Books: Joy Unconfined

JOY IS MY NAME—Sarah Salt—Payson & Clarke ($2.50).

Like the late moderately great Leonard Merrick, but without his mellowness. Author Sarah Salt writes of the disillusions of the stage, under the exceedingly inappropriate (or bitterly ironic) title. Joy Is My Name.

Joy (short for Joyce) is a common, pretty girl with pretty common ambitions. Her widowed mother spoils her, teaches her to be "pure," sentimental, defenseless. Joy wants to be an actress, thinks she is one when she joins Mrs. Rice-Pilkington's third-rate repertory company. She is fired when Mrs. Rice-Pilkington's gigolo makes eyes at her; then she goes to London, tries to get...