Books: Dunt Esk Anodder

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HUMOR

DUNT ESK—Milt Gross—Doran ($2). -Mr. Feitlebaum—Mm— Oohoo, nize baby"oohoooo"Hm -Look from henimals a book! So geeve in de book a look so tell poppa wot it stends dere de henimal-ah-ah "Baby-Squshlzzrrlx!!! &Mr. Feitlebaum-Yi yi yi!! A HAPE he spuck! A Hape!! Yi yi —geeve a look de book, momma— look de peecture!! Is a hape, no?? So I say, 'Baby, dollink, wot's dees??' So he saz me, 'A hape!' Look it stends: 'Playe stends for hape Wot he leeves in de trizz; Whan he nidds a gless meelfc He'll a cuccanot squizze!!'" All Milt Gross's humor is like this. There is no satire, no attempt at subtlety, beyond the infinite subtlety of the extraordinary dialect in which his characters cavort. They—Mr. & Mrs. Feitlebaum, Looy, Isidore, Nize Baby, Mrs. Noftolis—are continuously excited. At home, at the theatre, at the "sisshore," they jabber at one another in a wild jargon, which appears at first glance totally incomprehensible; at second and ensuing glances, astonishingly familiar and funny. Author Gross, frizz-headed young feature man on the New York World, has been called, not without basis, a "great stylist." He is best understood when read aloud.