Newspaper Page Text
Page 14
— Griffin Daily News Thursday, February 26, 1976
About books
Holding up the conversation
Capsule reviews prepared by the
American Library Assn
By Peggy Barber
Coffee table books share a
number of characteristics:
They are usually large in size,
colorful, contain a minimum
of reading material and
package the past in some in
triguing way
By sheer weight they
promise a good deal more
than they deliver but they look
good on display and they do
tempt guests to flip through
them.
This profile fits four new
picture books that celebrate
the past, and provide a
delightful view of popular
culture All are big, beautiful,
weigh in at about three pounds
each and (with one exception)
lack substance But, the look
ing is great in all
“Myth America," by Carol
Wald, with text by Judith
Papachristou, features
photographs of women from
1865-1945. The dimpled
lovelies represent idealized
American beauty as drawn
from a vast collection of
advertisements, post cards,
posters, magazine covers, and
sheet music. Separate sec
tions show women at work, at
play, growing up, being
naughty, being good, courting,
marrying, raising a family,
and keeping house. In other
words, women in all the ap
proved feminine roles. A
collection of pictures of
college maidens and young
scholars includes advice from
Aubrey Menen; “No woman
objects to being called in
telligent provided she is
assured that it has done no
harm to her looks."
Wfiat Americans are reading
Based on most requested books from the shelves of libraries in 150 cities around the country,
compiled by the American Library Association (Distributed by Newspaper Enterprise Assn )
Fiction
This Last Weeks
Week Week On List
1. CHOIRBOYS. 1 10
by Joseph Wambaugh (Delacorte, $8.95.)
2. 2 17
by Agatha Christie (Dodd, Mead & Co., $7.95.)
3. LOOKING FOR MISTER GOODBAR, 4 19
by Judith Rossner (Simon & Schuster, $7.95.)
4. RAGTIME, 3 19
by E L Doctorow (Random House. $8 95 )
5. TREASURE, 5 14
by Irving Slone (Doubleday. $10.95.)
6.1 N THE BEGINNING, 6 9
by Chaim Potok (Alfred A Knopf. $8 95.)
7. RICH MAN, POOR MAN, -1
by Irwin Shaw (Delacorte. $7.95.)
8. OF THE FAR ISLAND, 7 19
by Victoria Holt (Doubleday. $7 95.)
9. 8 5
by Irwin Shaw (Delacorte. $8 95 )
10. TIME OF THE DRAGONS, 9 2
by Dorothy Eden (Coward. McCann &
Geohegan. $8 95.)
Food stamp reforms
on way without law
WASHINGTON (UPI) - Act
ing on orders from President
Ford, Agriculture Department
officials plan to announce
regulations for sweeping re
forms in the food stamp
program without a new law.
The proposals, anticipated
today, are expected to follow
the general outlines of a bill
approved by the Senate
Agriculture Committee Wednes
day. But they reportedly will go
beyond the congressional plan
in tightening eligibility rules for
Many Georgians would lose them
Whitmire’s
107 SOUTH HILL. STREET
GRIFFIN, GEORGIA
MYTH AMERICA, by Carol Wald with text by Judith Papachristou
(Pantheon Books. 182 pages, $17.95.)
ALL AMERICAN GIRL: THE ART OF COLES PHILLIPS, by
Michael Schau (Watson Guptill. 176 pages. $22.50)
STAR SPANGLED KITSCH, by Curtis F. Brown (Universe Books.
202 pages. $15.00 )
THE LOOK BOOK, edited by Leo Rosten (Harry N # Abrams. Inc.,
400 pages. $35.00.)
“Sailor Girl, 1920", from
“Myth America: Picturing
Women 1865-1945," a collec
tion of dimpled lovelies in all
the approved feminine roles.
During the period covered
in “Myth America,” it’s easy
to see dramatic changes
between the 19th century cor
seted, domesticated woman
and the increasingly sexual
modern woman, active in a
world outside the home. Yet
aside from some alteration in
costume and activity, the
faces remain sweet, pretty,
gentle and feminine and a
glance through any current
magazine shows that “Myth
America" is still with us.
“All American Girl, the Art
of Coles Phillips” is another
lovely look at idealized
American feminity. Michael
Schau introduces this first
book on Coles Phillips with a
readable biography of the ar
tist who created the "Phillips
Girl" — an image that women
the $5.6 billion stamp program.
The outlook for the adminis
tration’s proposals, however,
was clouded by threats of court
action.
Officials of the Food Re
search and Action Center of
New York said earlier they
would seek to tie any new
administrative proposals up in
court until Congress could
complete action on its own food
stamp bills.
Ford announced last week
that he intended to make
aspired to and men adored in
the 19205.
Phillips ranked with Max
field Parrish and J.C.
Leyendecker as one of
America’s most popular il
lustrators during his brief and
busy career (1907-1927). His
stylized paintings made
beautiful use of art deco
design, and he created a “fade
away” technique in which the
main portion of the figure —
generally the clothing —
blended into the background,
with highlights on hands,
faces and legs defining the
figure.
Phillips toiled for hours on
each of his illustrations, over
175 of which are included in
this book, forty-eight in color.
They are drawn from adver
tisements, illustrations for
romantic novels and
magazine covers.
Curtis F. Brown goes
beyond mass consumption of
the beautiful to focus on mass
consumption of the ugly.
“Star Spangled Kitsch” is
subtitled “an astounding and
tastelessly illustrated ex
ploration of the bawdy, gaudy,
shoddy mass art culture in
this grand land of ours ..."
And that it is.
To be sure there are no mis
understandings, Brown begins
by defining kitsch, schlock,
and camp, and explaining the
differences between them.
There are many fine lines, but
Non-Fiction
This Last Weeks
Week Week On List
1. BRING ON THE EMPTY HORSES, 1 18
by David Niven (Putnam, $9.95.)
2. SYLVIA PORTER’S MONEY BOOK, 3 19
by Sylvia Porter (Doubleday. $12.50.)
3. DORIS DAY: HER OWN STORY, 4 3
by A. E. Hotchner (Wm. Morrow. $8.95.)
4. SKELTER, 2 19
by Vincent Bugliosi (Norton, SIO.OO )
5. ANGELS - GOD’S SECRET AGENTS, 5 18
by Billy Graham (Doubleday, $4.95.)
6. WINNING THROUGH INTIMIDATION, 6 19
by Robert J. Ringer (Funk & Wagnalls. $9 95.)
7. RESPONSE, 9 7
by Herbert Benson (Wm. Morrow & Co.. Inc..
$5 95.)
B. POWER! HOW TO GET IT, HOW TO USE IT, - 9
by Michael Korda (Random House. $8 95.)
9. WORLDS IN COLLISION, 7 6
by Immanuel Velikovsky (Doubleday. $lO 00 )
10. AGAINST OUR WILL - 3
by Susan Brownmiller (Simon & Schuster.
$10.95.)
administrative reforms to save
about $1.2 billion because he
was tired of waiting for
Congress to act on the issue.
Under the Senate bill, which
officials said would cut costs
about $315 million a year,
experts said about SIOO million
of the savings would be
attributed to a new provision
basing eligibility for stamps on
income in the 30 days before an
applicant files his request,
rather than on current and
prospective income as at
“Favorite Pattern”
Spoon Rings
by Gorham
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and profits! Over the years
these patterns have unques
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sales and your profits prove
it! Returning now, in ring
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Retail $12.50 Ea.
Pinky Rings $5.95 Ea.
in general kitsch is a mass
produced item that the
purchaser believes will
provide instant elegance and
sophistication. Kitsch is a
German colloquialism for
rubbish but is not to be con
fused with schlock — simple
minded junk without the
pretensions of kitsch. Kitsch,
unlike camp, rarely intends to
be frivolous. Camp mocks bad
taste, kitsch exploits it.
All this can get very con
fusing until you study hun
dreds of illustrated examples,
which Brown provides in
chapters on political kitsch,
religious kitsch, show biz
kitsch, ethnic kitsch, racist
kitsch, sexist kitsch, and more
of the worst of everything.
“Star Spangled Kitsch” is
the least attractive of the four
picture books. The design and
mixed typefaces create a
cluttered look, and Brown’s
ebullient prose sometimes
borders the kitschy.
From its first issue in 1937
to its last in 1971, Look
Magazine was as American as
kitsch and the happy
housewife. “The Look Book"
is a lavishly illustrated
celebration of a generation of
leaders, stars, sports heroes,
artists, musicians, and just
people; how they looked and
what they were doing and
thinking.
Along with 484 photographs
(162 in full color) is a selec
tion of the best texts from
Look. “The Look Book” is a
tribute to quality in writing,
photography, and printing. It
elevates nostalgia and popular
culture to a sentitive, positive
and beautiful look at where
we’ve been.
i NEWSPAPER KNTERI’HISK ASSN i
present.
The administration plan re
portedly would seek much
greater savings by basing
eligibility on an applicant’s
income over the past 90 days,
thus further delaying benefits
for the newly-unemployed.
It also reportedly would pro
pose to charge needy people 30
per cent of their net income for
food stamps instead of the 27.5
per cent included in the Senate
bill and the current average of
about 24 per cent.
ATLANTA (UPI) - Thou
sands of Georgians could
receive reduced benefits or be
dropped completely from the
federal food stamp program if
bills in Congress to institute
program cutbacks beome law,
according to the Georgia
Citizens’ Coalition Against Hun
ger.
Richard Bent, director of the
anti-poverty agency, said
Wednesday a bill aimed at
cutting the program by about
SSOO million would take about
three to four million people off
the program nationally and
reduce benefits to another three
to four million people.
Bent said the measure has
been voted out of the Senate
Committee on Agriculture,
headed by Sen. Herman
Talmadge, D-Ga., and is now
scheduled for a vote before the
full Senate.
He said another measure
supported by President Ford
would mean more severe
cutbcbacks. That measure,
Bent said, could reduce the
appropriation for the food
stamp program by $1.3 billion
to a total appropriation of $4.5
billion.
Castro among speakers
MOSCOW (UPI) - The
speakers ranged from Fidel
Castro in a smart dress
uniform to a textile worker
from northern Russia with a
sash full of medals glinting on
her chest.
Their theme was always the
same: Unstinting praise for the
Soviet Union and the man who
rules it, General Secretary
Leonid Brezhnev.
Officially, day two of the
Soviet Communist party con
gress Wednesday was a “deba
te” on Brezhnev’s keynote
speech the previous day.
But the debate consisted of a
series of monologues, with
more of the same scheduled
when the congress resumed
work this morning.
Brezhnev, 69, sat expression
less on the podium as waves of
applause echoed around him at
frequent intervals.
Not a hint of dissent intruded
on the occasion. The speakers
included several members of
the top leadership, foreign
guests, the textile worker and a
miner.
“The delegates unanimously
supported the home and foreign
policy of the Communist party
of the Soviet Union, the
consistent struggle for peace,
the grandiose tasks for the
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First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party F. Castro speaks
at the 25th congress of CPSU in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. (UPI)
future set out in Leonid
Brezhnev’s report,” the official
news agency Tass reported.
Castro did not directly
mention Angola, where an
estimated 12,000 Soviet
equipped Cuban troops are in
action. But he said, “No one
can export revolutions nor
impose them by war.”
Referring to the official line
that the Cubans are in Angola
to protect a Marxist state from
outside interference, he added,
“No one can prevent a people
from making revolutions.”
Castro’s remarks were an
apparent reply to a warning
from Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger that the United States
“will not tolerate” any armed
intervention in the Western
Hemisphere.
Earlier, Ukrainian party
chief Vladimir I. Shcherbitsky
stressed Brezhnev’s warning
there must be no deviation
from orthodox Kremlin-line
communism. He said it was the
“sacred duty” of Communists
to combat what he called
dangerous trends such as
nationalism.