Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-10

Satirize only the backward ca
rampant individualism. It's
enjoy-as I'm sure they would
icanized Russian writer who
lives in Washington. This is:
TALE OF A WRESTLING
SHRIMP, by Vladimir B.
Grinioff (Dutton; $3.50.
The title comes from a
stateme nt which Nikita
Khrushchev made in 1855:
1--WE will abandon commu-
nism when the shrimp learns
to whistle"
Well, according to Mr..
Grinioff's fanciful story.
which seems to be based
largely on fact, quite a few
sovietized shrimps are whis-
ting these days-at least in
what they hope is secrecy.
The Greatest Crime
This is the highly amusing
story of Taras Tarasovich
Popugaev and his family.
The family consists of a
volatile wife, who takes tram
quilizers for her emotional
outbursts, and an attractive
daughter, whose familiar di-
minutiye name is Simochka.
Now Popugaev is an impor-
tant man in the small city;
he is that official of the bank
who approves loans. (Sure,
they have banks and loans
in the Marxist Utopia).
Simochka, a student at the
university, is accused of that
direst of all crimes-worse
than murder, more dreaded
than armed robbery or may
hem-she is charged with
ridiculing on the campus
their great government.
Ordinarily she'd have been
taken in tow by the secret
police and that would have
been the last seen Of her for
q long time. if not forever.
Soulless Soviets
But Popugaev not only is
the loan agent of the bank,
he is a member of the Party,
an honor sparsely bestowed.
Those who owe the bank.
money or hope to are not
eager to see the Popugaet
family disgraced. Papa has
too, friend in Moscow high !
up in a ministry. HE begins
to pull wires. Meanwhile :
another friend suggests that
obviously Simochka needs
psychiatric treatment. So
an expensive psychiatrist is
summoned from Moscow.
The doctor, a woman, objects
when the girls parents speak
of her soul sickness. The
doctor snaps back: There
is no such thing as a soul in
the Soviet Union. The soul
was liquidated a long time
ago. So that which does not
exist cannot get sick"
However, the doctor does
suggest an out. But it does
not work before Simochka
has been denounced by an
unfeeling peasant at a Party
meeting. and Papa Popugaev
has been let in for a couple
of terrible weeks and has had
the bite put on him for prac-
tically everything he owns,
including his car and his
furniture, in consideration
for help from supposed
friends.
Good, Clean Fun
It's all good entertainment,
and l don't doubt for a
moment it could happen
just as Mr.. Grinioff tells it.
True. the author has been
away from Russia since he
was a child, but he obviously
has kept up with it in minute
detail, and at the moment
he is a consultant for the
United States Government
on Russian affairs. He was
born in st. Petersburg (now,
of course. Leningrad, and
his family cleared out dur
ing the Kerensky regime. He
is a graduate of the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania and
holds masters degree from
American University. He
studied playwriting and
drama at Catholic University
and helped start the Arena
Stage Theater.
Also he can write at a
fast pace. In Tale of a
Whistling Shrimp" he builds
suspense and scatterS laughs
as he goes along.
X