Shaggy and other Gay Dogs
The Shaggy Dog Story. By Eric Partridge. (Faber. 7s. 6d.) Father, Dear Father. By Ludwig Bemelmans. (Hamish Hamilton.
• 12s. 6d.) Sexes and Sevens. By Peter Kneebone. (Longman. 7s. 6d.) WHICH is the funnier and why, the horse who plays cricket or the horse who, having knocked up a century and caught two brilliant catches, refuses to bowl because a horse that bowls is inconceivable ? This is the sort of question that Mr. Partridge in The Shaggy Dog Story does not, thank ,goodness, bother with. But in an otherwise admirable little thesis he does venture to state that the " shaggy dog " story shows " a deep understanding of quadrupeds and of even humbler forms • of life." Fortunately this is in the concluding paragraph. Mr. Partridge has collected some of the classics of what he properly calls this " lovely art form " ; he has them docketed, cross-referred and analysed just about as far as they will stand it. All the stories are good, all are told well, and, since the shaggy dog looks like being a fixture, this alone makes the book worth having. But, best of all, it pays tribute to A. J. Alan, whom he calls the " inaugurator " of the shaggy dog, by printing in full one of his finest yarns, " The Coincidence."
There is one kind of American wit which is downright un-English, and Richard Armour has it in It All Started with Columbus. " The Pilgrims were a branch of the Puritans, and were proud of their family tree. They wore tall hats, which they had to take off when they went inside because they attend a low church. This displeased King James, who raised the roof." Two or three quips like this we can enjoy. One hundred and fifteen pages of it mike—on this side— an astounding achievement.
Mr. Ludwig Bemelmans draws people, better than he writes about them, and that is saying something. Doubly trained to observe people, he is also blessed with the twin talents of charm and charity. Father, Dear Father is in the fine tradition of Hotel Splendide and Life Class ; Bemelmans on another sentimental journey, this time back to old European haunts, and this time with Barbara, his pre- cocious thirteen-year-old daughter, and a borrowed poodle. As an Englishman I found myself waiting for both of these to go to bed ; they too often obstruct a view I hate to miss. To an eye conditioned by paper-shortage to Tacitean word-economy, Mr. Bemelmans often seems wanton. Dialogue, in particular, tends to pile up by the luxuriant inch. But I read the whole book at a sitting and conclude that he could not write dully if he tried.
E. Clerihcw Bentley and Ogden Nash have had a tremendous influence on modern light verse, and few are more skilful with the medium than Mr. Justin Richardson, one of the regulars of Punch' whose Back-room Joys maintains a very high standard throughout. For those who like their rhymes orthodox, their metres regular and their epigrams smooth, there are enough that are really good to make them wonder why he does not do it more often.
The 1953 annual Pick of Punch is a fascinating study in transition. Early this year Mr. Malcolm Muggeridge became editor, and within a few months genteel waiting rooms, Common Rooms, Club Rooms, Bournemouth and Cheltenham were wondering what had hit them. They are still wondering, and so, I believe, is Mr. Muggeridge. On the whole this collection is calculated to please the old habitues rather than the new hopers, but there is good value for both. It is right that the art of Mr. Kneebone and Mr. Angrave should be, respectively, bound between stiff covers. Both have something original and clever to say—as cartoonists (silent). I do not know who put them up to their " ideas " for making books out of their art. The triviality of the patter makes it difficult to enjoy the full value of the drawings. Could we next time, please, have, for our money, more art and less artifice ?
JOHN USBORNB
Previous page
