Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 November 1948 — Page 8

THE FIRST READER . .

‘Sam and the Superdroop' Parodies 1948 Of Comic Book Blood; Gore

~ "SAM AND THE SUPERDROOP." By Munro Leaf.

Viking, $1.50.

IT IS UNFORTUNATE this column cannot be devoted more frequently to the discussion of children’s books. Hundreds of volumes are published annually for juvenile readers

and obviously many of them whole the quality of juvenile

available to youngsters.

Munro Leaf, author of Ferdinand, shows a special awareness of the problem of commer-

. By Robert W. Minton

s Lusty Era

New York,

will not be good. But on the

material is encouraging in the| face of a steady deterioration in other mediums of enlightenment and entertainment

cialists who have seen the great men and women in action. Needless to say this book was not specifically written for a juvenile audience, so dad will un-

cialized “culture”—the comics, the radio, the cinema. His latest book, “Sam and the Superdroop,” is a welcome satire designed to wean children away from the ridiculous heroes who wallow in gore and

after Christmas dinner.

doubtedly be found reading it

® x = FOR THE GIRLS, Dean Mar-

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES by Local Artist on Display at Block's

delight in pain. o » o

SAM MARTIN, a typical 10-year-old American boy, has an

addiction to comic books and as a

result is visited by Buperdroop, an alligator-like ‘creature with a Jet engine on his tail. Superdroop likes to curl up on a pile of old comics. He also likes to take little comic friends like Sam to meet Rhett Racey, the R-man, Bide-saddle Samson and Plutanium, secret scout of the interstellar patrol. Enough to say that these impossible characters thoroughly discourage Bam from reading comic magazines and Superdroop moves on. Mr, Leaf spares no one, including Walt Disney, whose Donald Duck comes in for a much needed critique. His wise conclusion is that either a boy should save his comic book money and buy good books or get a library card and use it. Probably few, boys affected by Superdroop as Sam was but parents can supplement Mr. Leaf’s thinking to discourage an insidious reading habit. 8 me

A VERY PLEASANT book for children between 5 and 10 is Eleafior Estes’ “The Sleeping Giant” (Harcourt, Brace, $3). Parents will enjoy reading aloud the story of the Sleeping Giant, a mountain in Mt. Carmel that moves itself to the international date line because some men annoyed it by drilling on a hill that is really the giant's head. There are two other stories in the book written for girls. One tells of how Effie lost her shadow when it got packed accidentally in her mother’s suitcase. The other concerns a giraffe visible only to a little girl and is the least appealing because of its familiar theme.

» IF YOUR SON shows any interest in sciendé you might give him

“The Story of Sound” by James Geralton (Harcourt, Brace, $2). Mr. Geralton teaches physics at Harvard and has done an excellent job in explaining a complex phenomenon. It'is copiously illustrated and advises how experiments may be conducted to test the validity of the theories pre-

sented. : My only objection is that Mr. Geralton has been a bit relentless in his refusal to break the 72 pages into chapters. The subject, even simplified, is definitely too much to take in one sitting unless you are re a young Edison. Animal stories seem to have a universal appeal and if you are looking to get away from the classics this year I'd recommend Felix Salten’s “Favorite Animal Stories” (Messner, $3). Mr. Salten is the author of “Bambi” and you * can rely on his taste for good animal tales. There are 14 stories, some of them by well-known writers like Jack London and Alexander Woollcott. Dogs and cats predominate, but there are also a macaw, a kangaroo and a mole. = " ”

THE STORY which struck me particularly was one I had read before called “Krambambuli,” by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, a German author. Krambambuli is a dog whom Hopp the forester has bought from a young down -and-out poacher. A fierce loyalty grows up’ between Hopp and Krambambuli. One day Hopp comes upon the young poacher hunting and tells Krambambuli to get him, but the dog, torn between the two loyalties, cannot act and is turned out.

shall has a little fiction of tremendous charm, “The Invisible Island” (Dutton, $2.50). The four Guthrie children, two boys and two girls ranging from 12 to 6 in age, discover that the spot where they are camping in the country is really an island because a small stream flows around the south end. They call it the Invisible Island because only they know it's technically surrounded by water. The! understanding parents give the children a great range of freedom, letting them camp out alone. supplying them from across the lake on the east side of the island, and the children get into no trouble. They are, however, bewildered by the mysterious gifts that turn up and delighted when they solve their little mystery. ” » . MISS MARSHALL has a feeling for children which is certain to be shared by children themselves. If the Guthries’ world is somewhat more benign than that of the average child, well, children too would like a glimpse of what life might be like if all parents were as perfect as Mr. and Mrs. Guthrie. The books I have mentioned are just a few that have struck my particular fancy. Because it is impossible to review the endJes Swot of children’s litera. ure, I woul e to that no offense is meant tar whi

War Story Grim Reading

"STALINGRAD." By Theodor Pleivier. New York, Appleton, Century, $3. «..

. io a oh ies “STALINGRAD,” by Theodor

Nik "Adirondack Trail"

New York.

~~

ogre dis,

Ee Fg pron E

is the title of this aquatint etching by Evelynne Mess, Indianapolis artist, included in the annual exhibition of the Indiana Society of Print Makers opening today in the Wm, H. Block Co. auditorium, to run until Dec. 17. "Adirondack Trail" is included also in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress in Washirigton as a purchase by the Society of American Etchers,

ow

AD

OF US." schmidt. $3. By HENRY BUTLER

ri A oT tales ’ ritons think of s is in works arent mentioned in this part a discussion of the tragedy : of present-day England. Thus Fred Vanderschmidt, chief . lof Newsweek's London bureau, starts one chapter of his informa-

tive book “What the English Think of Us” with this statement:

“All over England, which is very: much like an old and leaky perilously overcrowded by y orderly, well-disciplined who do not know where

recent war,

Literature. ¥

seven weeks.

reading. It's grim.

supremacy based might.

not®”

Pleivier, gives the American reader a new type of story about the

A translation from German, it is already a best seller in Central Europe and makes a fair bid to be classed with the world's great|P

The setting of the story is a pocket in the Russian line west of Stalingrad; the characters are 330,000 German troops trapped hopelessly; the time, mid-winter 1843-44; the action, the annihilation of the German army at the rate of 20,000 men a week for

“STALINGRAD” is not happy It is the story of the collapse not only of an army, but of an ideal of on military

It is a story of di¥illusion and disintegration of military leaders from the point where one colonel says instinctively «God. protect you” instead of ‘Heil Hitler!” to the . time when each general's greatest problem {is “Suicide-or-

they are going, young men and women are trying to get out.” British young people want to get out because they see little future for them at home. Mr. Vanderschmidt is equally gloomy about what he sees of England's rospects. Production is off—a fact American commentators have pointed out in criticizing what they term England's socialistic government. There’s no indication that food will be more abundant for years to come, Mr. Vanderschmidt writes. Ambition, still a powerful drive in American youth, has its English expression in a desire for more and more leisure, he says.

» o n 1 A DISINTEGRATING EMPIRE and vanishing markets, on top of the hideous expense of war, have left England in precarious shape. Naturally, the British attribute part of their trouble to having “stood off” Hitler for two years before the United States got into World War II. The role of England as “unsinkable aircraft carrier” helped protect the United States from attack, but only at great cost to England. Proud and sensitive, ths British resent the patronizing attitude of

So affected is Krambambuli that, he dies outside Hopp's door just as Hopp is about to take him, back. os ” ” | A VARIATION on the usual animal story has been imaginatively contrived by Pers Crowell. His “First Horseman” (Whittlesy House, $2.50), describes how Vuldar, a boy in a prehistoric tribe, - captures a stallion and trains him, to the utter amazement of the men, who can see no use in horses. Mr. Crowell occasionally strains your credulity, but he writes the kind of story that boys like to read. It is a novel idea and a welcome change from cowboy tales. You realize that people did ride horses. before the West ‘was

pened up. i Another book any boy will de“Sport's Golden Age”

vour js (Harper, $3.95). It's edited by Allison Danzig and Peter Brand-

wein. : Here is a panorama of the

o

Adventure for the Children

Young Folks Trying to Leave Dreary England, Writer Says

“WHAT THE ENGLISH THINK By Fred VanderNew York, McBride,

many prosperous American tourists since the war. They resent our criticisms, our suggestions—| even, or perhaps. especially, our sympathy. Mr. Vanderschmidt has gathered a variety of publicly and privately expressed opinions, from newspapers and interviews. He finds less virulent anti-American feeling than some observers have helieved to exist. While Mr. Vand erschmidt writes popularly rather than profoundly, he makes clear his main point; Anglo-American misunderstandings are part of the huge and dreadful picture of world dislocation today. - ‘

H. A. Smith's Latest Is Dull

"LARKS IN THE POPCORN." By H. Allen Smith. New York, Doubleday, $2.50. SOONER or later every humorist moves to the country and proceeds to act on the theory no one has ever lived in the country before and no ore has ever written about it. For this reason H. Allen Smith’s latest book, “Larks in the Popcorn” is only occasionally amusing. When he is explaining he is not really a magnet for screwballs, Mr. Smith is screamingly funny. Among his non-screwball friends is a man known as The Singer, who visits him every so often and sings the first line of the Indian Love Call and then announces: “And in flew a dead duck.”

= 9 s THERE is the newspaperman who is so afraid of slipping in the bathtub he has screwed 30 door knobs along the wall to seize, Unfortunately, the laughs are altogether too far spaced.

Poet Given Niche In Novel History

"MEREDITH." A biography. By Siegftied Sassoon. New York, Viking, $3.50. Siegfried Sassoon’s excellent biography of George Meredith, draws a fine portrait of the Victorian novelist and poet against a broad background of late 19th

|

| { |

-»

» A

Augustus (right) and his sister and little brother are back in a new addition to. the Augustus series: "Augustus and the Desert,” | by Le Grand. With illustrations by the author, this I1th volume | in the adventure series designed for children 8 to 12 is a recent Bobbs-Merrill publication ($2).

Century literary resurgence. His book is “Meredith.” The author glides rapidly over Meredith's work as a t and places him securely th the group who gave permanent form to the novel. He points out that it was because the novel became more popular and profitable than poetry that Meredith turned to prose. In a light style, tempered with poetic feeling, Mr. Sassoon discusses at length Meredith's major works, especially the famous “The Ordeal of Richard Feverel,” his first novel.

| Bl 4150 at Neighdorhood Stores

o a? ssas ® 858 Broad Aipote Ave Mall Orders Promptly Pilled

Cerf Compiles New Joke Book

"SHAKE WELL BEFORE USING." By Bennett Cerf. New York, Simon & Schuster, $2.95.

SOME PEOPLE can take a joke or leave it alone. . Not Bennett Cerf. When he hears or reads a joke he thinks about it, remembers it and eventually jots it down on paper. It was suspected that he was addicted to jokes, old jokes, new jokes, any kind of jokes, when he wrote “Try and Stop Me.” He has ended all doubt with the publication of “Shake Well Before Using,” which he calls “a new collection of impressions and anecdotes, mostly humorous.” The very title suggests that jokes may be habit forming.

» » s HERE IS a year’s supply for the most avid joke fiend. It is full of quickies like: the rivalry betwen Minneapolis and St. Paul is So intense that two Minneapolis book stores refused to stock the best-seller, “In the Steps of St. Paul.” It is also full of long, generous essays on a number of witty people like Will Rogers who said that the field of humor is crowded fouly when Congress is in session.”

» . # THE BOOK is divided into sections like a newspaper, beginning with the front page and running to society. Each section is full of anecdotes, true and imagined, told | about or by famous people. I can’t think of anyone Mr. Cert has overlooked, except George Gallup and Elmer Roper, who will no doubt appear in his next book. A glance at the index reveals among the T's: Tennyson, Thackeray, Thoreau, Toscanini, Trotsky and Truman. Everyone to his own taste, here | are a couple of my favorites: A British destroyer zigzagging around an American battleship signaled by blinker: “What do you think of our camouflage?” The exasperated captain of the battle-

cent. Where the hell are you?” = = = HOLLYWOOD producet’s secretary: “Terrible out, isn’t it?” Hollywood producer: “What can you expect in weather like this?” Mr. Cerf is not meant to be taken at one sitting. but if glanced at briefly before retiring it should make your dreams pleasanter and more punful. R. W. M.

Eliot Book Coming

A new prose work by T. 8.

ship signaled back: “It's manifi-]

THIS EVENING

SATURDAY, NOV. 27, 1948

O PROGRAMS

(The Indisnapoiis Times is not responsible for Maccuracies ID Program announcements caused by late station : Wik 10 int WILW 1590: ee WE) WE | Et. 100 Maks Mise Music | Easy Does it Plaftor Chatter fasts Clos fan Wilk Dyn 5 | Santa Claws "ie . Saturday Session 30 [Mit § pay ror tle CC Demin, Bin a = 7 ember lien Julies Soding i Soup | ice_iall :15 | Meme from Lake Success : . U.S. Marises Football Scores Ce ow :30 | Toon Conlon Troe or False Football Scores Saturday Dale hie :45 | Football Scoreboard ie News & Sports Narlis Brothers :00 |Gilbert Forbes | Football Scores Outs & Harrief Cake Walon Hic for Dining 3 Veaghn Hows Sean Coe ak Sor nee Jy Ts | : use. Mel Allen Allen Jofries .s. Music You Like oh County Falr_ Toni Questions Torwood Siar Theater | Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Haske From 7 30 [stn ovr Hotvwsod | Campin soaps Tih or Comoquonces | Dick Jurgens 200 _Contuy -Soronade SEMEL TEE "ir Chiropractic 00 | Foollight Echoes ~ | Gabriel Hoaflor WF Parade Gang Busters Proudly Wo_ Naif 15 x Boasior Hit Parade . ie 1 Pays To Bo Ignorant Most The Boss Judy Canova What's My Hamel Howe-Toch 700 | Hometown Reunion | Guy Lumbarde Douais Day, Whiz Gelz Ne 050 [notonat sort bat | ont 0 oor {Bart Hien { ag | § ov =5. ® nl Good Music Bor 100 | Gilberf Forbes Sone Tally ion Jofires wih Fy 10:15 [Banistand Easy on Record Horton Downey Danes band oa :30 | Football & : Dancing Party - . » :45 | Barclay Allen Orchestra ay Y oo. - ~ 00 [Million § [Danes flows—Sporfsm Variety Hour Sign OF Ss - 4 a rn arely » ~ 115 . . = Rollinl Trio oe - shi =» A ™ ny

'Bet a Million’ Bars All Holds

“BET A MILLION!: THE STORY OF JOHN W. GATES." By Lloyd Wendt and Herman Kogan. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Mer-rill, $3.50. FROM the day in 1876 when he arrived in San Antonio, Tex. to start selling barbed wire until the day he died in Paris in 1011, John W. Gates pursued big money, and got it. In his last years he ran up against J, Pierpont Morgan and the Rockefellers, to his embarrassment. But he ended up with between $40 million and $50 million. All won the fast way. “Bet a Million!” by Lloyd Wendt and Herman Kogan is the story of a gambler who wanted no limit, and also a story of the days of

than you do, only you do it behind closed doors.” “That, Mr. Gates, is what doors have replied. fellers,

for business, childless in 1913. Dellorah Gates,

tives.

Eliot, recent Nobel Prize winner, | will be published next February, by Harcourt, Brace under the; title “Notes Toward the Defini-|

tion of Culture.”

A Religious Center With a Civic Circumference

WFBM—9:15 A. M. SUN. Dr. E. Burdette Backus

Speaks ds “Our Covenant”

11 A. M. AT THE CHURCH “Earth Could Be Fair”

Fifth of a Series on Fundamentals of a Free Faith

. ALL SOULS UNITARIAN CHURCH

r—

are for,” Morgan is supposed to

Unlike the Morgans and RockeGates did not found a dynasty. His one son Charles turned out to be a playboy unfit and himself died

his. mother, died in 1918 and the $38 million she left went to rela-

AIT CTRL

"TOMORROW IS BEAUTIFUL." By Lucy Robins Lang. New York, Macmillan, $3.50. “TOMORROW IS BEAUTIFUL” by Lucy Robins Lang is the autobiography of a girl who came to this country at the age of 10 from Russia and began working for $1 a week in a Chicago tobacco factory. Tén years later she was In the thick of the radical mow t

of the first decade of this century and eventually she became the intimate of Emma Goldman, Samuel Gompers, William Green

and other prominent labor leaders.

Ex-Radical Tells Her Story

HER OWN radicalism was limited to living an unconventional life, traveling all over America, throwing herself into causes such as the fight to free Eugene Debs or the exoneration of Tom Mooney. She ended up a Republican and a staunch supporter of the congervative elemeht in American labor. Mrs. Lang has little use for either the New. Deal or the CIO. Mrs. Lang's life has been a romantic ‘one. It spans the rise and fall of both anarchism and communism in America. She has no great gifts as an author, but she has been a woman of accomplishment.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Aunnwer to Previous Pussle

51 Papal cape 54

55 Sleeping 57 Foretoken 58 Corded, fabric 59 Candle 60 Hurl 61 Before

VERTICAL 1 Watercraft

2 Shield 3 Vegetable

‘maybe a special gesture from Santa in

YOUR direction). A

two dollars, or five dollars per week club account is available. - Take your cholce. But don't delay. Call soon and receive extra a free shopping list booklet,

D Ye rTd TE 1h) ep E ERY

ARERR HACE BS

An Extra Merry and Happy Christmas for You in 1949

A mite a week ads up to a mighty nice check—just when it can do the most good for

you. Just think—an extra $25 or $50 or $100—maybe $250, on hand to

help make loved ones happier (and

American “high finance” when . sep , ; i x CONG] there were no rules. Baritone ATE JARRE pal | EERO [B]1 [Ri GATES WENT from San An- TL LERRIO VITESSE TIRIA] tonio to Chicago and then to New| HORIZONTAL 4 Venerate INIA JME UIs EIOIAN York and back to Texas to his| 1.4 Pictured S$ German river EEE Ci vast oil interests in his 35-year| singer $Rodieley ETAL IER] EVIEIRT career. He gambled with cards, orms er D ENS |E R&I O 1H] reel rites “cor, “eoion, | eulleT SMusiatoon (CS OEEER GREE RIO IO [TINO 1D | O IR ISNA IL, IA Wheat and horses. 13 Native metal rob oo. LITERS] [LINDLL[TIE] He would bet $10,000 whether| 14 Girl’s name ubmerge [SITIEIAIMS] [GIRIAITIE]S] his raindrop or that of another| 15 Sends forth 11 Brain passage ; man would reach the bottom of| 16 Winglike part 12 Bones 31 Dutch city 45 International a window pane first. 17 Sells 18 Solicitor 32 Scan page ; He matched coins for thousands. 19 Nights before __ general (ab.) Dress Malt drinks He won ‘hundreds of thousands, events 21 Diamond- Expire 47 Painful | hundreds of 20 Soft cutter’s cup 38 Mother 48 At. all times {F1aying Boker; more. hum 22C 23 Age 39 Blackbird of 49 Back of thousands on the horses, millions Sses 26 Conclusion cuckoo family 52 Sinbad’s bird in stock and commodity manipu-| 24 Either lati “| 25 Road (ab) 27 Pinnacle 42 Spar 53 Wine vessel auons. | 26 Public 28 Consumed 43 Indian coin ~~ 56 Symbol for He butted headlong into Mor- 30 Twitching 44 Cease erbium gan, and that financial rock os eloute finally came pretty near stopping 2 Mawes him. Morgan detested him. An-| 3% Negativg word drew Carnegie called him “nothing 35 Fear but a pirate, a broken down Ss gambler.” ie 40 Palm lily “MY REPUTATION is as good as| 41 Any yours,” Gates is supposed to have| 42 Subdue told Morgan. “I do nothing worse 3 Asvinded

half dollar, a dollar,

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