Haunch, Paunch and Jowl*

From the Ghetto to Allright-niks Row

The Story. Meyer Hirsch tells the story of his life. First and foremost he was a Jew. Later he was a professional Jew--the Jew in politics. On a keen December evening "in ramshackle New York during the sprawling awkward age of its growth," Meyer, only child of sweatshop workers, grandson of a horse thief, returns from cheder (Hebrew school) to the "two little dark rooms in a rear house, kerosene lamps, water from the yard pump, toilet in back yard . . not even enough crockery or eating things," occupied by his parents and maternal uncle, Philip Gold. Nine years old, he is the brains of the Ludlow Street Gang.

Days of gang-fights--war with the Essex Street Guerillas, with the Micks (Irish gang)--study, petty thievery, incipient graft, the Synagogue. The gang was born "with a bit of the apple from the tree of knowledge in our mouths. Of sex mysteries there were none for me . . . soon it was a general thing for the gang to visit Allen Street"-- home of prostitution.

Educated at the City College, Meyer is to be a lawyer. He shuns the Ludlow Street Gang, which has grown and taken on a definite character. "A nest of thieves." But its members were such stuff as clients are made of and he maintains friendly relations, keeps in touch with their secrets, though seldom seen by them. Boolkie, gang leader, "said it will be a great thing for the gang to have its own mouthpiece."

Rivalry develops among members of the gang for Esther Brinn, 16, respected by all. Meyer becomes jealous. The passion persists even after she joins settlement work and until she marries Barney Finn, Irish reformer--a scandal to all the Jews.

Meyer is admitted to the bar, enjoys a lucrative criminal practice, joins the local Tammany organization, exchanges services with Big Jim Halloran and Little Tom Halloran, local political bosses.

"Dopie" Ikie Schneider, Archie Wotin, "Dago" Jack Marinari are arrested for murder and robbery. Meyer defends the boys--fellow-gangsters. A planted juror causes a disagreement. Another trial brings conviction, with executive clemency as the last hope. The Republican Governor, believer in the maximum penalty, is adamant. The three men are electrocuted. But Meyer has his revenge on the Governor.

Depressed by Esther's marriage, Meyer goes to a call house with Margot, Riverside Drive street walker. Both become very drunk. Madame Mina of the call house finds Meyer is a lawyer. Says Madame Mina: "Downstairs is the janitor woman, a widow. She's got one girl, only 16. She's been away for four days. She was with the iceman's girl. All evening the mother was after Jennie to tell where she's been and what she has been doing. A millionaire. . . . You know the reformer. . . .Yes, that's the name, an old fellow." A rare, rich case! Off to the office.

The merciless ex-Governor is a friend of the millionaire reformer. He calls on Meyer. Judge Martin Hussing of the Superior Criminal Court died the night before. Meyer agrees to quash the case in return for a certificate of appointment naming Meyer Hirsch to fill the unexpired term of Judge Hussing. "Meyer Hirsch, Judge of the Superior Criminal Court."

Shortly thereafter Judge Hirsch marries his mistress, Gretel, who has been living with the Hirsch family. "Mother does not speak to Gretel." Meyer's political career is ended by the scandal. But he clings to the judgeship and he lives in "Allright-niks Row, Riverside Drive. . . . The Ghetto called anyone who was well off--one who is all right in this world, that is, well fixed-- allrightniks." Meyer is well fixed--a great beast of a man. "Haunch, paunch and jowl" his enemies had called him. It pierced his hide a little, that name. He remembered it in critical moments.

The Significance. The anonymous author writes with a bitter pen. His book is a slashing, venom-dipped arraignment of Jewry, heaving its stinking bulk out of a diseased ghetto. It is a savage, relentless, yet unimpassioned, picture. The style is violent, unembellished. A crammed, stark, narrative. Many of the characters are recognizable.

Henry Seidel Canby

This Academician Is Also a Good Journalist Henry Seidel Canby, best known, perhaps, as Editor of the Literary Review of the New York Evening Post, possesses unquenchable vitality, indulges in innumerable activities. He still gives a course at Yale University, to which he formerly gave all of his time as Professor of English. He writes essays, book reviews and, on special occasions, novels. He is an editorial advisor for Harper Brothers. He lectures--and doubtless does many other things of which a former pupil of his does not know.

Dr. Canby is small, agile, precise. He does not mince words and his opinions are expressed positively and with fervor. He talks rapidly and with clear meaning; but he is also a good listener. He has never allowed his academic knowledge to interfere with a really unusual sense of journalism; but he has never allowed journalism to run away with his sense of true criticism, based upon his academic training. Perhaps he can be rated as our only academic journalist. His admirations are sometimes odd considering his background. He has praised Sherwood Anderson and found reason to admire Black Oxen.

Dr. Canby was born in Wilmington, Del. He was graduated from and took his post graduate work at Yale University. For a time he was assistant editor of the Yale Review. During the War he was busy with liaison work. His books include discussions of the short story, a novel, Our House, collections of essays and editions of one sort or another..

This determined little man has become a very definite, powerful and stable influence in the world of American letters. He does not make enemies. He is honest, fairminded, sincere. Also, he his a hard worker. At the present time he is moving into a new home which he has built for his wife and family on the outskirts of New Haven, near the home of his playwright brother-in-law, Lee Wilson Dodd. He commutes from New Haven to his office in New York City. It is said he has learned that he can write a short essay each week in just the two hours it takes him to travel from New Haven to New York. Who will say that this is not literary efficiency, and what banker can claim better organization? J. F.

*HAUNCH, PAUNCH AHD JOWL--An Anonymous Autobiography--Boni ($3.00).