1959-02-28 — Page 14

BOOK PAGE

THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY, 28, 1959.

... examines the story of a strange masquerade

The Army blushed-its general

IN 1866 a

was a woman

L

demanded

D

on

Only once did she allow her- relatives flocked to his death- She might danco all night but `- bed.

as she worked and worked hard all the luxury of truly feminina

She turned up Apparently, he had been just all day. Very quickly she caprico. nother aid gentleman living, acquired a reputation not only. London, without leave, when she vut his retirement along. He as an excellent surgeon, but also should have been on duty at St

itelena. had died his death alone, and an enlightened reformer. he left behind no more articu-

The Army lato survivors than a small

pliled herself against explanation. She tossed the red white dog and a large black

entrenched officialdom and the curls and said: "I have comʊ monservant.

Bud, perhaps, but common status quo. She wrote outspoken to have my bair cut,'

Nothing enough.

surprising reports by the ream, and rak ona. herole single-handed campaign about it.

to better the squalidly miserable living conditions of Inmates and lepers.

As no one claimed his body, n Jocal woman was called In to prepare it for burial.

It was she who burst the that shattered a12 Limo the quiet

raging heatwave and antiquated bombshell drainage had combined to foster an epidemic for

disinterest surrounding the life that swept all London. With the determined and death of Dr Barry. For thoroughness of a new broom it swept Marylebone stie had no sooner sel about her in particular,

Deaths especially In that borough-mounted daily. Three kundred and one people died that first week in July,

Bod

luck it was then-but

one not surprising-that

of

the epidemic's victims should be the frail, elderly gentleman who had recently taken up lodgings in Marylebone at 14, Margarel Streat.

by DEE

WELLS

task than she stormed from the 100 to demand;~~

What do you mean calling me in to lay out a general? This is no general-it is

D

woman! A woman, moreover,

who has borne a child!" All Britain was agape at this fantastle disclosure, The Inspec- tor-General a woman? "He" had been in the Army for 50

"He" couldn't be years! worn.

But he was a woman.

A

Unee

he had been confirmed, the This official, a Mr Durban Army blushed as lobater-ted as near-century of speculation and was busy those epidemic-ridden its tunles, and there begens days, and well knew that a

Dr Barry. summer's morning was made of investigation into the fe more deaths than one.

Stuff Surgeon McKinnon mation should be readily corro- Andly made out the death certi- borated by the borough registrar. fente. Sadly, because not only had he been physician in charge of what he knew to be a hope lest case, but also because he had been a long-time friend of the old gentleman.

#

Unquestioningly, he issued

that With his quill pen, he wrote civil certificate stating

Barty, Inspector- "Army Medical Department" "James on the rnvelope, and posted the General of Military Hospitals, oficial notification of the death a male person of about 70 years "at 4

.12. on July 25 of of age" had, indeed, died. Inspector-General Dr James Nor was it very surprising that the old gentleman's death

Barry,"

of

WHERE had she come from, his flamboyant impostort WHO was she really?

WHY did she choose to maa- querade as a man?

How had she got into the Once she had, Army at all? low could she live a lifetime in military He garrisons,

barracks,

It was for from surprising should cause so le stir.

not had never married there was posts and hospitals without once that this melancholy, but

no being found out? particularly noteworthy, inform to widow to mourn him,

Life With Father-

On The Grand Scale.

By RICHARD LISTER

POSITION AT NOON. By Eric Linklater, Cape. 158. FR LINKLATER has found an ingenious pattern for

Mhis over, which, with a pleasantly light, touch, traces the history of a family back from the present day to its foundation in the early eighteenth century.

GAPS REMAIN

The questions will probably never be more satisfactorily answered than they ure in THE STRANGE STORY OF DR JAMES BARRY (Longmana, 138. 60.).

With first-time access to the War Omee's secret "Barry papers," author Isobel Rae hut investigated every shred of information and evidence. She has placed the scraps together painstakingly, but it makes a. meagre quilt. Large gaps in the mystery remain.

Nothing at all, for example, 19 known of James Barry until

1800 when, already musquerad

medical student at Edinburgh as a boy, she enrolled as a

University.

Apart from an "unt," a Mr The sins of each of the fathers accused of abandoning a British Bulkeley, and un "uncle," u

A. are visited on the Residency out of cowardice.

artist alvo of the line

struggling. R. The great-grandfather was Fons, each sen at his end at-

numed James Barry, there is no tributing his are in life tu Victorian

trope whatsoever of her family who his father's weaknesses.

At the university the ting, student kept very

amateur of science Imade himself and his

The contemporary Vanburgh, family ridiculous by looking for oft-tall

ca the females of the much to herself, and seemed

having sunk his gratuity in an tails unprofitable antique business, species

surveys his prospects gloomily. Lositive of Darwin's theory. A-bankrupt business, slat

ternly mistress, a mournful wife,

in pursuit of proof intent only on working hard ut her studies. Undeniably a gifter Down the line

pupil, she took a brilliant degree, and launched herself into the

the

with

rake A Regency two uninteresting brats, and, honor of horrors, a third an passion for handling the rib-world.

bons: A minor poct at the tur Deliberately she chose nounced on the way that morn-

service. ·A· career, Ing. How, he wonders, through of the nineteenth century who hardest medical career of all- entailed the the haze of a hang-over, has he meddled in the private lives of military

EL volunteer obviously, that sunk to this? It waR all his the Lake poets;

against the American rebels who necessity of concealing her sex fother's fault..

And so we embark on the got himself captured at Bunker's from everyone for ever.

for Desperate

doctors, the Hill: these bring us on to the

where carly Success always

to distintegrate

Into

exploration of his genealogy in originator of the line, Moses Army was delighted that the a series of le blographies Vanburgh, a founding who, brillant young Dr Barry should

great oge of expansion, I wish to enlist. seems

climbed via the East India Com- A physical exam? One can disnator

His father, was a gallant and pay to a fortuna and an hear the "My dear chap, no

earldom.

need for that nonsense. Just prosperous young man of the

Linklater handles his you sign here," Rupert Brook generation who theme

Dr Barry signed willingly. and its variations richly went into the lid.18 wait in and inventively Facts episode She was handed her com spirit of high idealism and came

catches the sense of its period mission, and shortly recclved out of it in one of low dis nicely, and the little life his orders to report to the garrison

deadly ironte twist. tories are each given a neat and at Cape Town to take up dulles

er assistant surgeon.

illusionment.

The grandfather was a popu- kar and successful officer in Edwardian Indio, quile unjustly

J.

-{London Express Service).

FICTION... by Jocasta Innes

• THE MAN WITH TWO his first battle, his 'SHADOWS, Robin Mangham. killing-he learns about Longmans, 12s. 6d. A psycho- self. Sparingly written,

.

SO FOPPISH

In

In Cape Town, both sides of the astonishing little doctor's dual personality emerged. feminine Essentially manner as well as voice and #lature, che delighted in splen- did unttorms. Cockily sho strutted into the best Caps first Town society decked out in him-absurdly foppish tunles dripping gold braid, trousers so tight

logical thriller about the mental cumstanilai as a diary, this tho could scarcely sit down, plicnomenon known as "disso- book eschews blood-and-mud and tiny boots with three-incli clation of personality." While heroles to underline the futility Hifts and ludicrous spurs. engaged on accurity work in and meaninglessness of organised

the Middle East, Peter becomes massLETC. aware of Tommy, hle ruthless

'Dyed a riotous red, her hote was crisply curled and somewhat longer thon was fashionable.

aller cro. Harrowing adven • THE WEATHER FAMILY. If possible, her accessories tures ensue before the final Edgar Mittelholzer. Becker and were even more bizarre: a be- merger of Peter/Tommy In a Warburg. 18s. As the shadow plumed cocked hat, an elaborate lonely Sussex cottage. Im- of a hurricane looms large over dress sword as long as she was probable perlong but cleverly the Barbados Islands everyone, tall, and "Payche," the first of a handled.

including the already eccentric series of minumule white doge Larch family, goes slightly ber-tenderly tucked under her arm. Bork. The atmosphere becomes the blood out like a beacon. But it was a topplah age. Lace Dutie ou a uniform were more to be enviod than senrated.

Cape Town hostesses -*were

● ANECDOTES OF DESTINY, electric with tensions, frustra- Frak Dinesen. Miokkel Joseph. tiany and misunderstandings, 131. Ud. Woven round the theme building up to a wild, 'hitorous of destiny and the inexplicable ellmax the night the hurricane

in human behaviour, these descends. A mellow concoction entratleed. With their new and sophisticated fairy stories by of humour, sex and wisdom perfect extra' man, * Dr Barry distinguished Danish authoress which should please Mittel- was witty at tablo-and, as make their point delicately, but holzer fans,

never drank, "he" never with a bland irony and psycho-

passed out, tarder the table,

Dr Barry could be counted on glove wrliking, but with muscles" AWAY. Jean Denys, Langmans, to danco- gracefully or

Airt

Tarical penetration. Velvet THE SHOUTING DIER

"ho"

of steeler AG BARB Leonardo lo aŭ penali | gallantly with the pretty, ladies,

Maalean, boy, :* Gitano i 4 "He"?, gossiped acidly with the

● END OF A WAR KÓWMB, thoroughbred" - nfighting bull fat cat matrons. · Dr. Barry was, Evenia. Eislusnina, lie. Gorka vyhlasks than tenker," touching in fact, a great popiál: gućcton. Læggott, avorato Akskiidan Eng glory, of their friendship which. Dr Barry knew it) and revelled

BUL'DY

With the ferocity of 20 tigers ahe

Whatever the Army thought, they apparently decided

madness prison roaring

Ker shrill Bittle piping vouch Insistently demanding › reform

have ferlisted many

may

righteous man and committee -but it got results.

THE RUMOURS Her Cape Town assignment was typical. Wherever she went Canada, St Helena, Trinidad the pattern was the same,

such must be humoured. If they said any- thing, I want more than "Oh."

in

.

explicably

befriended

Fer

during her early student days). Then there was the mystery of her baby!

Where or for that matter,

have

when was It? When did she Above all, why had she chosen to spend her fo masquerading us a man?,

WHAT A PITY!

In those days, femaļu physicians were an undreamed-

The Punch Behind Sinatra's Hits

By LEONARD. FEATHER

Top American Jazz writer: Guest critle, this work

-New York. SOME have called him the man who brought Frank Sinatra back. Some say he is the power behind Nat "King" Cole.

Nelson Riddle, a tall, 37-year- old music arranger from Orell. Now Jency, both of those And much mot

#D

best-selling albums, notably

Songs for Swinging Lovers."

Is Binatra hard to work for? "Not at all,” anya · Riddle, "And when he wants to get something done he makes him self available, fast:"/^

SO QUICK

Quiet, bashful, and affable, of thing. It is arguable that he helped to shape the boyishly slim girl, determined to careers of several of America's be a doctor, might conceivably best name bands in the 1940's,

trombonist ani How much of a musician in arranger in the orchestras, of Frankie7 "First rato. Ho either; pass herself off as a boy to serving realise her ambition.

But why compound her digi-Jerry Wald, Charlle Spivak, and has a very quick car or some culties irrevocably and for ever Tommy Dorsey.

working knowledge, because ha by joining the Army.

as gooti as reads music. These questions just haven't any answers.

And what a pity the pepperz lila dostor can't peep down from her bi-sexual "heaven дай sco what a complete Bacocks her hoax has been.

He

continued carter

Medical flourish, and with the Service's equivalent of the rank Barry of major-general, Dr retired in 1859.

After her death, rumeurs took Old soldiers root and grew, suddenly acquired after-the-fact wisdom and harrumphed from their club chairs that they had always been on to her secret.

Bomo "knew' ' even more und claimed

mysterious "Influence" had So many times in that long powerful

her from military career she must have always protected exposure because she was the looked around-at table in the of an garrison mess, perhaps, or ori a illegitimate_oftspring More astute folk remarked English nobleman.

the crowded troopship, or "curiously or

male exclusivity of an operating

slyly Her father, they said, was the theatre-and

thought: how "curious

Or his "You don't know, de yoni, who

Ur ever oven suspected her. She Prince Regent himself. feminino she was but no one never confided in anyone, about brother, the Duke of York. I really am?”

either her parentage

at the very least, the Earl of Buchan (who had, true, enough, «lill don't.

·lost her delight in She never ornate dress. She always had little white dog. She was always a great social success with some-and unathema othere.

•fantrian lande in“ Normandy “onds"in the bull-ring of Mexico' in Lew Harry had a faz more!

· In 1944 innocent of the, business ölty.

of WarCala Flearning about war

.

10

or true

JACKY'S

DIARY

BY

弟弟

JACKY MENDELSOHN

AGE 31⁄2

Q

For the joke of it is-they

"Frank and I got together at Capital records in Hollywood," he told me "That was in 1953, I had worked there for Nat Cole,"

SENSUOUS

(He created two of Nat's big gest-selling arrangements, “Too Young" and "Mona Llari,"")

The partnership proved im mediately. profitable,

soft

Д

Riddle's music had a smooth, sensuousness when the ballad mood was required; bold, brash beat-on up tempos, Together, Sinatra and Riddle have fashioned dozens of bit records, the best known being "Young at Heart" and several

LAST NIGHT MOMMY READ ME A FAIRY

TAIL CALLED CINDERELLER ONLY

DONT BE LEAVE IT REALLY HAPPENED

園

SHE LIVED WITH A GRUEL STEP MOTHER WHICH MEANS SHE WOULDNT KISS HER BUT WOULD STEP. ON HER ALSO SHE HAD 2 CRUEL STEP SISTERS WHO STEPPED ON HER TOO & MADE HER DAY THE DISHES

OW CHO

AT THE PARTY THE PRINTS BE- CAME IN LOVE WITH CINDERELLER WANTED TO GET MARRYED WITH HERO

a

"if Frank has an idea for rung he'l outline it to me and 1'11, work out the routine. Or sometimes he just says 'Gu and leaves everything to mɑ.” .......

Docs he waste time or "blow up on recording sessions?

It depends,"

Boys Riddie, "what shape he is in and how hard the song is and many other factors.

"I remember

one tune we made, 'Day in, Day out far which we had to make 30 "takra before we got a usable one,

This doesn't mean be hidi difficulty in singing it. It simply means he is a perfectionist."

—(London Express Service}}

A VERY POOR GIRL WHO DIDN'T AN THIS STORY BINDERELLER WAS HAVE MUCH MONEY

THEN 1 DAY A HAND SOME PRINTS INVITED EVERY BODY TO A BIG PARTY

BUT SHE PROMISED SHED BE HOME BY MIDNIGHT & IT WAS ALL READY 5 MINUTES TO 124

+

THE PRINTS FOUND THE SHOES STARTED LOOKING ALL OVER HIS KING DUMB FOR A BEAR-FOOTED

GIRL

SO SHE STARTED

·INTO RUND⋅

WHEN THE BIG HAND IS ON THE 22

THE LITTLE HAND IS ON THE S

ONLY CINDERELLER FELT SAD BE CAUSE SHE DIDNT HAVE ANY CLEAN CLOTHES

BUT SHE RAN SO FAST THAT HER SHOE LACES CAME LOOSE + HER SHOES FELL OFFO

FINELY HE CAME TO CINDERELLERS HOUSE&

A

1919, King Festors Syndicats Inc.

World tights seseryed.

WHEN HE SAW HER BEAR FEET HE ASKED HER ADD VICE

GET MARRYED AGAIN ONLY THIS TIME SHE FOR CHILDREN

TO

SAD OK SO AFTER THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER

LET'S BE

MARRIED

RIGHE

WHEN YOUR PARENTS READ YOU A FAIRY TAIL MAKE BE LEAVE YOU BE LEAVE IT OR ELSE THEYRE. FEELINGS WILL GET HURTO

BUT IF THE STORY GETS TOO SILLY THEN PRETEND THAT YOURE A SLEEP TRYLLSPROK

YOUR FRIEND JACK