Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 July 1947 — Page 8

1 have seen him in action on the "bench, where he used to lean back

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lor Spink. New York, Crowell, $3. : "DO YOU KNOW YOUR ALL?" By Bill Brandt, New York, Barnes, $1.75.

"JOE LOUIS: A PICTURE STORY OF HIS LIFE." By Neil Scott. New York, Greenberg, paper $1, cloth $2. LONG BEFORE the irascible Kenesaw M. Landis became czar of baseball I used to see him in action in his fed-|.

eral court room in Chicago,

lenders, One day the city editor said: “There's talk about Judge Landis becoming a can-

didate for the Republican INinois, Go down and ask him about it.” 1 went to his chambers and found him putting on his fedora and taking up his cane. He turned his fishy eyes

on me with the stare he used on pawnbrokers. I put the question

Judge Landis pointed his cane at me and exploded with just one word. It is unprintable here. The Prench have a phrase for it; they say it was what OCambronne said when Napoleon ordered the Old Guard to charge the British guns at Waterloo, ¥ ¥

» I PROTESTED that he ought to give me a statement, something I could take back to the office. He dropped his bullying mood and began to laugh. ~ “You tell it to your city editor, just like that,” he said, and not another word could I get out of him. Of course. the judge was theatrical and when he laughed at his own remark he gave himself away.

in a chair with a tall, leather padded back, his eyes roaming over the court as if he didn't hear what the attorneys were saying; suddenly he would hunch forward over the desk, point a long finger at the speaker and interject a question, obviously as much for effect as for information.

» ¥ o J. G. TAYLOR SPINK, publisher of the Sporting News and author of “Judge Landis and 25 Years of Baseball” knew what a showman the old boy was, but he respected his basic honesty and thinks the balance is in his favor. Considering that Judge Landis acted like a small, peevish boy toward Mr. Spink, it seems fine of him to write so generously of the Judge, or to undertake any book about him at all. Baseball needed Judge Landis for a czar, for he could talk as rowdy as any of the tough boys from the sticks and when he clamped his Jaws together he didn't budge.

» . ” ‘ YET HE WAS keeping order in the game that was the finest outlet for American men. Mr. Spink says “the game has proved in everyday language that democracy works.” Judge Landis was a baseball fan long before he got the job as commissioner from the big leagues. But he was nearly 50 in 1915 when he presided at the action brought by the Federal league over contractJumping. By delaying his decision .11 months, in the course of which the Federal league collapsed, Judge Landis was said fo have ‘saved baseball. “Had he ruled’ organized baseball to be a gigantic trust, the Federal league contention, he could have thrown the whole game into chaos,” writes Mr. Spink. The Judge was'a prejudiced fan,

» » ~ HIS FATHER, a surgeon, lost a leg from a hit by a Confederate cannonball at the battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Ga., and when his son was born in 1866 he named him after the battle, but spelled the first word Kenesaw—without two “ns.” Judge Landis “bruised easily” and the funniest tale in this book tells how he took offense because an article in the Saturday Evening Post called Mr, Spink Mr. Baseball and described him as a watchdog of baseball, Dan Daniel's review of the article further antagonized the judge, who didn’t want any rivals as Mr. Base-

[A Regular Weekly Featurs of The Times) THE FIRST READER . , . . By Horry Hansen = Judge Landis and Baseball, Picture Story of Joe Louis Are Latest Books on Sports

"JUDGE LANDIS AND 25 YEARS OF BASEBALL." By J. G. Tay

tearing the hide off money-|'

nomination for governor of

ball. In retaliation he took the official guide away from the Sporting News, but the latter carried on unofficially and was a much more

La a

TH ig 4 % Gl

MEN AGAINST DEATH— The landing on Iwo’ Jima, which is described by

a TT TT

2 +

POLIS TIMES

Allen R. Matthews in "The Assault,’ a newspapermén's unvarnished narrative of

Pacific combat.

useful book than Judge Landis’ delayed guides,

» » LJ AS FOR baseball itself, how many fans ever read books about it? I read books about baseball because I am a book reviewer, but fans go to see the games while I am reading the books. For most fans the sports pages do the job thoroughly. But somewhere, perhaps in training camps and where sports writers bend an elbow, the question must come up: “What pitcher pitched three shutouts in the same world series, the all-time record?” and “What home-run hero called his shot like a pool shot?” If this becomes a matter of debate, there's a book by Bill Brandt called “Do You Know Your Baseball?” that may settle matters, ;

w w . THE ANSWER to the first question is Christy Mathewson, in the world series of 1905; the second is Babe Ruth, who is supposed to have pointed to the spot where he intended to send the ball after two strikes In a world series game in 1032, All this is pretty statistical unless you can Imagine the grandstands, Jammed with shouting males, actively getting their feelings involved, Books about baseball are dull things unless they become scenarios for the imagination, goading you. to supply the memory of great events.

» rr . PLAYERS have feelings, too, As Bill Brandt recalls famous runs and maneuvers he describes their reactions, Think of that exciting moment when the Dodgers had three men on bases and Babe Herman came flying toward them, crowding them off; eventually three men landed on third and one of them ran out into right fleld. “Back, back,” roared the third base doach. Whereas the umpire “turned away and yawned slightly.” It all depends on where you sit. “ » . i JOE LOUIS comes to this desk, too, this time in & book by Neil Scott; “Joe Louis: A Picture Story of His Life” This means photos with some explanatory matter, The author is very conscious of Joe Louis as a Negro. He shows pictures ‘of Joe's cousins, born to poverty and squdlor in Alabama, and a cabin like that in which Joe was born and in which millions of southern Negroes still live. Hitler, Mussolini and Franco are portrayed as Fascists and enemies of racial minorities. Joe Louis Bar-

emplified the spirit of American opportunity versus Nazi enslavement.”

» ~ = JOE LOUIS has thrown his support more than once to movements

Joe had not been a Negro he would have made a great deal more money, for instance in advertising products or getting offers of executive positions. The only restaurant that uses his name is not in downtown New York but in Harlem. Yet these are not liabilities; excessive exploitation can hurt white fighters, too, . The champ has made over $3,000,000 since 1934, and although much of that has gone in taxes he still has something left.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

row, in uniform, “was a living sym- { bol of what America meant. He ex- .

for eliminating race bias and op-' |i pression. The author thinks that if fi

Mr. Mauldin writes:

tions. , . demand.” - The war is out of style—~demoded, Those who lost by the war, like the wounded veterans, én expect s kind of irritation in place of the intense, but shortlived public sympathy that greeted their first return from combat. Those who gained by the war naturally prefer to forget the circumstances- that erdvanced their prosperjty. » ” w MEANWHILE, IN PLACE of the earlier crop of personal accounts of the war, the grim, agonizing things that suited the fickle public's emotional state a couple of years back, there is coming a new kind of war books. Tomes now appearing ask such questions as “Was Elsen hower or Montgomery the greater strategist?” They discuss problems of supply, logistics, “brilliant” generalship and so on, dismissing as irrelevant the misery of the individual soldier. Y That way maybe the war makes sense, For it makes no sense that millions of men should have gone through what Allen Matthews describes in “The Assault” unless they were serving a great cause. Great cause or no great cause, the individual soldier was concerned with himself and his buddies, He

was In the most hideous, horrible situation His fear, lone liness, discomfort were things they don't describe in neatly organized books on strategy (maps, indexes and “If the Nth division had moved in.on 17 February instedd of 18 February, would Von Hassenpfeffer have been able to counter-attack?”)

1 BY

| »

Written for readers age against Ohio river pirates around

oreword by Bill Mauldin

OUTFIT'S OLDEST—Allen R. Matthews, Georgia newspaper man and author of "The Assault,” who, at 30, was the oldest man in his company of marines on lwo Jima.

FEAR, LONELINESS and discom-

fort,

reported

straightforwardly,

are not dramatic. “The Assault” will not quicken your pulse. As report ing (Mr. Matthews is a Georgia newspaperman), it is quite different from Ernie Pyle’s. It lacks the pathos, the warmth of Ernie's writ

ing.

Mr. Matthews describes what he experienced of the first 12 days on Iwo Jima. He starts with the uneasy hours aboard the LET before the marines’ landing, and continues with the grim business of get-

ting ashore; getting a foothold.

1800.

PIRATE-HUNTERS—Jacques and Barney Chevalier, youthful adventurers in * Pirates On the Ohio," by Charles Franklin Lender, ‘with illustrations by George Avison (New York, Howell Soskin, $2}. 1 10 to 16, the novel concerns the war

Diary of French West Indian Tells Vivid Story of Early U. S.

"MOREAU DE ST. MERY'S AMERICAN JOURNEY: 1793-1798." Translated and edited by Kenneth Roberts and Anna M.

x To Be “The Comprehensive Guide to Symphonic].

A War Book That Won't Quicken Pulses, ‘The Assault’ Is Medicine America Needs

"THE ASSAULT.” By Allen R. Matthews, F New York, Simon and Schuster, $2.50. By HENRY BUTLER IT'S GETTING increasingly hard to review war books. - In his foreword to Allen R. Matthews' “The Assault,” Bill Mauldin notes the chief reason for that fact. “Now that peace is here, the book business is concerned with chicken farms, boudoirs and other unwarlike attrac: . The war and its literary products are no longer in big

Days of confusion follow. Nothing seems to turn out according to Men move from foxhole to

their

there's grave danger that the scholarly, documented books on the war now appearing will make war seem more sensible than it is. Once people start taking war seriously as a large-scale enterprise requiring organization and intelligence, they forget what the brasshatted pyramid rests upon. The weight is all on the lowest common

A book like “The Assault” should keep people from forgetting. Bill Mauldin closes his foreword with a fervent “I hope like hell it is réad.” Nothing need be added.

"Concert Companion’. . Published

Concert Companion: A

Music,” by Robert Bagar and Louis

BX |Biancolli- and with a preface’ by Inf

Deems Taylor, will be published ‘November by Whittlesey House. Messrs. Bagar and Biancolll are program annotators for the New York Philharmonic-Symphony soclety and music critics for the New York- World Telegram, a ScrippsHoward’ newspaper.

Sterling North's Book Scheduled for. Fall

“How Dear to My Heart” by Sterling North, a book about R boy growing up in Indians, is nounced for Sept. 25 publication by Doubleday, according to Publishers’ Weekly. : Walt Disney plans to do a film based on the book and the same title, which Mr. Disndy-iy sald to have chosen for it, “PW” reports. .

Yerby's 'The Vixens'

Condensed in Omnibook “The Vixens,”

«color with

Columbia University P

death hy violence. $ make them into finger and the army found boys or la Mo., wearing them in 1043. Whether

or not they survived, the book does not tell, — »n . ” THE OZARKS must be filled with people wearing bits of skin, stones and other objects to ward off specific troubles. Some children still wear packets of asafetida, a practice as old as American republc. Women wear a moleskin between their breasts to prevent. cancer. Hillmerf wear little sacks of

A live minnow, swallowed by a baby, is supposed to prevent whooping cough. Maybe you have heard the old belief that night air is poisonous; it still exists in Missouri. Marriage and courtship bring out a lot of strange customs. When a couple is being married they must stand with feet parallel to -the cracks in the, floor to avoid bad luck. ‘The: wedding ring must come from a mail order house, for a ring bought at a store may have been tried on by some one, and therefore be bad luck. “The evidence contains references w many old tadhioned sayings, repeated in many households. Evidently the Ozark people have for gotten nothing; they have taken over the whole kaboodle of peculiarities of the English-speaking people and added a great mgay of their own~H. H,

HIGH PRIESTESS—Isadora Duncan, who became high priestess of a new cult of the dance, ‘one of the 80-odd illustrations in "Isadora Duncan,” edited by Paul Magriel. (New York Holt, $3).

Bank Frauds Covered

{story in a new setting—once more

FROM TARKINGTON COL

museum,

«A Bodhisattva, -or di-

vine follower of Buddha, I3th Century Asiatic wood carving from the cqllection of the late Booth Tarkington. The figure ing traces of the original rich polychrome decoration, has been lent by Mrs, Tarkington for display all summer at Herron

, still retain-

Old, Old Story Has a New Setting

book. New York, Schuster, $3.

She has done newspaper work “in her native town and in Europe, and now lives in the mining camp of Breckenridge, Colo. So in “The Spring Begins” she writes about a mining camp — Buckbush, on Goldpan river, and about Angie Sweet, who ran a boarding house for the miners in Buckbush. Angie was 17 when she married George Sweet, who was 50. He died two years later, after warning Angie against boarders who might take advantage of her. ”

” “ THE STORY-of Angie starts when she tries to adjust herself to a lonely life keeping boarders. The three men who had the biggest hopes for the Kitty Rose mine were the elderly Cal, the younger Joby,

cided to marry Angie. “Suppose she says yes. Where’m I going to eat?” yelled: Cal in the mine tunnel. “You better go slow with Angie.” ..Angle had a romantic streak, and the man who profited by it was Pandy. But Pandy was not the marrying Rind. :

~ . . PERHAPS THESE few hints give you the beginning of an old, old

the flighty one beloved by the woman, and the honorable, genuine one . getting the mitten. Grand operas have been written on less. ¥ Miss Rich does not write grand operg, but she writes a most direct and’ satisfying little narrative, I didn’t know a woman could ‘write s0 well of what plain, hard-fisted men think about. Maybe it’s the heritage of Sauk Centre, Then, too, Miss Rich has been around.—H. H.

BLOCK'S BOOKWORM

wil fil your order for any book reviewed or advertised

here.

Block's Bookshop, South Mezzanine

ANOTHER author hails from Sauk| Centre, Minn. — the first and great-| :

est, you may recall was Sinclair : .{salt, so. they won't get the mumps. |ewis.

This one is named Helen Rich.

and the gay lad, Pandy. Toby de-|y

Woman Pens Good Account Of Plain, Hard-Fisted Miners

FROM SAUK CENTRE— Helen Rich, author of "The Spring Begins," who hails from Sauk Centre, Minn., Sinclair Lewis' home town.

Libraries Offer

Summer Plan SPECIAL BORRO vie leges for vacationists WG ve fered by the city’s libraries, accorde to Miss Marian McFadden, city

. “When it's rainy or the/fish aren't biting, then the vacationist is glad he jock ime a few good books” Miss McFadden said today. - # » . UNDER the library’ summer reading plan, patrons do not have to return books until Oct. 1. Any reasonable number of hooks may be borrowed. ‘Seven-day books are not included because of the heavy de mand for them. ‘To avoid ovefdue penalties, patrons must advise the library wher they are taking out books under thi summer. vacation plan, Miss Me Fadden stated. {

Joad Pens Volume C. E. M. Joad, eminent Bri : philosopher, is the author of “How which the

-d

PLAN Moon’ ca géneral theater, s at Butler §

a —————————— ———

Insid

tefl lll WHAT HA ficial if he ge “If worse regional direct “I still have © where I. got 1 But it was “worst” isn't while he has | one of the mo world. A job like highly develo “know how" a without hesita A “natural top in the ls elected to the half after he elective job th On the pe gadgets and | in his “spare gadgets. He's restaurant me bulging eyes ¢ He travels 90 per cent of He always mal a train or pi learned the h: barrassed if ti

Learned “I FIRST this labor bus strikes in Det. had some po candidate for

Roberts. New York, Doubleday, $5. . Mail this coupon to : | " Amvwer to Previous Pussle + i ts in the niags-| By Ex ert.in Book Lis . AMERICA seen through foreign eyes always has-been a fascinating| Other abridgmen )y Exp . Award Winner AIRES] IRBEIESERA] study. Moreau de St. Mery, French West Indian lawyer, left one of the sine’s July issue are: “The HOY! “cpory mrauds” a studs of emo || THE WM.: H. BLOCK CO. BOOK SHO | PISS RIR! 1 TRIS BUFR] keenest #hd most vivid accounts of thegearly United States in the whole Reader,” edited by Bernard Smith), ..;ument by Lester A. Pratt, will Indiina aie ' ! LABOR HORIZONTAL VERTICAL END) NI 1 | marature of travel. and Phillip Van Doren Stern; “The Bl be published July 16 by the Ronald | ‘ndianapolis 9, Ind. § ‘pet pen wi Kenneth Roberts, doing research for “Lydia Bailey,” found St. Mery’s | Walls of Jericho,” by Paul I Well~| ores Co. of New York. "J + Please send fhe following for which | enclose. sesso sssssese ss his mood an i ASPIktured . . 1 Linprisoned journals valuable source material With Mrs. Roberts’ help, he trans- [man and “Laughing into Glory,” by| “UP GL 8 (OF FOR oH] : py doctor 2 More aged ated the “American -Journey™ss Hodge Macllvain Eggleson, detection a ths sdblect of on ai Charge my regular account. ¢ RE 12 Roman helmet 3 2m Ino easy job OF 1STH-CENTURY New York : Ee ticle, “How to Rob a Bank,” which || . Print titles of books: wanted. .,s.asievisonsranerntvasvates 4 3 Sadun J 3 Greater About thie heat Nay Vo seticy We’ (hihi Sumther, one Midwest Folklore | amass nuaue se sin elt ans nan tout che sn ihe saoune rinse sus | Mr. 15 Disencumber | book is to quote from its|s 14 : 16 Trade 6 Skits based Fh give the flavor nd and it da not unusual to see snimais| 10Id In New Volume. NAME Sete e INT ae tastiest asters ates test astra —————— 18 Exist 7 Hastens 35Hewona 42Disrobes the sometimes severe criticism OGL Sora NUeTILG SRW, CHICRY| ok A YI7i lina Just secsived fiom | ADDRESS a | BOLLYW! i cows ’ t ug | V vs y Pet att ten aa trast asset estan ast antenna } 19 Malt drink 3 Over {ountz) 26 Swiss capital 44 Greek Jotter the author's Sommania, ; panes and sidewalks are washed on|author, the manuscript of a collec- | a 3 Shins” § i Crawford he 20 Not as much 10 Stare 33 Punctuation fen IN HIS chapter on Norfolk, Bt.|Saturday, nobody bothers to remove tion of Midwestern folklore} and City Cataieiestesedasaseiesatane as State veriiaiiane tion ‘after ‘co fe 31 Vegrable LS ndanbert py 33 Covers Mery says of Virginians: . Ib laiihe dead dogs, cAth and rats from Bumer. LLL. Le her first real : 25 Foments 14 Smallest 34 Handles 50 Manuscripts | generally acknowledged that they) “er” ones 1n Brooklyn, a squib|volume begins with selections p : Joan Lesli i 27 Editor (ab.) amount 37 Glants (ab.) love display, and that the pleasure i, New Yorker magazine might/frontier-day writers and brings: : offered the le { 28 Symbol for SA Jictindin dye 20 Eimttes oi Land : of paying their debts is not the one | caption Good Old Days”: reader pight up to the present: i will bo wade © FT R | & re rabbit in “H: : A insist he is a —-— fi a. Jimmy 1s sixYour ‘ball poll are still single bills, 1 pe Leb i a AR Rh od ¥ + DEPARTMENT]