy, the entire
leadership of a world power.
and more than l million
human beings. An atom bomb
at Spithead on review day
could do it.
This is the bee that 1t.
Comdr. John Barrett. r. NJ,
skipper of H. NJ. S. Scimitar.
finds in his bonnet early in
1858. In his efforts to thwart
possible enemy designs to set
off a bomb at Spithead, Bar
rett runs afoul of the moss
back elements of the senior
service. For his pains he loses
Evening star., 1953-04-19

oTHCC, SO.0UD
and Hawthorne, for example,
of rather wild personal inde-
pendence of opinion"
Mr.. Pritchett says the vogue
of william Faulkner in France
is easily Understandable and
explains: Writing after 1918
about a society which had not
recovered from the Civil War
and which was to be marked
by the decentralization of the
period of prohibition and
gangsters. Faulkner antici-
pated some of the circum-
stances of the lawless life
which rose IN France under
the occupation and the re-
sistance. In England "Faulk-
ner's vogue has passed." i.
I'VE had heard enough of hill
billies for a lifetime and he
seemed to be an obsessed pro-
vincial stewing too long in his
own juice"
There are unusual discus
sions of the Italian novelists
Manzoni and Svevo. of T. E.
(not D. H. Lawrence, of the
notebooks of Henry James and
Samuel Butler. of Swift, of
Maupassant, lola, Glide. Dos
toevsky, Tolstoy and others.
&C. B. ].
Evening star., 1953-04-19
Books in General
J. Pritchett. (Harcourt, Brace; $780,

BY V. S. Pritchett. (Hdrcour
The British short-story
writer, novelist and critic
ranges in this series of brief,
off beat studies from Cellini
to Sterne and from Boswell to
Faulkner. He reveals not only
a clear understanding of such
literary figures. but, more i'm
portant, the ability to crystal
lize his reflections in a few
words-the same capacity to
tell a lot in a short space
which has made his short
stories outstanding.
He calls Poe "a second-class
writer, yet a fertilizing ex-
claimer." One need not agree,
but his analysis of Poe is de-
cidedly interesting 1T is
usually said that Poe is an un-
American and cosmopolitan
writer, and Baudelaire declared
that America was Poe'S prison.
But Poe was a natural pris-
oner. It seems to me that he
was very American and eSpe-
cially so Of his time, intellec-
tually aggressive and provin-
cial, formed by journalism.
practical and exacting tech
nician and critic-see his
analyses of novels by Dickens
and Hawthorne-as cranky in
his way as Thoreau, Emerson
Evening star., 1953-04-19
The Russians in Focus
BY Harold J. Berman (Atlantic- Little, Bro1un: $3
Reviewed by Richord FrkIund

one that would be written
about lost civilization. known
to scholars only through scrib-
blings on papyrus or clay tab
lets. The important facts are
there, but the facts do not
quite make a living society.
This, of course, is a criticism
more of the Iron Curtain than
of Prof. Berman.
What he does have to say is
Illuminating and apparently
well balanced. The book gives
the impression that life in
Russia is tough, but not intol-
erable. The Communist Party
possesses complete arbitrary
power, but does not always
choose to use it. For instance.
a Soviet citizen usually csn
take his worst grievances to
court and obtain satisfaction.
He gets just enough justice in
his bleak existence so that his
spirit is not completely broken.
The book obviously is not
one for wishful thinkers.
Monstrous though it is, the
Soviet regime is not yet driv-
ing its citizens to utter de-
spair and thence to revolt.
Evening star., 1953-04-19

jHL HOUS6S SEJ
boy born in his mature years.
Bugle Ann is gone. buried un-
der a sweet-crab tree, but her
daughter, Little Lady, has in
herited her trumpet voice-an
unmistakable cry that scars
above the music of all the
other hounds across the wood
ed ridges. Some of the more
superstitious countrymen swear
it's really AIMS voice.
Benny Davis and his bride
are a devoted young couple.
But there's trouble between
them when the girl feeds a
matted mongrel who has come
to court Little Lady, protected
in her wire inclosure. Benny
tries to run the mongrel away;
Little Lady is of the proudest
stock and only the best will do
for her mate. The mongrel
keeps coming back.
It would be a shame to
spoil the story for you by re-
vealing the complications that
follow. But everybody who
likes dogs should enjoy "The
Daughter of Bugle Ann" So
should everybody who likes a
good story. &C. B. j.
Evening star., 1953-04-19
By Florence 5. Berrymon

An exhibition by Abstract
Expressionists" opened last
Sunday at Watkins Gallery,
to remain through May 8. It
includes paintings by five of
the foremost avant-garde ar
fists in this country: Willem
de Kooning. Philip Guston,
Jackson Pollock, Jack Twor-
kov (beSt known in Washing
tom and ESteban Vicente. The
paintings were chosen by
Vincent Melzac of Washing
ton, and are presented in col
laboration with the Baltimore
Museum of Art which exhi-
bited the collection last month.
An Illustrated catalogue con-
tanning a brief introduction
and notes on the individual
painters is available, which
should be studied by visitors
to the show. The average lay
man will undoubtedly be more
impressed with the paintings
after reading these notes, than
he would if he looked at them
cold" The text of this cata-
logue was prepared by Thomas
B. Hess, managing editor Of
Art News, and was largely
adapted from his book, "Ab-
stract Painting. Background
and American Phase" Being
a copcrete-minded person,
sometimes find interpretations
of avant-garde art more alb
sorbing than the art itself.
In his ecstatic appraisal Of
De Kooning, for instance. Mr..
Hess considers one of the ar
lists major contributions "his
ability to give pulse and mo-,
ton to the unrecognizable. to
endow the abstract form with
tragedy or laughter. and on
it's own terms"
Mr.. Hess says that Pollock'S
"cataclysmic prospects
come to final rest only after
a series of explosions" where
as Custom leaves himself
more deliberately open to
transient suggestions as they
appear on the surface Of the
canvas before him."
Jack Tworkov taught art for
four successive summers at
American University, which
exhibited the artists work at
intervals. It ranged from
realism to cubiSm to express
sionism. Recently" says Mr..
Hess, "Tworkov has been pre-
occupied with mythical paint
ings based on subjects from
Homer. Large ribbons Of
color on white grounds evoke
ambiguous goddesses and he
roes who are simultaneously
described by and identified
with their backgrounds"
Among the newest works Of
Esteban Vicente "are a num-
ber of collages where an ele-
ment of shock and inSistent
angularity became apparent"
Watkins Gallery is open 2 to
5 daily except Sunday.
Evening star., 1953-04-19

This novel throws clear
light on two levels.
There are the submerged
Mexicans of Los Angeles-the
poorest living in ghettos, of a
sort, none except the upper
crust quite acceptable socially
to the more-or-less lighter
skinned Angelenos.
We see, on the other level,
the strange half world of the
prize ring, shabby, without
glamour except in the rare
zone of champions and fighters
good enough to be contenders
for titles.
Mr.. Shulman has written a
provocative novel on both
levels. The levels, of course,
merge, for the main character,
a young INSTRUMENTATION
named Tomas CantanioS, be-
comes Tommy Kansas, a
promising lightweight. 1t was
Mr.. Shulman who wrote a
trilogy of novels describing the
development of some tough
Brooklyn boys into big-time
criminals THE Amboy
Dukes" "Cry Tough" and
"The Big Brokers'"
In the Rovine
The Cantanios family of
"The Square Trap" lives in an
impoverished Mexican section
called the Ravine. The ia
ther, Vidal, was a sandal
maker in Mexico, but can get
only common labor in Cali
fornia. The children, all born
in Los Angeles, belong to a
generation American in speech
and interest, although their
parents prefer to speak Span
ish and cling to the ways Of
Mexico. Tommy is a member
of a club of Mexican -Ameri-
can youths called the Cats.
They are not bad boys. They
don't steal or annoy people.
They like to go to juke joints.
take girls out, do the things
boys normally like.
But the Cats, like many
other young men of Mexican
descent. have learned long ago
that they are not welcome and
probably will not be served in
the tonier restaurants or tav-
erns and that their fellow citi-
zens of recent or remote Euro
pean descent look down on
them. For, as Mr.. Shulman is
not the first novelist to bring
out, Negroes are not the only
grade B citizens in this coun-
try In Southern California
Mexicans rather than Negroes
are, as their superiors say, the
problem"
Evening star., 1953-04-19
Norwegian Prints

More than so large prints in
various media, by % contem-
porary Norwegian artists are
on view in Howard University's
art gallery. Founders Library.
through next Sunday. This in
ternational exchange exhibi-
ton, sponsored by the National.
Serigraph Society, opened last
autumn in New York City. In
the Serigraph Galleries. and is
in Washington on q tour Of
art centers throughout the
United States. It was assembled
by Edward Landon during his
sojourn in Norway in 1860, on
q Fulbright Fellowship.
The word contemporary" Is
astonishingly inclusive in the
present instance, as it encom-
passes nearly three-quarters Of
a century between the births
of Norway's oldest living ar
tist. Johan Nordhagen (1856
and Johnny Halvorsen. the
youngest represented in this
exhibition (1928).
A majority Of the prints are
in modern idioms, ranging
from such near-naturalistic
items ~ ALI Rolfsen'S color
Evening star., 1953-04-19
First Solo

Anne Elizabeth Baum is
living her first solo exhibition,
at the Colony Lounge, 1927 De
Sales street NV. through
April 80. Nearly 20 paintings
in oil and water color represent
her work of the past four
years. ..a
A native of Pittsburgh, Mrs.
Baum began her art education
at the School of Fine Arts,
Carnegie Institute of Tech
nology and the Pittsburgh Art
Institute and had some private
instruction. Coming to Wash
ington, she attended the Cor
coran School, and in 1850 held
a fellowship at the Phillips
Gallery studio. She also at
tended the last class in Wash
ington offered by Karl Knaths.
The majority of Mrs. Baum's
paintings are seminaturaliStic.
Her compositions, dominated
by vertical, aspiring forms and
lines. seem to me her best as a
group. comprising water front.
harbor and sea themes. There
are several particularly appeal
ing interpretations of the IA
cades of old houses in the fore
ground, with receding back
ground well conveyed in higher
keyed colorS.
But Mrs. Baum does not re-
strict herself to single theme.
She is showing a few portraits
and figure paintings, urban
scenes. including one Of Sheri-
dan Circle which fetched an
honorable mention in the Cor
coran's fifth annual area show:
a summary of the circus, and
an abstraction or two. Her
painting Of nuns and chill
dren demonstrates her effective
use Of elliptical lines in design,
which are exploited in sew
eral others of her paintings in
the current show.
Evening star., 1953-04-19
WiIdIife Paintings

Probably the most popular
art exhibition currently on
view in Washington is Walter
A. Weber's one-man show Of
paintings at the National Geo.
graphic Society. Approx
mately 200 works are hung in
the society's Explorers Hall
at Sixteenth ana M streets.
The show is open to the public
from 8 to 4::30, Mondays
through Fridays.
Mr.. Weber, one of the Ma
tion's leading wildlife artists,
has been painting for the So
ciety since 1899, and has been
it's staff artist since 1949. Sc
ries of his water colors have
been published in the National
Geographic Magazine. He has
also twice designed the Federal
Evening star., 1953-04-19

They Buried q Man. BY Mil
dred Davis. (Simon &
Schuster; $2.50)
Inner SGnctum.
Selwyn Buoman was the
kind of man who always lent
his neighbor a helping hand.
Everybody admired him. al
though most of the village
was sure he had committed
murder a quarter century ear
lier. A newly arrived news
paperman decided to uncover
the truth about Selwyn. With
the emphasis on character de-
velopment rather than plot.
the story lacks the impact Of
the authors earlier "The
Room Upstairs"
Evening star., 1953-04-19


review mp align oratory
which fails in the primary
purpose of campaign oratory-
which is to win more votes
than the opposition? Gov.
StevenSon's speeches were
miracles in lucidity, grace and
wit. In them. he drew the
triteness out of cliches, he re-
vitalized splendid old words
that had grown flabby through
indiscriminate use, he temper
ately examined issues and
calmly suggested programs. He
never descended to demagog-
uery or personalities. He spoke
of America, its greatness, its
Evening star., 1953-04-19

With the father getting too
old to hold any kind Of job.
the Cantanios are in a bad
way. Tommy is II and his par
ents urge him to go to work,
as his older sister has done.
One day a passerby in a car
sees Tommy handling himself
pretty we'll in a street fight
with two "Anglos." tt e
stranger, Pete, picks up the
somewhat b ttered Tommy
and drives him away before
the cops arrive. Pete turns out
to be Mexican, too, and a man
ager of fighters. He asks
Tommy to try out in the gym.
Tommy does, and Freddy, the
broken-down pug who trains
fighters for Pete, admits re-
luctantly that the new boy has
possibilities.
Why not become a fighter?
Tommy asks himself. People
admire a fighter, the girls go
for him. If he's good enough
some day he'll get a crack at
the title, go East, fight in the
Garden and take big purses.
What he does not think about
and what Freddie, his trainer,
tries futilely to tell him, is
that for every champion, for
every contender, there are
hundreds of fighters who never
get beyond small clubs and
preliminaries. who end broke
and punch-drunk. -.
Tommy wins his first few
fights - prelims, of course.
Pete happens to have a heart.
and he knows the Boy must
not be pushed too fast. But
Tommy has promised to buy
his father a stand where he
can sell things. The father.
with his Mexican pride, is bit
terly opposed to his sons
making a living by fighting.
Tommy insists on chances eUr
bigger purses, and his man.
ager, against his judgment,
matches him with a more ex-
perienced boxer in a semifinal.
Tommy is knocked out. He
swearS he's through with the
ring. But inevitably he goes
back. BY now his manager
and his trainer know he can
get only so far, but he's Stub
born. After that it's the same
old story.
Mr.. Shulman has reproduced
vividly the small-time fight
arena and the characters who
haunt it. Except for a pro-
lixity Of description that some
times stops the story in mid
air, the author has developed
his theme very effectively. The
ending is just right.
Evening star., 1953-04-19
Stevenson Speeches Miracles
Of Lucidity, Grace and Wit

promise, it's meaning, with a
soaring eloquence that has not
been matched in his day. And
yet, he lost the election.
The pity Of 1t is, from an
bipartisan point of view, that
this one little fact will keep
us from hearing their like
again. Politicians, Of all men.
have to win. With the example
of the literate Adlai laid low,
they will return gratefully to
the pompous, meaningless
phrases of yore. The lightness
and brightness that Stevenson
momentarily brought to the
political scene will be dim un-
til the time (if and when) he
returns to it.
1t is a paradox that a man
who could capture so many
mems imaginations could not
capture their votes. Reading
this volume will give you no
clue to the riddle. Phrases
right and apt will leap out of
every page. Stevenson truly
used the campaign as he said
he would in Chicago, "as a
great opportunity to educate
and elevate a people -"
The thing is that thousands
will doubtless buy the book
and read the speeches, which
should flatter the Governor, al
though probably net reassure
him one whit as to his political
future. It must confuse him.
M. Meg.
Evening star., 1953-04-19

his place in the zone OF pro-
motion, but he struggles on
with the help of his wife, a
newspaper friend and loyal
associates in the intermediate
ranks of the navy.
This is the background for
one of the most gripping
thrillers to have come out in
many a year. It has the same
elements of edge-of-chair sus-
pense that marked the movie.
"Seven Days to Noon," in
which a mad scientist attempt
ed to destroy London.
Published as it is only two
months before the event
chronicled, Atom at Spit
head" has the added advantage
of topicality. For those who
like the incompatible British
brand of suspense, this book
cannot be recommended too
highly.
(Note: This book was pub
lished two weeks ago in novel;
cite form in the Saturday Eve
ming Post under the title
Thirty Minutes Till Zero.O
Evening star., 1953-04-19

BY MacKinlay Kantor. IRAN
Eighteen years ago Mac
Kinley Kantor published a
short book called "The Voice
of Bugle Ann" a dog story
which has become in its field
something of a classic. Now
the author, after many other
books and short stories on a
variety Of adventurous themes,
brings out a worthy sequel.
In 1.-The Voice of Bugle Ann"
old Springfield Davis, the Con-
federate veteran, went to
prison for killing a neighbor
over Bugle Ann. the finest fox
hound in all that Missouri hill
country. In the new story the
old man, still mighty spry.
has been released through the
efforts Of his victims daugh-
ter, who, incidentally, is mar
ried to Springf1eld's son, the
Evening star., 1953-04-19
Silver Spring

The second spring exhibition
will open at the Silver Spring
Art Gallery this afternoon at
4 o'clock. 1t will comprise
paintings and drawings by
Jean Flagg, Bella Weinberg.
Mary Walburn, Antonio Cor
tizas. and Donald Gallagher.
and sculpture by Isabelle
Giampietro. This show will re-
main through May 81.
This afternoons program
will include an informal studio
talk by T. L. Chrysanthopoulos,
The Royal Greek Embassy's di-
rector of information service;
a Greek film Daphnis. and
slides of ancient and modern
Greece by Jessie S. Howell.
Evening star., 1953-04-19

thousands of
people W h o
W tie m
e X p ! aiming
W hy t h Y
didn't vote e
for him had
instead just
put a little
"x" in the
ri g h t place.
Il W o u ] d
c e r t a i n ly
make a re-
view of his
book easier.
Evening star., 1953-04-19
A Vivid Story
Of the South
In the 1866

The Cotton Kingdom
BY Frederick Law Olmstead.
Edited by Arthur M. Schles-
niger.
(Altred A. Knopt;; $6.75.)
Reviewed by Mary McGrory
Frederick Law Olmstead
owes what little fame he has
today to the fact that as a
landscape architect he laid
out the Capitol Grounds and
was co-designer of Central
Park. In his own time, how
ever, he was celebrated, and
rightly so, for an extraordi-
nary survey of the slave States
during the 1850s. This report,
reissued after a hundred years,
is not only a massive and bril-
liant historical study, it is a
vivid, fascinating and uncom-
monty revealing picture of a
way of life that has always
been romanticized.
Although a Connecticut
Yankee, Olmstead before his
three Southern tours, held
temperate views about slavery.
Bitter arguments witha flercely
abolitioniSt friend led him,
characteristically, to see for
himself. AS a correspondent
for the New York Times, he
ranged through the South,
talking to every one who
would speak to him. He was
a magnificent reporter, who
had a perfect ear, and time
and again brings to life on his
pages some chance companion
Of his arduouS journeys.
Olmstead came back to the
North completely convinced
that slavery was an evil which
must be eradicated. The SEN
sation of his conclusion for his
day arose from his conviction
that it was not only a moral
evil but an economic one.
Slaves, in spite Of whips and
drivers. simply did not work as
hard as free men. And steadily
he was struck with the evil
dence that its demoralizing in
fluences. industrial and spir-
itual, fell equally heavily on
white and Negro.
Never the pamphleteer or
the agltator, always the sober,
scrupulous observer, Olmstead
made his case for the imprac-
ticality of slavery through doz-
ems of instances. 1t produced
benefits for very few, namely,
the large land and slave hold
erS
Little Community Life
Because of the size and iso-
lation of these vast estates,
Olmstead observed an appal-
ling lack of community life
and the attendant benefits of
schools. libraries, churches,
roads and bridges. It was the
poor whites who suffered from
these lacks, and, says Mr.. Ohm
stead, their destitution is not
material only; it is intellectual
and it is moral"
But it was the atmosphere
of arrogance and fear, of OPP
preston and hatred that re-
PEELED him most. It was never,
he says, consistently humane
or consistently economical"
He makes you see why in this
marvellous book that was
worth a hundred "Uncle Toms
Cabins" and is still vastly
worthwhile today. a.
Evening star., 1953-04-19
Crime and Mystery
Reviewed by Miriam Gutenberg

Out of the Past. BY Patricia
Wentworth u. B. Lippin-
colt Co.; $2.500
Mainline.
A thoroughly unpleasant
young man gets murdered and
any Of his friends or near re-
lations could have done 1t. An
indiscreet wife. a betrayed girl,
his Tilted sweetheart, his
heartbroken stepmother-all
had motives - particularly
when he started making null
tiple blackmail q full-time job.
Trust Miss Maudie Silver to
be. in the right place at the
right time. This isn't one OF
her toughest cases, but the
author performs with her
usual competence.