GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON
A few years ago, Mr. George Barr McCutcheon was asked the question, “Where is Graustark?” Whimsically he attempted to jot down on paper directions for journeying to the imaginary mountain kingdom, starting from a railway station in Indiana. Someone rather ill-naturedly suggested that Mr. McCutcheon had originally discovered this country in Anthony Hope’s “The Prisoner of Zenda.” But then someone else pointed out that Anthony Hope in turn had found his inspiration in Stevenson’s “Prince Otto,” and that R. L. S. himself had certainly owed something to the Gerolstein of M. Eugène Sue’s “The Mysteries of Paris.” So neither the exact whereabouts of Graustark nor its ultimate source is of great importance. What really counts is that hundreds of thousands of readers have found delight in following the adventures of Mr. McCutcheon’s stately heroines and somewhat irreverent heroes.
BOOTH TARKINGTON
From a late picture taken at his summer home in Maine
Every one of his romantic tales has met with generous welcome—“Graustark,” “Beverly of Graustark,” “Truxton King” and “The Prince of Graustark.”
But Graustark, if the first string to Mr. McCutcheon’s bow, is far from being the only one. Quite as wide in its popular appeal as any of the Graustark tales was “Brewster’s Millions,” with its curious starting problem. “Nedra” dealt with[Pg 18] a desert island. “The Rose in the Ring” was the story of a circus. Other books not to be overlooked are “Jane Cable,” “The Daughter of Anderson Crow,” “The Man from Brodney’s,” and in shorter form, “The Day of the Dog,” “The Purple Parasol,” “Cowardice Court” and “The Alternative.”
OWEN JOHNSON