davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08

got out Of your terrific book.
Maybe, like you say, Burt,
conversation is q lost art.
But II it is, boy, you haze
found it,"
This is your big idea?"
mo. Wait. I'll get to 1t
duly in course. Just want to
tell you, Burt, that you got
an ear for dialogue. and for
dialect, equal to some Of the
hottest operators ever worked
that side of the street-R.
Lardner, senior-R. Bench
ley. Thurber-J. McNulty
ID. Parker-S. Perelman-
say, you know something?
Those are all New Yorker
writer's, past and present.
Looks like I have typed you,
Burt. Looks like you ought
to be on the New Yorker
Staff"
This, then, is your big
idea?"
mo. Now I additionally
want to tell you"
well, I am"
"You are what?"
II am on the NeU Yorker
staff. 1t says so on the cover
of my book. And 1t says so
all over page la. And Jim
Stevenson, who drew the IL
Illustrations, he gets his draw
ings In the NetD Yorker all
the time. And like I say I'm
on the staff"
Holy Jumping Jehosa-
phratS! The big time! The
top spot! What a team! Both
of you on the NetD Yorker
Now how did I manage to
miss that?"
you must have been
reading too fast"
We'll, If I did, Burt, it is
because you have written
the fastest-reading book to
come down the pike in many
a day! Shake!"
Thank you, Charlie. And
now about your big idea-?"
1.-THE book is 1live, Burt.
1t is crawling with real peo-
pie. Like that pair of gos-
siping girls. And the gossip
ing fruits. And the Seventh
avenue shySterS. And the
jazz pianist, man. And the
wife spelling her husbands
story. And Mr.. Tori setting
up an affair with the wait
ress, probably going to set
her up in an apartment, no?
And the young couple who
make Big Love and then
have a Big Fight. What a
collection! What q gallery
Of vig-netties!"
Charlie, you embarrass
me-.
Not at all. Remember I
said, I passed a remark,
about you resembling R.
Lardner, senior? Take this
example. You told about a
young guy used to phone the
drugstore and say You got
Prince Albert in a camp and
when they said yes he'd say
Well. let him out!' Well,
didn't you ever read Ring
Lardner where he had a
young guy say to his girl
Did you ever hear the
orange Juice Song?' and
when she said no he said
Orange Juice sorry you
made me cry?' See what I
mean, Burt?"
Look, Charlie. Give with
your big idea or I got to get
moving. I have a heavy ap-
pointment uptown"
"All right. Okay. Here it
is. Burt, you have here, for
my money, some Of the
Sharpest American conversa-
tons ever put down on paper.
But these other people I
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08

been mentioning with an ear
like yours - Benchley and
Thurber and Liebling and
Parker and Perelman-why,
they all put their CONVERSE
tionS in their short stories.
My advice to you, Burt, is
this: why don't you take
these gems Of yours and put
them like in settings? I
mean rewrite them into
short stories?"
"You mean do them all
over again with a totally new
-"
Don't get sore, Burt"
who is getting sore? OF
all the loose-hpped, slobber-
jawed, whey-faced, steel
plated, copper-s h e a thed,
brass-bottomed idiocy I ever
heard Of all the gunk,
flapdoodle, balderdash, twad-
die, and tripe listen, the
whole point Of these con-
versations Is that they are
conversations. The people and
the situations and the back
grounds come alive between
the lines--anyway. that Is
what I tried to do. It's a
technique Of economy. It
makes every word count. It
makes the reader use his
mind, and his imagination,
and cooperate with the
author. You might say 1t is
sort Of a new form. Mr..
Cooke, do you honestly call
yourself really seriously a
book reviewer"
Burt"
Because If you do, Mr..
Cooke, all I can say is The
Washington Star Is very
hard up for book reviewers.
We'll, If that is how you
feel about it, Mr.. Bernstein,
why"
"Good-by, Mr.. Cooke. I'm
late for my appointment"
"Good-by, Mr.. Bernstein.
Look - wait-I'm sorry. I
guess you are probably right.
I guess this was Just a great
big half-baked idea of mine.
I guess I didn't think it
through. Because believe me,
like I said before, you have
written a swell book. A per-
fectly terrific book. Shaker"
AL right. Good-by, Char
lie"
"Good-by, Burt"
CHARLES COOKE.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08
Conversation About
Thirty Conversations

THE LOST ART BY Burton Bernstein Drawings by James
Stevenson. (World Publishing Co.. $3.50
Like now it is practically a miracle, Mr. Bernstein,
meeting up with like this right after reading swell
book and with this big idea which am dying to COM
municate to you in the worst way. Shake!"
Pleasures mine Mr. Cooke But look Call me Burt hey?"
"Al right And I'm Charlie, Chuck Chick anything you
like" >
"All right And I'm Charlie. Chuck, Chick anything you
big idea of yours is all about hey?"
First, absolutely got to describe to the kicks
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08
BOOKS IN REVIEW
Keats Biography
First in Is Years
BY DAY THORPE
Star Book Critic

JOHN KEATS, THE MAKING OF A POET. A biography BY
Aieen Ward CThe Viking Press $75O)
One day in October 1916 Charles Cowden Clarke asked
MS friend John Keats to come to his house to copy
OF Cnapmans translation OF Homer Interest the book
was not photographic ANTIQUARIAN reprints of Ezabethan
literature were at that time and Chapmans Homer
was not one OF Them neither knew the Greek epic
except IN Popes translation Throughout the night the two
men read faVorte passages to each other Keats became
delr1ous with delight especially Clarke recalled the
line describing ulysses staggering out of the salt water
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08

the short time allowed him
to shorter poems, may feel
that the value Of "Endym-
ion" is disproportionate to its
length, but Keats was eager
to prove that he could mas
ter the style Of WordSworth's
1.-THE Excursion" a poem he
admired greatly. Also, 1t is
possible that he felt the
sonnet was no longer a chal-
lenge, for he was able to
write perfect examples er-
tempore. The one beginning
1.-THE poetry Of earth Is never
dead" was written in less
than is minutes in q con-
test with Leigh Hunt, who
proposed the subject.
If Shaw's remark that
Keats was the kind of poet
who could not refrain from
calling a window anything
but a easement is more witty
than discerning, 1t is true
that what made him one
of the greatest lyric poets Of
the 10th century had little
to do with the irony Of a
Heine, the gesture Of a
Byron, or the intellectual
sensitivity Of a Shelley. mo,
fill every rift with ore," he
replied to Shelley, when his
friend suggested that he
chasten and purify his style.
Poetry for Keats was less
suggestion than physical
creation, voluptuous and
sense-aching.
50 &A
1t is curious to note in re-
reading the poetry along
with Miss Wards biography,
how many ribald, gay, comic
Burnsian poems there are,
and how almost none Of
them Is among those poems
Of Keats we cherish. THE
Cap and Bells" is an excep-
ton. It Is also astonishing to
learn from Miss Ward that
Keats put the fifth act of
"Otho the Great" above all
his other poetry, for today
this play written in vain
hope that Kean would act it,
seems poor stuff indeed.
Here Lies One whose
Name Was Writ In Water
were the only words Keats
wanted on his gravestone,
which was to lack even the
usual identifying name and
dates. For q time the epitaph
seemed prophetic, for appre-
citation Of the poet was not
immediate. There was no
demand for q reprint Of
Keats works in England I'M
til 1840," Miss Ward says,
land when one appeared In
that year it was soon re-
Wandered" The irony Of the
epitaph lies in the fact that
Keats friends could not bring
themselves to obey his last
request, and tastelessly in
Scribed the graveStone with
the following: This Grave
contains all that was Mortal
Of a young English Poet who
on his Deathbed, In the Bit
terness Of his Heart, at the
Malicious Power Of his En-
emies, Desired these words to
be engraven on his Tomb
Stone Here Lies One Whose
Name Was Writ In Water
The malicious power Of his
enemies was not what killed
Keats; it was only tuber-
culoSiS.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08
Pearl Buck FictionuIizes
The True Story of Korea

rean revolutionaries in exile,
and the other, at first not
entirely opposed to the jap
anese way Of life, making
the best Of it at home with
his Christian wife. Each Of
these brothers has a son,
both Of whom are involved in
the Korea Of the Second
World War. The book ends
with the American betrayal
of the Koreans to the Japa-
nese, at Inchon, after the war
and the death Of Ih-han's
elder son, shot down when he
waves a Korean flag and
shouts defiance to the Jap
anese and Americans.
1t is too bad that Miss
Buck was not content to
simply tell the story Of Ko-
rea; that she has decked it
out In the trappings Of fic-
ton has made her book al
most impossible to read. The
characters are stereotyped,
the incidents labored,
and the prose is so turgid
that only the most deter
mined reader will not be dis
couraged. A few sentences
from Il-han's return home
from the United States make
a fair sample: "Il-han could
but 60 to his own rooms then
to await Sunia's return.
Meanwhile he sent for bath
water and fresh garments
and for the barber to shave
him. and while he made
himself clean, he rejoiced in
his return to his own house.
All seemed better even than
he remembered, and when he
was finished with barber and
bathboy and servant, he
strolled In the gardens, and
saw how the trees had
grown, how the plants flow
cred. :"
Four hundred seventy
eight pages Of this are too
many.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08

leave his childhood home for
the city Of st. Paul, where
he will face, for the first
time, the larger world:
Its another kind Of world
up there, Newt. Hope and
more promiSin' things. Put
somethin' into 1t and you'll
git Somethin' out-simple as
that"
"YeSSem."
Make a good man Of
yourself up there. It's a
dream Of mine for you. Make
it come true"
"I'n try"
You'll do It,"
And so Newt moves on into
the enormous complexities Of
life in a Nation that is beset
with unparalleled racial
problems - not only, and
classically, in It's Southern
tier Of States, but elsewhere
throughout its length and
breadth.
THE Learning Tree" is a
superior novel, timing it's ap-
pearance with, and helping
to illuminate, one of the
most significant moments in
the history Of the American
Negro and the country in
which he hves-a moment
when the stream Of our
racial history seems to be
making, slowly and ponder
ously, one Of its rare major
changes Of direction.
ANNE COOKE.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08
CoseAgoinst
Recognition
OfRedChinu
THE RED CHINA LOBBY.
BY Robert Hunter and For
rest Davis Elect. "a Q6

THE RED CHINA LOBBY.
BY Robert Hunter and For
rest Davis. Fleet; $4.95.)
This is the obvious confer
part of attacks in the early
1950s on the China lobby"
That campaign complained
against Chang Kai-Shek's
friends who sought American
support for him in Congress.
This book complains against
persons and groups in this
country who have advocated
United States recognition of
Red China and admission of
the Picking regimes repre-
sentatives to the United Ma
tions.
The authors are no admir-
ers Of half-measures. They
advocate that the United
States abandon its contain
ment policy against Red
China and carry the war to
the enemy.
In a noteworthy foreword,
the former chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral
Arthur Radford, reports the
most experienced fellow Of
ficerS in our services" con-
slider the Nationalist-held
offshore islands of Quemoy
and MatSu "vitally important
to the defense Of Taiwan
(Formosa)."
During the Eisenhower
administration it was never
clear how Admiral Radford
or the President regarded The
offshore islands. President
Kennedy indicated in the
1860 election campaign and
later he does not rate their
Importance as highly as the
admiral. EARL H. VOSS.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08
THE LIVING REED. A Novel

by Pearl s. Buck. CThe
John Day Co.; $685.
Pearl Buck in her latest
and longest novel tells the
story Of four generations Of
the illustrious and politically
sensitive Kim family seen
a gainst the background of
Korean history from 1881 to
shortly after the end of
World War II. The narra-
tive opens with the 24-year-
old Kim n-han, the reposi-
tory of the learning, culture
and achievement Of thou
sands of years Of Korean
tradition, passing on to his
two sons their heritage Of the
Korean past, and at the
same time advising his
Queen that the West must be
recognized II Korea is to sur
vive the aggressions of its
three ancient enemies. Chi
ma, Russia, and Japan.
How little Korea knows Of
the West can be seen from
n-han's inability TO name. at
the request Of the Queen he
advises, a single American
river, or to confirm or deny
the rumor she has heard
that in France wine is made
from grapes rather than
from rice. Before n-han
meets the foreign enemy.
however, he must protect his
Queen from an uprising Of
the Regent. and by counter
revolutionary tactics return
her to the throne. Later a
treaty OF amity and COM
merce is signed with Ameri-
ca, and Il-han comes to
Washington to learn about
the United States.
Thirty years later when
Korea is under japanese
rule, we find one OF Il-han's
two sons O leader Of the Ko-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08

AAAAS ACoSAA p11lS O1JoOC SIdB
THE sea had soaked his
heart through" (The line,
incidentally, is not H ONE
but an Interpolation of Chap
1nan's.) Early in the morning
Keats went home, wrote out
"On the First Looking Into
Chapman's Homer" and sent
the sonnet by a messenger to
Clarke, who found it on his
breakfast table.
The sonnet was the first Of
the miraculous poems of
Keats, who was then 20 years
old and had been writing po-
etry, or apparently reading
much Of it, for only three
years. In it is the essence of
the best poems he was to
write before his death four
years later the recreation,
almost physical, of a moment
of emotion, in this case the
overwhelming rapture of dis
covery.
The details of Keats life
up to this explosive moment
are known for the most part
from secondary sources;
Keats himself spoke Of them,
or wrote about them in his
letters only rarely, and per-
haps the most interesting part
of Aileen Wards competent
new biography is her recon-
Struction of the poets boy
hood. His early days seem 10
have been happy ones; his
parents and the grandparents
over whose livery stable in
London he was born were
sympathetic an d prosperous
people. Although his fathers
early death robbed Keats of a
pubic-s C hool education at
Harrow, he seems to have had
an excellent schooling. But
the shock Of his ia theirs
death was followed by that of
his mothers almost immedi-
ate remarriage to a man who
wanted her only for her prop
erty, and, getting it, made her
life so intolerable that she left
him. Keats adored his mother
as Hamlet did his, and it was
a severe blow to him when,
after her second marriage she
took to drink and disappeared
for several years, living "aS
the wife Of a Jew at Enfield,
named Abraham"
During the years Keats
studied to become q doctor,
first as an apothecary's ap-
prentice, and then as q sur
geon's pupil in the United
Hospitals Of Guys and st.
Thomas, reading and talk
ing about books with his
friends became a preoccupa-
ton or an obseSSion; new
ertheless, he was q good
medical student, and there is
no doubt that If the calling
Of poet had not been power
full enough to sweep every
thing before it he would have
become a capable doctor. But
after passing his examina-
tionS, he found the excite
ment Of poetry too heady,
and he informed his skepti-
cal guardian that he in
tended to write poems for a
living.
He published a volume Of
short verse and then at the
suggestion Of Shelley, under
took a friendly contest with
him in which each man was
to write a 4,000-line poem on
the subject of the Endymion.
PoSterity may perhaps wish
that he had devoted more of
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08
Why Edna Ferber
Is 'Dee-Iighted
BY MARY McGRORY
Star Staff Writer

KIND OF MAGIC. BY Edna Ferber. Doubleday; $575O
Edna Ferbers greatest hero Theodore Roosevelt and
like him she is deeghted by almost everything she
From her grhood Appleton Wis., to her present peak
as one of Americas most popular writer's she has had
sense OF living entertainment out Of all proportion to the
ternal picture which passed before my eyes"
After half century at the writing table, she is under
sandably complacen about her achievement genera
lions have read SHOW Boat" $50 Big" Come and Get It,"
AS dramatist collaborating mostly with George Kaufman
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08
Other Books of the Week in Brief

Press; As cents.) A new edi-
tion-with good print-of
the novel most people con-
slider Conrad's best.
THE SCIENCE OF THE HU-
MAN BODY: A layman's
Introduction to Human
Anatomy y. BY Edith M.
Sproul with illustrations by
Kathleen Elgin. Pocket
Books. Inc; so cents.) A
simple. readable and intel
ligent analysis Of the hui
man body for the non-sci-
entific who hate to be
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08

completely ignorant on the
most important subject.
FOUR FAMOUS TUDOR
AND STUART PLAYS.
Edited by Louis B. Wright
and Virginia A. Lamar.
washington Square Press;
go cents.) Two Folger Lii
brary officials present a
new edition Of Marlowe's
Doctor Faustus," Dekker's
THE Shoemaker's Holi-
day." Jonson's "Volpone"
and Webster's THE Ouch
ess Of Malfi."
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08
GENERAL

The Macmillan Co. has a
new series Of books of mem
oirs dedicated to the idea
that a popular version of the
great basic books Of British
history would be valuable.
The memoirs are for the most
part books which everyone
has heard about, few have
read. They have been edited
into manageable length"
illustrated and provided with
Introductory notes which ex-
plain their Importance to
scholars and general readers.
The first four volumes are:
THE GREVILLE MEMOIRS,
edited by Roger Fulford,
covering the political his
tory Of England from 1927
to 1860.
QUEEN VICTORIA'S EARLY
LETTERS (1S21-1S6D,
edited by John Raymond.
THE CREEVEY PAPERS,
edited by John Gore. polit-
ical and social gossip Of
the first half Of the 10th
century in England.
LORD H RVEY'S MEN,
OIRS OF THE REIGN OF
GEORGE ii, edited by
Romney s edgwick. Cali
available in paperback edi-
tons at $l.95 ca, cloth at
So
INDIANS OF THE NORTH
WEST COAST. BY Philip
Drucker. ($l.95.) A study
of the Indians that lived
from Yakutat Bay in
Alaska TO the northern
coast Of California. IRE
print.)
LORD JIM. BY Joseph Con-
rad. washington Square
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08
TO BE REVIEWED

The following books will be
reviewed on the editorial pOss
Of The StoF this week:
MoNDAY--'Ths Bottle Fight
ers," by George W. Willis.
(Rondom House,
WEDNESDAY-"The Lost boy
Of the Old World" by Adrian
Boil. (Doubleduy.)
FRlDAY-"Justice and the ST.
preme Court" by Rocco J. Ire
soIini. (LippineOtt.)
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08
New York
At the Turn
OF Century
THOSE DAYS. BY Hamilton
Fish Armstrong. (Harper
& Row; 81

4AOOA OEA ACs ~ 440AAAAAVOAA
Fish Armstrong. (Harper
& Row; 81
The author, for years a
distinguished magazine edi-
tor, recalls in a series Of en-
chanting vignettes something
Of his childhood and the
process Of growing up in and
around New York.
Mr.. Armstrong Is one Of
those extremely rare New
Yorkers-perhaps he is even
a unique survivor Of the
species-who has attained a
mature age and still lives in
the house where he was born.
This house Greatly two houses
combined, which his artist
father put together in a past
and forgotten era) Is on
Tenth street. Here most Of
his early years were CEN
tered, though this period was
divided with the old house,
DanSkammer, up the Hudson,
with summers at North Hat
ley in Quebec.
Late Addition
II must have come as a
surprise" he writes, pointing
out that at his birth his
mother was 48, his father Sc,
land certainly as an incon-
venience, since my nurse and
I made nine, plus servants, in
a house that would hold five
or six comfortably"
This event occurred In the
early 1905. so that he was a
link with a past truly re-
mote. The family, though Of
distinctive heritage on both
sides, was not wealthy, and
yet Hams" father managed
to support them well indeed
on his art alone. His stained
glass windows, a form in
which he specialized, deco
rate some Of New York'S
most noted churches. Two of
the authors much-older SIS
tiers achieved a measure Of
fame in art and literature.
Impressions
But there Is all too little
about his interesting family
or, indeed, about himself.
This is not at all an auto
biography, but simply i'm
pressions here and there, not
in chronology, some humor-
Gus, others touched with
poignance, particularly Of the
way New York seemed to a
boy who grew up in a simpler.
friendlier, less complex
epoch.
Mr.. Armstrong Is editor Of
the influential periodical
Foreign Affairs.
CARTER BROOKE JONES
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-08

desk dictionary for school, home, Office.
$5.75 unindexed; $6.7S indexed. &C. &C.
Merriam Co., Springfield 2, Mass.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-04-02
INTERPRETIVE REPORT
Lunik Has No Competition

dozen more launchings after
"evaluation" is Strengthened
out.
Surveyor Delayed
This $265 million price tag
qualities Ranger as one Of the
country's more expensive space
turkeys, but by no means its
most costly one. That distinc-
ton probably goes to Centaur,
so far unflown upper stage for
Atlas rocket space applications.
Centaur, which fell to pieces
before 1t had a chance to OPP
crate under its own power on
its first flight test to date, has
cost we'll over $500 million and
the end is nowhere in sight.
Centaur is depended upon
for NASA's next assault on
the moon after Ranger. This
is Surveyor" a complicated
package Of instruments that
Is supposed to be landed on
the moons surface in COM
plete working order. Originally
scheduled for flight in 1868,
Surveyor has slipped at least
a year and probably will not fly
until 1865.
Ranger and Surveyor are re-
garded as essential forerun-
ners to the first manned land
ing, now on the schedule for
sometime before the end Of
1910. They are designed to
yield the kind of information
astronauts will need about the
nature Of the lunar surface
and conditions there.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-04-02
Major Issues

aid is based on State-set mini
mum teachers salaries"
The measure passed the
House. 95 to "a, two hours be-
fore the midnight deadline
Its passage came after sup
porters of the bill we're forced
to accept an amendment, de-
letting a section providing State
aid to kindergarten programs.
In the final hours before ad-
journment, the Assembly:
/. Enacted by narrow mar
gins a bill to establish retail
prices Of wine and liquor. II
signed by the Governor, the
measure will make it illegal
for dealers to sell below prices
set by the State controllers
office. The bill was sponsored
by taverns and small package
store owners seeking to halt
competition from chain outlets
2. Enacted a $27.5 million
capital Improvement program
and a method of placing such
programs in the future on a
partial pay-as-you-go plan.
3. Killed by action of the
Senate Finance Committee a
House-passed bill which would
have raised from $500 to 81. OOO
the amount of money that
could have been loaned under
the small loan act.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-04-02

create a great many compn-
cations in the future"
Mr.. Scholle is the plaintiff
in a court suit to void the
present frozen system Of State
Senate districts. He won in q
4-3 decision in the State Su-
preme Court. but the case is
pending before the United
States Supreme Court on an
application for an appeal.
Constitutional convent / o n
lawyers contend that adoption
Of the new constitution has
made Mr.. Scholle's suit moot
that the new State Senate
and House districting plans
will take precedence now, and
that any challenge of Michi-
CAMS legislative apportionment
must be done through a new
suit.