Books: Fame

WONDER HERO — J. B. Priestley — Harper ($2.50).

Priestley enthusiasts will not find Wonder Hero quite such a good companion as his earlier novels, but if they are real Priestley enthusiasts they will like it. Others may consider that Author Priestley has hit an easy mark and is jumping on a man of straw when he is down. Everybody will recognize Wonder Hero as both an entertaining and a moral tale. Charlie Habble was a perfectly ordinary young Midlander except for two things: he had no girl and he had a job. His job was on the night shift of a chemical plant: he had to keep awake, watch gauges, see that no fire started. One night, after one too many drinks, he fell asleep, woke just in time to check a threatening blaze a short-circuit had started. Because a feature-writer for the London Tribune happened to be in the vicinity and short of copy, Charlie became a hero overnight. He left his job, went to London to be lionized, photographed, interviewed, presented with a check for £500. Charlie was a sensible lad and kept his shirt on through all the hullabaloo, but when he found himself in a theatre-box with Ida. winner of a newspaper beauty contest, he lost his head with his heart. Ida was out of the same social drawer as Charlie, but she had ambitions: she really believed she was well on the road to Hollywood. While she was still in the midst of her tinsel glory Charlie went home to visit a sick aunt.

Back in the city again, he found, not greatly to his surprise, that he had been forgotten by his much-makers. He still had a good deal of money, and when he discovered that the real hero of his fire had been completely overlooked, he tried to set the affair to rights. But partly because the other man was a Communist, partly because Charlie’s story was now old stuff, no one would pay any attention to him. He looked for Ida, but the cinema studios knew her not. Eventually, of course, he found her again; and the upshot, of course, was happy.