| Show Elsa sa Maxwell Satirist Dawn Powell Refutes Axiom About Plump People On the few occasions when I have been In gatherings that included Dawn Powell I have always been delighted by her direct and more more than slightly malicious wit She has a no- no now nonsense-now way of looking at you from beneath her heavy dark bangs a a a way that prepares prepares pre pre- pares pares- you approaching bon mot he look malicious malicious malicious ma ma- licious she doesn't look catty catty- she isn't sufficiently feminine to belong to the They say or Have you heard girls As a matter of fact she looks like a asocial asocial asocial social worker I was once a social social social so so- cial worker myself myself myself-in in reverse perhaps but perhaps but I know Like most satirists she rarely smiles and never titters at a witticism Dawn Is a living Jiving refutation of the axiom that all plump people are continually gay and cheerful Unfortunately I do not see her often as she he restricts her haunts to the home territory of Greenwich Village a Village a neighborhood neighborhood neighborhood neighbor neighbor- hood which seems almost as far faraway faraway faraway away to me as Brooklyn Well I didn't read her latest nov novel l A Time to Be Born last f fall when people were whispering whispering whispering whis whis- about this sacrilegious attack on Americas America's most fabulous fabulous fabulous lous and fantastic journalistic couple Indeed I heard a lotof lot of talk about Dawns Dawn's book book book- whose very title subtly recalls the n name me of one of the worlds world's largest news-gathering news I felt somehow that It was an act of disloyalty even to top p pee peep e e p into this devastating satire Time and life have a way of ot changing ones one's views view however So the other day I picked up my copy of A Time to Be Born just to see if there wasn't perhaps perhaps perhaps per per- haps some angle Id I'd missed on the beautiful girl reporter In high places Thus I a ambled m b 1 e d amiably through crushing pages of farce and mimicry none mimicry none of it gentle nor too subtle The story itself if tant is a blow by blow account I of a ruthless modern womans woman's rise to wealth and power through the canny use of her blazing beauty and others' others I brains It is about Amanda Keeler author of a costume novel that became such a best seller that the level eyed handsome young woman woman with nothing to lose least of all s a heart heart bec became me an an important authority on imported and domestic politics This was in pre Pearl Harbor America Amanda rode the worlds world's debacle debacle debacle deb deb- acle as if it were her her own yacht and saved her tears for Finland and the photographers She knew exactly what she wanted from life which was In Ina Ina a 8 word everything Her further success as a journalist journalist journalist jour jour- and public personality was assured by her marriage to toa toa toa a publisher called Julian Evans This marriage of more public than private devotion devotion devotion de de- was chiefly conducted nd by y Interoffice memos from Amandas Amanda's Amanda's Amandas Aman Aman- mandas manda's man man- das da's secretary to Julians Julian's secretary secretary secretary secre secre- tary on the floor above The were united only in a desire to wake snake every minute count in good contacts or valuable valuable valuable val val- val val- publicity As social l I I found Dawns Dawn's book accurate accurate accurate ac ac- ac- ac curate but butas as satire of life among the Luces or Luces-or or even an approximation of it it- it completely it Q pl t y off the track It so happens that in a way I am this brilliant couples couple's cupid For they met at a party of mine They are happily married and I know their home life is no such domestic farce communication carried on by secretaries as Miss Powell describes Nor are they false fronts who try to wring every drop of Intellect out of others Certainly they do donot donot donot not have to try to surround themselves with Important people people people peo peo- for the effect it creat creates s. s Having wealth power brains and beauty of their own who own who would they be attempting to influence Press Alliance Inc |
