Impartial

Ivy Ledbetter Lee and Associates of Manhattan are "public relations counsel."* The principal business of Mr. Lee is to present to newspapers "statements" containing just those activities his clients desire to place before the public. The following anecdote related last week by the October issue of the American Mercury served to illustrate why some newspapermen do not like, do not trust Mr. Lee:

"On the afternoon of February 25, 1925 . . . the New York American received a tip that Abby Rockefeller, the somewhat turbulent daughter of John D. Rockefeller Jr., was to be married to one David Milton. The engagement, Mr. Hearst's informant stated, was shortly to be announced.

"This was obviously a story of the first rank. The engagement of Miss Abby was, in itself, an international matter. But, Mr. Milton gave it an added flavor. He was the comparatively impecunious young apprentice attorney who had obtained, for Abby, a suspended sentence when she had been nabbed for the second time by an irreverent traffic patrolman. The city room of the American buzzed at the prospect of an old-fashioned beat: 'Daughter of Oil King's Son to Wed Humble Speed Case Benefactor.'

"The reporter . . . had never heard of Ivy Lee and went, naively, to the Rockefeller home. Mrs. Rockefeller was having a reception and could not see the reporter. But she sent a servant with a message, scribbled on the back of a letter. It suggested calling upon Mr. Lee at 111 Broadway.

"The American's representative, journeying downtown in a taxicab, chanced to look at the letter on which Mrs. Rockefeller had written her message. To his surprise he saw that it was from a friend of the family, expressing delight that Abby was to be married to Mr. Milton. This was confirmation enough--the American's beat was assured. But the reporter decided to do the decent thing and called on Mr. Lee. He told Mr. Lee that the story already was confirmed and that it was an American exclusive. But Mr. Lee, to the reporter's horror, said that beats were less than nothing to him. Inasmuch as the fact of the engagement had thus prematurely leaked out, all the newspapers would be notified. At eight o'clock, he said, a formal statement would be given out at the Rockefeller home. The American man's protests were in vain. The next morning the story appeared in all the papers instead of in solitary splendor in the American."

Hinds

With a brave splurging of whatever funds they control, an exceptionally bold and literate group of Manhattan pornographers is loosing hinds into the magazine world.

First, in April, came Casanova Jr.'s Tales, a quarterly for subscribers only at $5 per copy, $15 per annum.

Then, in June, came Two Worlds, "A Literary Quarterly Devoted to the Increase of the Gaiety of Nations," for subscribers only at $3 per copy; $10 per annum, 450 copies per number.

In July came Two Worlds Monthly, devoted to the same end as its trimensal brother and called "The Greatest, the Most Daring and the Most Beautiful Fiction Magazine in the World"--50-c- the copy, the year $5.

Last week came a fourth hind, Beau, "The Man's Magazine, Devoted to the Comforts and Luxuries of Living"--35-c-the monthly copy, the year $3.50.

An interesting curve of intrepidity could be traced through these four periodicals in the order of their appearance, from Casanova Jr.'s Tales, which were shipped to customers by sly express, to Beau which contained advertising from eminently respectable tradesmen, such as Cluett, Peabody & Co., Inc. (collars, shirts) and Levy Bros. & Adler-Rochester (good suitings). Casanova Jr.'s Tales, edited by one Francis Page, advertised stimulating material by Aubrey Beardsley, Catulle Mendes and Casanova himself ("hitherto obtainable only in editions costing from $50 to $500"). It republished My First Thirty Years by Gertrude Beasley, with assurance that these charming revelations had been admired by H. L. ("Hatrack") Mencken and suppressed both here and abroad. Two Worlds, braving the mails, offered thitherto unpublished work by Boccaccio; some confessions by Poet Arthur Symonds; a new unnamed work by famed and juicy James Joyce, author of Ulysses; a "dark surmise" concerning Philosopher Nietzsche and his sister---and an unknown story by Lewis ("Alice-in-Wonderland") Carroll.

Two Worlds Monthly was still more "respectable," listing Carl Sandburg, Ernest Hemingway and Arthur Machen among its contributors, but retaining plentiful zest by serializing Mr. Joyce's alleged "Masterpiece of Our Time," Ulysses.

Most respectable of all was "The Man's Magazine," Beau, which interlarded "The Secret of Making Good Coffee" by George Moore, a haberdashery and gifts-for-women page, theatre talk, an excellent London book letter by J. Middleton Murray, a dull Shaw interview, a note on bridge and a note on the return to Manhattan of nag-drawn victorias, all of which somewhat offset a nude story by Paul Morand, a discussion of Broadway females, some "daring" art work and a letter--the original of which is possessed by the U. S. State Department--to a Man with "a violent natural inclination" which no medicine will diminish, and with an aversion to Matrimony, a Man who persists in thinking Commerce with the Sex inevitable--advising him to prefer old Women to young ones in his Amours for seven cogent, ingenious reasons and one technical reason. This letter is signed by Benjamin Franklin.

The able, not unphilosophical editor of Beau and of the two Two World magazines is one Samuel Roth, 'a foreign looking man, in the late thirties with a round, soft, plump face, irregular mouth and a liking for pink-checked neckties, striped flannel shirts.

For Father, Mother

"There are magazines devoted exclusively to the raising of cattle, hogs, dogs, flowers and what not, but until now none on the most important work of the world--the rearing of children. ... In the words of Phillips Brooks, 'The future of the race marches forward on the feet of little children.' "

Thus the editors of Children, a 25-cent monthly magazine for parents, of which the maiden number was issued last week by the Parents' Publishing Association Inc., Manhattan. These editors' names made an imposing array: George J. Hecht, chief; Mrs. Clara Savage Littledale, manager; Directress Sidonie M. Gruenberg of the Child Study Association of America, Professor Walter B. Pitkin of the Columbia School of Journalism, Directress Helen T. Woolley of the Institute of Child Welfare Research and others--associates. There were no less than four dozen "advisory editors." Careful combing had lined up noted hygiene officials, kindergarten specialists, nursery scholars, psychologists, chief executives of the Boy and Girl Scouts, and of the Big Brother and Big Sister Federation, together with names that always appear on important committees, lending distinction no matter how little actual work.

It was, obviously, an efficient magazine by professional child-rearers. "Theirs [Father's, Mother's]," said the editors grimly, "is the problem of the baby who refuses milk; the three-year-old who won't eat spinach; the angel-faced child who is given to fibs and rebellion; the daughter in her teens who will hide her youthful bloom under cosmetics."

The inside of the book had a leading article on "Contentment" by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, famed novelist and Montessori-mother. There were "Inside Tips for Fathers," "Salesmanship for Parents," "Shall Jack Play Football?" Also, there were dull, useful articles on: "Before Your Child Goes to School," "First Lessons in Concentration," "Fruit Juices and Child Health," "Fall Suggestions for School Lunches."

There was a joke page, "Out of the Mouths of Babes," with the usual naive and precocious sayings (most of them thought up by writers for funny magazines):

Daddy: "Well, Mary, you have a brand new baby sister."

Mary: "Oh, Daddy, can't I be the first one to tell mother ?"--White Mule

"What's Bobbie crying for?"

"He's not cryin" for anything. He's had it."--Life

Hilda: "Aunt Ella, does the cake taste good?"

Aunt Ella: "Yes, indeed, it's delicious." Hilda: "How strange! Mamma said only yesterday that you had no taste."--Thiegeude Blaetter.*

"Mother, may I have some water to christen my dolly?"

"No, dear."

"Then may I have some wax to waxinate her ?"

Barbara (saying her prayers) : "And bless Daddy and Mummy and make them happy--if they're not too old for that sort of thing."--Sketch

*Among Ivy Lee's clients are the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Rockefellers, Charles Schwab and the Bethlehem Steel Co., the Interborough Rapid Transit Co., Armour and Co.

*Probably the Fliegende Blaetter.