Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 11

II- PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE? SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1939- Rodeo Queen to Appear Here This World of Books rtews of Stage and Screen By Lee Berry- .1 EPIC: For year critics have been waiting for Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, John Dos Passos or some unknown to step for 'Till They Meet Again ward and write the Great American Novel. This week it looks Hits inu Tour as if the trick had finally been turned. John Steinbeck's heroic "The Grapes of Wrath" (Viking, $2.75) is certainly the most electrifying novel of the year, probably the most important Vest Week American novel of the present century and possibly the hardest hitting work of fiction yet written in this country. 1 TTav Those are reckless words, and a supposedly hard-boiled reviewer should know better than to Indulge in such fantastic superlatives. But krfltea rri by any standards at all this tough, tender, exalting saga of American 17,000 iiics.

Uon.lir nt the Nixon Lvnn Fon- 1 i concluding most notable road 'ja t' rntricals some life Is a magnificent creative achievement, packed to the covers with high-voltage writing and powerful characterizations, and possessed of that same terrific emotional impact which has kept "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in circulation for the more than 10 years that have passed since the abolition of slavery-Climax piles on climax as the story moves swiftly and surely towards its last desperate pages, and any reader who can pass through the walloping final scene and still maintain a nice sense of critical proportion ought not to be reading fiction at all. This isn't merely a good novel or a distinguished novel or an exicting novel. If a great novel, and you don't need a course In literary appreciation to know it. Excellent as were "Tortilla Flat," "Of Mice and Vh of course, brings Zt to London, England. if 4.

the distinction u-im-liur up the cele bat of seeing the John Steinbeck. TK. IW pcwiuuo. (From a painting -idiot's Delight" are by Beskov) Men" and "In Dubious Battle," the previous Steinbeck novels now turn out to have been curtain-raisers for the present work. Everything that iThe earlirr visit.

made the other books memorable is here in still greater quantity, plus the 1'ittsburgh Lunt will return to his a narrative conceived on an epic scale, a seering hatred of social in r. Il ia r.prcsce ucpoi ui justice and a feeling for the nobility of the human spirit that no other fr American writer of our time can even begin to matcn. The storv itself concerns the transcontinental journey of an Okla v. (Si ---a-i, k. Wilt 1 I x-aL I i if I V--' I ailment has been both- homa family who have been driven from their land by foreclosing bankers and attracted to California by false promises of work.

The iH ft summer 01 treat- family are the Joads, good American stock of seven and eight genera wlf. It was with great tions back, nnd their pitiful caravan includes Ma, Pa, Uncle John "Tk his phvsicians called 1 Grampa, Granma, three grown sons a pregnant daughter, her husband Mn'firiplHtra festival ot and two younger children. Along with them goes an ex-preacner, a Cfldue to open in New York man whose spiritual stature has taken him far beyond the simple tenets of rustic evangelism. Mis lontanne, she The first half of the book, describing the forced exodus of the Joads Lfeit better. The tour to her mtltiniint rniiiiu ui picus- i i from Oklahoma and the start of their journey across the continent in a third-hand jalopy, contains much earthly comedy, a growing vein of grin tragedy.

In California, where the Joads and thousands of other of train heels under have-nots are hounded, exploited and starved in turn, tne comic note sum a ih.hik dies out, the tragic theme swells info a mighty chorus. The final scene, already ne is urging i. i certain to arouse violent discussion, is devastating, MOT 10 IUUl' Hirn lien fnr early October "The Grapes of Wrath" will be enormously popular, for it is too compelling a story and too magnificent a literary achievement to lack readers. It is also likely to be enormously influential, for John Steinbeck lOTK 'Umw as niav they'd like to is an angry man, and he has poured the full flood of that anger into a 'nrth. And they would like wnt "Keurinn In Vienna" novel that can be quite fairly called inspired propaganda, ihe doaas, like millions of other Americans, are cold and hungry, without money, Hie Taming: if the Shrew" without hope and without work.

And as Mr. Steinbeck has occasion to say more than once, "when a majority of the people are hungry and 4 theatrical year. cold they will take by force what they need." Those who deplore the OPAL AXX WOOD Miss Wood is one of the cowgirls with the fifth annual world championship rodeo which moves into Duquesne Garden Wednesday for a 10-day stand. She is a five-time winner of world championships in "bronk" and trick-riding competition. A cast of 200 performers and an equal number of wild horses, cow ionies and steers will be seen in the rodeo.

Hitlers and Stalins of our age had better take a look at America through Steinbeck eyes. It's a tragic, terrifying and unforgettable sight. eirrent American flight be-i Boston, with a hurricane, 3 and followed into sd throush the Eastern DAUGHTERS: Tne three daughters of Lin Yutang have written a ALFRED LiUXT The vaudeville hoofer (Mr. I.unt) and the one-time acrobat (Miss Fontanne) finally meet again in a Swiss Alps hotel for the first time since that memorable night In Omaha, in this scene from Robert E. Sherwood's Pulitzer TLYSN FOXTAXXE prize play, "Idiot's Delight," which the Lunts will present the last three days of next week at the Xixon.

The first three they'll devote to the Chekov classic, "The Sea Gull," the new Stark Young translation. territory new to the Lunts. ulavs were presented, the cnarming book about tnemseives, tneir travels ana their famous author-father, "Our Family" (John Day, $2). Adet, 16, 2 seen and to be Been In State Cavalry and Anor, 13, are actually the authors of this essay-diary, for Meimei, aged 8, has contended herself with supplying a foreword and a number Philadelphia a stage hand dT footnotes. sleepers, but then only between Faces Shifts Three RevTarded Pearl Buck, who has contributed an affectionate introduction, ex $99,416 Opens Campaign $600,000 Immediate Goal In Drive Here.

4-rfdead at the dress rehearsal towns and nobody living for days won a gold-plated pin for nursing to health a homeless dog which had bitten her after it was struck by plains that the diary was originally started as an exercise in English on train. For Kind Deeds composition and that when publication was decided upon, no adult Yet Alfred and Lynn made no Five Troops to Be Made an automobile. changed a word or phrase. The contents of the book connrm tms observation, for Adet and Anor are as frank as they are amusing, and complaint. In fact, it was their own The society has three different Artillery Unitg.

The Western Pennsylvania Hu their outspoken comments on their own behavior and that of their classifications of awards for chil idea to "go circus." After all, he used to be in vaudeville and he mane Society, In connection with parents reveal no traces of grown-up supervision or censorship, dren who perform meritoriously "ii Sea Gull" and In Chicago Epp car went astray, iho to open on the a hoar after much hunting ost seenery. Otherwise the a thing of joy. ar.d San Antonio com- ihout the cuss words in and a state sen-I rhilii lelphia thought bit racy. But v.fi (Miss.) HARRISBURG, April 21. UP Outside of its adolescent freshness and charm, the chief interest and Lynn did ride the elephants in the current Humane Week, has kind deeds to animals.

Those rec of the book lies in its vivid portrait of the author of "My Country fnd Orders went out today for the most the grand entree of the Ringling- ognized yesterday received the top recognized three Western Pennsyl My People" and "The Importance of Living." Lin Yutang commands award. sweeping reorganization of Penn Barnum show a few years ago at the Garden in New York. vania children with its highest love and respect from his daughters but no awe. They write of his sylvania's Fifty second Cavalry hobbies, habits and idiosyncracies with affectionate irreverence, and Brigade since 1929. Wind Downs Windbreak their story of the Old Gold contest is particularly delectable.

Other Adjutant General Edward Mar matters which come up for discussion: Radio City, the war in China, tin announced that, pursuant to award for unusual kind deeds to animals, it was announced yesterday. Jack Morrissey and Dick Hubert, both of Tyrone, were honored for their rescues of a cat and a sparrow, respectively, from To protect seedling trees at his Atlantic City, favorite movie stars, the European crisis of last Septem war 'department orders, five of the The special gifts and industrial committees in the Y. M. C. A.

carri paign announced subscriptions totaling $99,416 at a preliminary report meeting held yesterday at noon in the Duquesne Club. Of this total, $16,600 was turned in by the industrial committee of which V. B. Edwards is chairman. The remainder was produced by the seven groups of the special committee under the chairmanship of William F.

Knox. Group totals yesterday Group A C. A. Northridge ranch, Robert Taylor ber, shopping in Paris, childhood memories, a visit to Vesuvius, brigade's 21 troops would be con r'wit finding any fault. cry auditoriums and Kirfuon Square Gardens tie company.

In Texas the fre presented only in large houses. If Mr. verted into units of an entirely planted a eucalyptus windbreak, part of which was uprooted by high And now the famous tour Is about to close. There is likely to he a few tears at the final curtain of "Idiot's Delight" on April 59 at the Nixon. Some of the company, including Larry Far-rell, their, manager for 10 years, are going to California for the summer; others to far-flung corners.

Rut in the fall they'll all be together again. The Lunts, you know, have kept drowning. new One Hundred and Sixty-sixth PROFESSOR: During the course of his 986-page "Autobiography Catherine Shaunessy of Altoonal winds recently. Field Artillery Regiment, and an With Letters" (Oxford, $3.75) William Lyon Whelps, other would be changed into a sig a. lis way, "Idiot's Delight" nal troop.

most widely known and generally beloved college professor of our time, lists his prejudices and dislikes, which include musical comedies, free verse, parsnips and big books. But although his own sprawling life avf been sopn in a dance The reorganization will be ef 'J the outskirts of San history weighs two and a half pounds, few of Its -i defiance of a Decency fective June 17 at the start of the Pennsylvania cavalrymen's annual Fisher, Group T. J. OF TUCE WORLD'S MOST I FAMOUS PMTIIGS this troupe together for five years, readers will share the author's distaste for literary i The league relented at the Gillespie, Group ever since "The Taming ef the field training period. bulk.

From beginning to end it is never anything f.nt and what might have Some of the troops will be trans but completely irresistible. spot on the tour went Shrew" had its first performance in Pittsburgh. These actors, as the saying used to go, go with the well- ferred from the One Hundred and Although Billy Phelps manages to tell some Ar.d a cnod time dancing Ralph W. Harbison, Group Charles A. Locke, Group Frank Wilbur Main, GroupF Wilfrid Murtland, Group James C.

Rea, $10,900. Third Cavalry to the One Hundred thing about his boyhood and youth, his early teach Sferformance, which didn't bnke many jitter-bug known lease. and Fourth, and vice versa. The Alfred will rest and will come result will be that the One Hundred and Third will be located entirely These committees are under through. He is too much of a troup ing years and the innovations in pedagogy which caused students to pack his classroom for 40 years, he doesn't dwell overlong on either himself or his accomplishments.

This is a book about everything under the sun, and among the infinite variety of V'hjnein are that no other mndrrn times lived as er to let any physical ailment dis west of Harrisburg. The One Hundred and Fourth will include Har taking to raise a minimum of toward the total objective of $1,000,000 needed by the Y. M. C. A.

turb him. He and his wife have had ullmans for Luntwln Vv 'titinie. Sue Such persons and subjects discussed in its pages are a strenuous season and rate a complete vacation. They've brought risburg troops and those east of the capital. wires as received hv the The- football, John Galsworthy, hiccoughs, cats, Gene Tunney, European travel, the art of blowing smoke thousands of new faces to the of Pittsburgh, for payment of long standing debts, deferred maintenance, and some necessary new projects.

Otiiid: "Why do you write XV T. Phelns. rings, the Fano Club, golf, Katharine Cornell, re ligion, billiards, Edgar Guest, Henry Ford, Shakespeare and symphonic They will begin a series of semi- American theater and they've spared no cost to bring not only the original company but the original scenic Investiture to the remote cities. music. weekly reports with a luncheon at the Duquesne Club Tuesday noon.

Here And There First, last and always, Billy Phelps writes about his greatest love: hooks and authors. He tells countless stories about ine great ana near Mr. Locke, secretary of the cret. reauentlv punctuates his reminiscences with personal glimpses There will be "The Sea Gull" for board, addressed the workers preceding yesterday's report. of such famous literary figures as Amy txtweii, Henry dames, jiarK Twain and James Whitcomb Riley.

On one page is a tribute to the late a hot I. Don't you know "tough lows We never left pervr 1 shows traveled, as does with the company but dramatic shows to imagine the Lunts np minstrel Is some- 't the hook. Part of the journey there 1 ral of six cars moving "'ti 'n town, two sleepers Jr "JEnje cars. Forty three productions are and more than the Clarence Day, on another a curiously flip letter from Edna Ferber. Most BOTANICAL FIELD TRIP Dr.

E. Jennines of Carnegie Mu of the imnortant plays and novels of the last three decaqes are men Pettengill Lecture seum will lead a field trin of the tioned at least once, and at intervals Mr. Phelps breaks into a spirited defense of some book or writer he believes has been undeservedly Botanical Society of Western Penn- three more days and then "Idiot's Delight" for the final stanza. Meanwhile good, old "Amphitryon 38" is being unloaded in the New York railroad yards. And in nine days a happy band of thespians will shake themselves and proudly say, "we've been around, we surely have." The Lunts have proved that there is a road and that the road must survive even if they have to ylvania to Shades Ravine on Sat- ignored.

Set for Jhursday Former Congressman Samuel B. rday. April 29. There will be no As mifeht have been expected, tne I'neips- Autooiograpny wnn field trip today. Letters" is a discursive, generous, vigorous, salty book.

Sardonic critics may complain that there's too much sweetness and light, that some of Pettengill of Indiana will speak on TALK OX BOYCOTT Robert the literarv opinions aren altogether sound, tnat tne dook Dears too "lri since the Zieefeld Norton, executive secretary of the 'd with three to four troupe every year heavy a load of personal trivia and irrelevent data. Forget it. If you like the man (and who wouldn't like you'll like his book. "The Citizens' Interest in the Threatened Socialization of Medicine" in Mellon Institute audi American Committee for a Boycott Against Aggressor Nations and torium at 8:15 o'clock Thursdav FIRST AMEBIC A Pf TOCK AUGHTER: So ew novels are now being written for the sole pur-" pose of beguiling the reader that there is an inevitable Hall Mon. Eve Mar 1st editor of "China Today," will speak in the Third Presbyterian Church Wednesday night at 8 o'clock under 70 MALE VOICES From Helsinki, NLANDIA CHORUS the sponsorship of the Pittsburgh Committee for a Boycott Against Finland temptation to under-rate or over-rate the scant handful that do put in an appearance.

Thu3 one can complain that Margery Sharp's "Harlequin House" (Little, Brown, $2.50) lacks social significance, or one can Olympic Fund for Pgh. Athletes to Helsingfors 1940 Olympic Aggressor Nations. i i i i nil i tin ii us i mm av a mirtiM' take the opposite point of view and rejoice tnat nere is a novel mat v.wr( ft.uvi vriFf fiv wu9 luriMii RAILWAY CLUB Harry R. never once hints at the existence of Hitler, the depression or the war fig Condon will talk on "The Lumber in China. night in the 1939 Bedford lecture series sponsored by the Allegheny County Medical Society.

The lecture series was instituted in 1922 by the College of Physicians of Pittsburgh in honor of Dr. Nathaniel Bedford, surgeon at Fort Pitt in colonial days. In 1937, sponsorship was transferred to th county medical society. Since leaving Congress, Mr. Pettengill has been commenting on national and international affairs in a newspaper column appearing in the Post-Gazette.

PEREWSKI Industry and Its Relation to Trans Mosque Sat. Evs'g, May 6th TICKETS NOW Mellor' HI. 8.1. S2.20, $3.75, S3 30. No Telephone Miss Sharp has taken a musical comedy plot and half a dozen portation" at a meeting rf the lovable eccentrics and blended them neatly together into a light- Railway Club of Pittsburgh at 8 o'clock Thursday night in the Fort Pitt Hotel.

hearted whole. Her story, which starts in an English seaside resort and moves on to London in a mass of complication, involves a middle-aged gentleman with a yearning for romantic adventure and red socks, a COMMENCING MONDAY NIGHT 8:30 JUDGE TO SPEAK Judge Gus- I beautiful girl possessed of much ingenuity ana a strong win, ana ner irresponsible brother, who peddled dope in night clubs under the im tav L. Schramm of juvenile court GIRL WITH A MARMOT by Fragonard Albertina Collection, Vienna Th Theatre Guild, present will speak tonight at the twentieth anniversary dinner of the Pitt pression that it was baking soda. The world in which these people move is not the nerve-wracked, war-torn world of the newspaper headlines. But it's a world filled with Death Claims Exposer im chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha in ALFRED LUNT lauehter.

color and romance, and Miss Sharp brings it to chuckling the Cathedral of Learning. life. Less hilarious than "The Nutmeg Tree" but more suavely plotted, i nrxKT A nil icon iU Of Musica as Plotter NEW YORK, April 21. UP)-. EDGEWOOD MASS MEETING Harlequin House" is that rarest of present-day rarities; a truly gay novel.

Congressman John McDowell of Julian F. Thompson. 51. treasurer Wilkinsburg will address a mass nYNN FONTANNE VETERANS: When Millen Brand's "The Outward Room" was published several years back, it was almost unanimously praised for its narrative simplicity, its emotional power and its literary 1 court painter to Louis XV, was kept busy painting voluptuous scenes of love and seduction. Madame du Barry set the fashion for the whole pleasure-loving court by decorating her boudoir with his paintings.

He began his career as a law clerk, but his genius for art brought him to the studio of Francois Boucher of McKesson and Robbins, whose personal investigation of the corporation's affairs led to the exposure of F. Donald Coster as PRODI CTIONS IN TWO PLATS meeting of Edgewood citizens in the Edgewood High school auditorium at 8:15 o'clock Monday night under the auspices of the Edgewood Men's Association. Wed. "THE SEA GULL" restraint. "The Heroes" (Simon and acnusier, s.z), air.

uranas secona novel, is another leaf off the same tree, and all the adjectives that Mat. Tneg. i 4 Vted. Philip Musica, ex-convict, died early today from influenza at his Sat. f( greeted the previous book can be brought out again for use on this one.

SEEK TWO HERE The bureau Sat. Mat. -'Illllll llflllilll" Park avenue home. His widow an in Paris. He surpassed his master, when the people of trance two children, Patricia, 14, and The setting Is a soldiers home on the out of missing persons has been asked to search for Charles Franklin MBBSBIMia ij HOW It Amrrlnn Tbtr SorMr Snbrrlptlon Ply.

11 NighU SSi, Sl.ie. S1.S. sa.75. Wed. i -20 Include tax).

(Kindly (ead cheek ttnmpd envelope). skirts of a New England town, and the central MacDonald, who left his home in Julian, 11, survive. Mr. Thompson was author of "The Warrior's Husband," in which Katharine Hepburn made her first Broadway hit. character is George Burley, a one-armed veteran who is forced to seek refuge there when he loses his job as cabinetmaker and can't find another.

There's nothing the matter with the institution itself except that it's a drab and monotonous place East Orange, N. September 28, 1933. The bureau also has been requested to find Mrs. Hanna Robinson, who is sought by a relative. nr I JLlJ NIXON LUNCHEON PLANNED The Entlrt Week MAY 1 Beginning Mattne: Scully Praises Drive Of Disabled Veterans Democratic Women's Guild of Alle-! to spend a still active middle age.

Things become even worse when George meets and falls in love with a girl who works in a nearby factory. She returns his love, but under the circumstances mar heny county will hold a bridge- rose against the profligate monarchy, they included the court painter Fragonard, and he was forced to return to Grasse, his home. There he turned to simpler subject matter. The Girl With a Mat mot was probably painted during this period. This simplicity and his rich tender color, -altogether his own, form his special contribution to French painting and make him a vital figure even today.

He was poor and forgotten when he died in Paris in 1806. Th above painting it among 48 great masterpieces which have heen reproduced in full original color by a new process. These reproductions are being offered by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to all art lovers at extraordinarily low cost. They are divided into 12 sets of 4 paintings each. One set of four will be made available each week for only 39 cents if purchased at the Post-Gazette Building, Grant St, and Blvd.

of Allies, or 46 cents by mail, the extra cost covering handling and postage Sett No. lt 2t 4, 4, 6 and 7. on malm now. 11 UniTereity of Pittsburgh PondGOWN CLUB UniTereity of Pittsburgh riage is out of the question. What eventually happens to this hapless pair supplies the story with a luncheon Saturday afternoon, April 29, at the Home Arts Studio of the Rosenbaum Company.

Mrs. John J. Kane is chairman. Millen Brand. SAVE TIME Use the NEW The annual Forget-Me-Not drive, scheduled for today under sponsorship of the disabled American War Veterans, is "worthy of every cooperation," in the opinion of Mayor Scully.

The mayor issued a proclamation last night calling attention to the brotherly spirit which has characterized the movement. Preterite Its 32nd Annual Musical Madcap "At Your Service Me, ei.80, 2. Mall Order Now Ne Tax) Seat April JT logical and heartening conclusion. The body of the novel is concerned with daily life in the home and with the men who live there. Mr.

Brand handles his setting and characters with an expert and knowing hand, and the unvarnished simplicity of his prose saves his novel from any charge of sentimentality. Impressive but unspectacular, "The Heroes" makes far more engrossing reading: than a bare summary of Its contents might suggest, phone number of the Post-Gazette's modernized want ad department For want ada only ATlantic 6125. Advt i 1.