Books: Eyes on Hollywood

CAREER—Phil Stong—Harcourt, Brace ($2).

Critic Van Wyck Brooks, looking sadly out over the U. S. literary scene and many a petered-out career, came to the conclusion that successful authors were not really born that way; at some point in their career they simply sold out. If Critic Brooks were still interested in literary careers that are still in process of petering out, he might well pick Phil Stong's as a glittering example. Author Stong's first published novel, State Fair (TIME, May 9, 1932), roused the tireless hopes of many a novel-addict, seemed to herald the...