Books: Tycoon Mayer & Tycoon Nobel

GREEN DOLPHIN STREET—Elizabeth Goudge—Coward-McCann ($3).

Louis B. Mayer would love to make a piker out of Alfred Nobel. So it was natural that when M.-G.-M. handed out a prize for a novel Louis Mayer did not stop at a mere $30,000 to $40.000 (the Nobel Prizes vary). He made it a flat $125,000—plus a bonus of up to $50,000 if the book becomes a bestseller.

So, Mr. Mayer's underlings having pored over 99 manuscripts, Mr. Mayer handed out the money, for his $125,000-plus acquired screen rights which, at a generous estimate, he could have bought...