Cartoons
THE COMPLEAT IMBIBER. Edited by Cyril Ray. (Putnam, .25s.)
THE GOOD TEMPERED PENCIL. By Fougasse. (Rein- hardt, 20s.) MY HUSBAND CARTWRIGHT. By Olivia Manning. (Heinemann, 12s. 6d.) THE LOVERS' BEDSIDE BOOK. By Raymond Pey- net. (Perpettta; 10s. 6d.)
THE thought of Christmas and the New Year ignites in the publisher's heart a desire to get as much humorous and eye-catching material on the market as possible, and the objective of most of this Yuletide literary ammunition is the bedside table in the guest room. The Corn pleat Imbiber should undoubtedly charm its way to many such a target. It is a lovingly compounded potpourri of recollection, information and wit on and around the subject of 'intelligent drink- ing,' and is as immediately satisfying to read as it is lovely to look upon. No pains have been spared to present the best, either in the choice of authors and artists, who include such diverse talents as Sir Compton Mackenzie, Patrick Campbell, Humphrey Lyttelton, Michael ffolkes, John Minton and Pearl Falconer, or in the print- ing, typography and layout of the book itself. It is, in fact, a volume whose bedside manner should be the envy of all its competitors.
The Good Tempered Pencil, by Fougasse, is a 'survey of modern humorous art in Great Britain and the United States,' and the prose matter contained therein is just about as lengthy and portentous as the blurb suggests. Every con- ceivable aspect of pictorial humour from the early days of Punch is exhaustively investigated, the rather chatty style adding, if anything, to the exhaustion. However, there are almost as many jokes reproduced as there are pages (226), and this does add some leaven to an otherwise doughy Ytiel: loaf.
My Husband Cartwright is a collection of humorous pieces that appeared in Punch, all to do with a husband-type character of talkative, Left-wing tendencies Who travels, makes a great many friends, and gets into awkward situations. Miss Manni'ng's writing is light, sensitive and accurately observant, and there are many amus- ing moments in the book, but the central charac- ter, Cartwright, has, unfortunately, neither the charm nor the style to justify his leading role. There arc many excellent illustrations in the Ben Shahn tradition by Len Deighton.
Max Presents is a showcase for the talents of the Italian artist P. L. Giovannetti, whose brain- child, the round rodent named Max, has appeared in many sequences in Punch and has become something of a cult. Giovannetti turns out to be a very funny artist, more in the 'Cam D'Ache' tradition than any other, whose speciality is the big build-up and the final let-down. A lot of his charm comes from the fact that he is not afraid to let his characters roar with laughter, which is refreshing in this age of the dead-pan pictorial joke, and his human beings are as lovingly and ludicrously observed and portrayed as his animals. This is' a good buy whether or not you are an admirer of the exuberant hamster Max.
In The Lovers' Bedside Book Raymond Peynet again takes flight upon the wings of his wholly original and Gallic fancy and follows his tousled and poetic little characters through a myriad of strange whims and pictorial figures of speech. His invention seems to be endless, and although he confines himself, both in aim and in execution, to the narrowest of limits, his whimsy never palls and his charm retains its freshness mid spontaneity.
Finally, David Langdon has another contribu- tion to make, .a collection with the rather for- bidding title of Funnier Still. 'Still Funny' would perhaps have been a better choice. Langdon is of the 'Highly Predictable' school of funny artists; his characters are not always exactly the same, as with, say, Charles Addams, but he always retains a rigidity of line which extends itself to the nature of the people depicted, and one is rarely surprised, with him, into a sudden startled hoot of laughter, since startled hoots are best engendered by very funny drawings exactly matching very funny ideas. Langdon's ideas are often very funny, but his drawings have a ten- dency, in relation to the ideas, to be functional and, forgive the word, vehicular.
JACK SCHWAB
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