English Fun
Say Please. By Virginia Graham. Illustrated by Osbert Lancaster. •
Marvin Press. 7s. 6d.)
Tuts ebulliently feminine little book is the work of a professional humorist : one of those, indeed, who are distinguished as being " of Punch." One is therefore prepared for something that will produce the decent English laugh without any difficulty. The publishers assure us, doubtless with honest confidence, that we shall laugh until we ache ; but I think it is possible to enjoy the book—and there is much to enjoy in it—without the risk of excessive or retributive pain. For there are times when Miss Graham is a little too studiously facetious or too grimly resolved upon unending arpeggios of a rather flimsy jauntiness.
Lacking the sting of real satire or the subtle venom of irony, Miss Graham can still succeed in producing many pretty shades of humour in pink or pea-green ; and for those who like the pinks or the pea-greens of humour this will be an immensely diverting little volume. Her theme is "a book on etiquette for ladies," and she hits the nail on the head (whether she means to or not) when she observes that neither ladies nor etiquette have any present existence. Part of the joke consists of telling the reader that such and such a thing is or is not etiquette. It is "etiquette," for example, to prevent people from going to church and to do all that one can to corrupt " the ostentatiously pure" ; and when the bath water is cold you should tell your hostess, in the best of pea-green styles, that " it was awfully nearly hot enough." This motive and its variations are zealously pursued by Miss Graham with results that are frequently very funny indeed, especially in matters relating to country life. But occasionally the reader feels—although it would not be " etiquette " to say so—that he is awfully nearly bored. Such a facetious elaboration as "Gordon Richards' face in amethyst sequins on the heels " of brogues at Ascot is not remarkably hilarious, and it might be argued that references to the Lord's Prayer and the Trinity do not fit in very well with Miss Graham's particular type of burlesque. But in such agreeable little sallies as " butterflies crashing in and out of the flowers and ants banging their way home from work" Miss Graham shows that she has a very pretty and' ively wit. There are many sharp and shrewd things in the chapter on dances and many pert and pertinent things about the theatre and the ballet ; though in some passages, I fear, Miss Graham's intentions are better than her performance.
But if the text does not rise to the level of irony, and does not seem intended for those by whom irony would be appreciated, Mr. Osbert Lancaster's drawings are refreshingly malevolent and are, in fact, the best things in the book. There is neither fumbling nor ambiguity in his perceptive and astringent satire. He bags a bird with every shot, and the satire is artfully extended from the sitters to their environment. (Note, for example, the sly ascriptions of the pictures on the walls : Sargent, Laszlo and A. J. Munnings.) Mr. Lancaster's powerful sauce is more to my liking than Miss Graham's slightly underdone goose. But this little book will
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