WINNETKA WEEKLY TALK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1924 ther RR. - THE COMPLETE WORKS ' OF OSCAR WILDE Cosmopolitan. Beok Corporation. i Time is a wondrous thing. ' One dies. There is a flash, a flurry, and a great quietness in which time be- gins to do its work. Then in a few years men find them- selves looking directly at the depart- ed man's accomplishment whatever it' may be. As on hazy days one finds oneself looking directly at the sun. The haze does not obscure the sun, it is the rays, the light, which blind one's eyes which are obscured. So it is with the personality, the colour, the life of the artist who dies--time obscures all that, his work remains. The rewakened and constantly grow- ing interest in Oscar Wilde's works is proven by the increasing number of new editions which we find. The latest complete edition which the Cos- mopolitan Book Corporation has brought out contains in addition the only thing which their other editions have not contained, the "De Pro- fundis." This five volume set of Wilde, exquisitely clothed in lavendar limp leather, is an ideal gift set--if you can part with it! There are the those brilliant flashing which he is perhaps "Lady Windermere's acrobatic words, menacing poetry. "The Novels and Fairy Tales," the best known of them the brilliant "Pic- ture of Dorian Gray," the pitiful "Birthday of the Infanta." "The Poems of Oscar Wilde" the rather formal early ones oversha- dowed by the great sincerity of "The "Plays of Wilde" things for best known. Fan" with its "Salome" with its Ballad of Reading Gaol" and that sonnet which is so like a sigh, "Helas." "The Essays of Oscar Wilde" with their caustic comment on books and authors, dress reform and dishes. "The Prose of Ocar Wilde" with its satire and paradox. There is a satisfaction in having the complete works of an author. Tt is indeed having "the last word." "Shackled" of that class which is long short stories or short long stories, is a tale of modern Algiers. Its chief claim to fame is its style, which like its length, is in the borderland between good and bad. It aims to create an atmosphere, an atrhosphere which is inseparable from our idea of Algiers whether we are read- in a "Round the World Cruise' post- er or looking at the latest artist's con- ception of "Midnight in Algiers." It is a thing of wide desert spaces, of burning sands quenched by velvet night--the vel- vet night pierced again by glittering stars. Sometimes we have it truly and with a certain freshness: "The noises of the outer world seemed far away. There was, after a while, just a memory of street cries lifting their hungry starved arms; just a murmer of whispering des- ert wind chasing the morning clouds that clawed at the sun's gold with cool, slim fingers of white and silver." Or "Not a blind quivered. Not a glimmer stabbed through the wooden gratings. There was not a sound. Life seemed hidden away secretly; barred behind the veil of Islam. There was not even a rag of wind fluttering, sighing." Then with a shattering sound th: il- lusion is broken by words which strive too hard to be effective. "He skirted the edge of a cemetery where the graves dreamed with cluttered brittle emblems and out on th desert's rim a Ries Hol [omer screen of palm trees leaning against the sky's base with lanky nostalgic arms; arrived at his house that reached cut a* him suddenly from the tangle of the hec- tic,encroaching bazaars, opened the gate as morning was beginning ta boom on the horizon with a golden, staccato, wedge-like gesture." "Nostalgic," "stabbed," "livid," "hectic," are goo 'n their place, but like sharp tools the should be handled carefully. The plot, interspersed with paragraphs of curses on each other's heads, is slight; a proud though starving Shareef, his losing fight with life, his beautiful daughter who leaves him to marry a holy man, "desert rat" as his father-in-law picturesquely styles him. If the style were very much better we would call this a work of art, if the story were very much stronger we would call it a good novel. ; F 3 Wednesday featuring Anna Q. Nilsson and Stuart Holmes. A timid young man who, on his first adventure in the world of men, encount- ers tragedy, love, hate, vengeance, fear and courage beyond his wildest dreams. That's Charles Ray in "Dynamite Smith," which will be the attraction at the Howard theater, matinee and evening of Thanksgiving. Jacqueline Logan and Wallace Beery are in the supporting cast. "Manhattan," Richard Dix's first pic- ture as head of his own company, 1s a tale of a wealthy young New Yorker who is left millions and finds the teas, dan- sants and routine calls of his social set dull. He hies into the center of gangland and gets into mixups that fin- ally end with the New Yorker winning the sister of one of the gang. "Man- hattan" wil be shown at the Howard Friday and Saturday. By EMANIE N. SACHS TALK "You will be cheating your- self of some great reading if you miss 'Talk'" John V. A. Weaver HARPER & BROTHERS Publishers says At The Movies HOWARD Agnes Ayres comes to the Howard theater Sunday in "Wordly Goods," the screen version of Sophie Kerr's story. Pat O'Malley, Victor Varconi and Edythe Chapman head the supporting cast. The production is a modern mat- rimonial farce. An automobile sales- man sells himself to the girl he loves on "talk" and through luck his "sales talk" comes true. Vanna Du Maurier, a great actress whose wishes have never been balked, is determined that her advancing age shall not interfere with her lifelong ambition to own her own theater and continue in pursuit of her art. So she regains her lost youth by a delicate operation in Vi- enna, and under what cost can be seen 'n "Vanity's Price," which will be at the Howard theater Monday, Tuesday and There is a ruthless tearing aside of the veils from human life in this "The Uncertain Feast," by Solita Solan. Newspaper man, successful, envied by his old companions, finds. his . marriage and indeed his life, an "uncertain feast." It is essentially an American story, Daniel Geer is an American man. G. P. Putnam's Sons New York City What They Are Saying About The Widow's House By Kathleen Coyle The N. Y. Times: "In her mas- tery of focus--as well as in her power of conveying poignancy, Kathleen Coyle stands high. She is mistress of the drama of souls." The Boston Herald: "As a work of characterization and for the high quality of its style it marks Miss Coyle as a candidate for the first group among contem- porary English novelists." E. P. DUTTON COMPANY New York City Did Napoleon Himself Write THE MANUSCRIPT OF ST. HELENA? Translated by Willard Parker Evidence points to this re- markable document actually be- ing Napoleon's own telling of his life story. Here are the events of his career and the purposes which directed him told in the first person. "A graphic sketch. Brutally frank" -- New York Times. Illustrated. $2.00. At All Booksellers D. Appleton and Company 35 West 32nd Street, New York Chandler's Book Nook Books for all tastes and ages. Chandler's + fountain Square EVANSTON DON'T WORRY If your rugs are soild during your Big Thanksgiving Dinner, just call us up. We will return them to you looking like new. John Nazarian % 578 Lincoln 'Avenue " WINNETKA Phones : Viel t 4 A Nation-Wide Best Seller By the Author of The Wood Carver of 'Lymp:us DEEP IN THE HEARTS OF MEN By Mary E. Waller The Chicago Daily News calls it "One of the most interesting things Miss Waller has ever written." Ninth Large Printing $2.00 at all Booksellers Boston, Little Brown & Co, Publishers Edna Ferber The great American novel of the year--and its setting is Chicago and her environs. At bookstor :s, $2. Doubleday, Page & Co. TWENTY YEARS AGO Twenty years ago the Bell Ttele- 'phone System, with much trepida- tion, tried out one of the new "horse- less carriages. Now the motor fleet of the Bell System comprises more thaf 9,000 cars and trucks, and new tires have to be purchased on the average of one for every three minutes. Telephone companies in the United States employ 190,000 telephone oper- ators. In addition, thousands of tele- phone operators are employed by large business houses, banks and hotels. ALL GOOD BOOKS Reviewed or advertised here are for : sale at Cu Kroch's Book Store 22 N. Michigan Send for Specials Lists. "The meeting place of intellectual Chicago." Christmas Greeting Cards E HAVE in our Gift Shop a distinctive, happy greeting card for every friend on your list. An early selection will give you a more leisurely choice from a fresher, more complete assortment, and if you wish to make use of our engraving service, it will give the engraver time to do his best work and deliver your order in time for early mailing. Let a sincere message from you add a little more cheer to the Christmas day of each of your friends! a public utility requires that wemake everyeffortto furnish service to all who ap- ply. In doing this we constantly add to the value of our service to old subscribers by extending theirrange of communication. Cost levels to-day arc much higher than in the past and result in more expensive plant construction, thus in- creasing our average capital investment per telephone, upon which a fair return in interest and divi- dends must be earned. One Policy Two-Fisted Men ACH telephone is connected to the central cffice by two tiny wires. These wires are a part of a system of cables, coils and other delicate apparatus, which must be kept in care- ful adjustment. The job of building and main- taining this equipment is done by two-fisted men--men who think in terms of never failing service. When they come into your home or your office, you find them anxious to do their work quickly, efficiently, courteously and neatly. ILLINOIS BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY BELL SYSTEM - One System - Universal Service a