Among the Literati

All the boys and girls who like to know all the things before they should know them, have been perturbed to the point of bursting because they could not find out who the new literary editor of The New York Evening Post would be. It can now be announced that Herschel Brickell will on January 2 take over the seat that was occupied by large William Soskin.

Eight years ago Brickell was the literary editor of The Post but he resigned to go with the publishing firm of Henry Holt, where he became that firm’s editor. In his spare time he wrote articles, criticism and held down the job of book editor of the North American Review. He is a man in his early forties, married and strikingly handsome; he will undoubtedly be the best-looking book editor in town. Soft spoken, cultured, with a fine scholarly background, and liked by both authors and publishers, he will be a welcome addition to the coterie of New York literary critics.

The Holidays, which we seem to have adopted for our own, were celebrated in the customary manner except that this year, among the literati anyway, there was a general feeling that the worst was pretty much over. Christmas business in the publishing business was the best that it has been in years. The newspapers found that advertising revenue was on the increase, thanks to the repeal of that amendment, and even magazines were heavy enough to find use for a lot of that bought and paid for material that had been gathering dust on the editor’s desk. Specific instances of cheer are scattered but I have been informed that at the New York Times some of the more deserving boys found the weekly pay envelope a trifle heavier; Simon & Schuster handed a bonus of two weeks salary to each of their employees; Covici, Friede raised salaries all around as did a number of other publishers. That enervating strain of wondering whether the job was going to last through the winter seemed pretty much dissipated and the usual greetings bandied about at this time of the year were said with just a little more sincerity. Things must have been good, even authors sent cards this year.

WORKING WIVES

Working Wives, (and I’ll sell the title cheaply) are nothing new but I thought you might possibly be interested in what the wives of some of the literati do when they are not doing all the things demanded of them as a matter of course.

Ruth Seinfel who once worked on the New York Evening Post and wrote a novel called “Lady Buyer”, is helping her husband, Gerald Goode, do the publicity for S. Hurok’s “Monte Carlo Ballet”.

Another wife who helps the family budget is Dorothy Ross whose husband George writes a column for the World-Telegram. Mrs. Ross is also doing publicity. She handled the press for “Thunder on the Left” and is at this writing, whooping it up for a new thriller that will open momentarily….

Then there is Anna Friede who gave up a department store career to do interior decorating. The difference between her decorating and that of the two thousand other girls you know who call themselves Interior Decorators is ### Anna really works at it….

Rose Caylor, wife of Ben Hecht, is not only a novelist of great seriousness but a scenario writer as well. Hortense Saunders, whose husband, George Britt, is one of the town’s best reporters, is a newspaperwoman herself. At present she is handling publicity for some of the Hearst magazines. Not any of the ladies mentioned above have children, which may or may not be significant.

Louis Weitzenkorn, reformed Socialist and former newspaper editor, is in New York after a siege of Hollywood which was successful….