The White Falcon - 03.02.1945, Blaðsíða 2

OOT NOTES
By
' PvT. ET. Jack.
Tlie President’s Birthday Ball at Club 14 Tuesday
night was well attended .... one of. the best turn-outs
to dale .... The “March of Kronur” was highly gratify-
ing, too, a little hit of everything being thrown in, kron-
ur, good old American dollars, dimes and quarters, as
well as English crowns and Canadian coins . .._. The
Dance Orchestra swung the tunes .... welcome re-
freshments were served in the Game Room .... There
seemed to he more than the usual predominance of
red-haired gals .... some of the newer men here hold-
ing in their eye-halls as they passed by.
* *
If you, like I, have been looking for Valentines up
here, you won’t find any in the stores .... for the day
is not observed here .... However, there are some at-
tractive ones available at Club 14 and Club 23 .... De-
signed hv Y/2c Boh Hill of the Navy, they are sym-
bolic .... try and send one home to that girl .... The
Icelanders have a similar observance of our St. Valen-
tine's Day on Ash Wednesday here .... On that day
the girls make and send small lapel-size silken hags
filled with ashes .... Sent anonymously, if the boy
is sufficiently interested he wears it on his coat that
day and tries to find out by whom it was sent ....
from there on he is on his own .... Strangely enough,
the origin of St. Valentine’s Day (upon looking it up)
is rather obscure .... Valentine being the name of two
third-century saints who suffered martyrdom in the
year 270 during the persecution under Roman Emperor
Claudius II .... Thus February 14 was originally ob-
served as a feast for them .... But somewhere in anti-
quity, romanticism, hearts and flowers crept in and
have remained with us.
\ * *
Along about this time of year the “best” of ev.ery-
1 thing of the previous year lias usually been chosen ....
-Songs have been no exception, so here are the ones
' voted most popular during 1944 .... Long Ago and
Far Away .... I’ll Be Seeing You .... I Love You ....
•i I’ll Get By .... Amor .... I’ll Walk Alone .... It
Had To Be You .... San Fernando Valley .... Besame
Mucho .... The Trolley Song .... “The Goldbergs,”
one of the oldest serials, is finally off the air, lacking
. a sponsor for the first time .... Gracie Fields, the
English comic, is also another recent casualty .... Dan-
ny Kaye has his own (and first) radio show now —
' a wow ....
Rumors are seeping through that the recent race
track ban may be extended to night clubs, to combat ab-
senteeism — many owners were worried .... Mayor
La Guardia has a new nick-name, “The Little Flounder”
(coined during the recent Eat More Fish Drive) ....
•; =5=
.... The petty swiping of war-short silverware in
restaurants has reached a new high .... The Automats
. alone report losing .$100,000 worth .... The thieves find
a lucrative outlet for their loot in second-hand dealers.
Shown above is the cast of “Come and Get It,” latest
British ENSA show to come to Iceland. Left to right,
standing, are Earle Raymonde, illusionist; Daphne Peter-
son, dancer; Hazel Murray, soprano; Mannie Zimbler,
piano; Tina Downs comedienne;' Pam White, dancer;
Cliff Clifford, MC; Norman Hawkin, saxophone} and
(seated) William Walace, druritsl *
AIBROAD Ii\ ICELAND
It is not generally known
that Iceland, is today one
of the greatest hook-read-
ing nations in the world.
Neither is it known that
it is also one of the larg-
est (per population) hook-
publishing nations in the
world.
Facts ou the reading
habits of the people, as
well as publication figur-
es, are almost astounding.
There are, on an aver-
age, 675,000 new books
sold each year in Iceland-
ic alone. Add to this ap-
proximately 480,000 im-
ported books (in English
and other languages) also
sold and, the figure is tre-
mendous, in a population
of only 126,000 persons. It
averages out that each
family of five buys about
40 new books a year, or
about eight hooks a year
to each person in Iceland,
including women and
children. In a normal year
— these last years — there
are usually around 393
new books published.
Printings have risen great-
ly in the past few years.
Formerly only 800 to 1500
copies of a new hook
would he printed. But now
1500 to 2500 copies of such
hooks are run off for the
open market. All of which
helps explain the numer-
ous bookshops that seem
lo dot almost every corn-
er in any town in Iceland.
Not only are the Ice-
landers avid readers, but
they are also prolific writ-
ers — approximately fifty
percent of all hooks publ-
ished here being written
by native authors. The
other half is made up of
translations, a great many
now being of American
origin. Not a member of
the Berne Convention, Ice-
land has a unique position
in the publishing field, for
she does not have to pay
copyright fees on foreign
translations. It was mutu-
ally agreed that due to the
limited printings and high
costs here, Iceland would
not have to pay for for-
eign works. This is due
partly lo the fact that very
few Icelandic authors
have their works translat-
ed into other languages
(due to difficult idioms
and) phraseology) and
thus do not collect royal-
ties on their works abroad.
American books are
comparatively new here.
Prior to the present war,
almost ninety percent of
hook importations came
from the Scandinavian
countries. It is only with-
in the last few years that
Icelanders have become
familiar with American
authors. They still do not
like strictly colloquial, or
American characteriza-
tion works. This is due in
part to the difficulty in
translating— the Iceland-
ic language having no
equivalent for many of
our vernaculars. Strong
“general” plots and com-
mercial themes (business
advancements, science,
text-hooks) are the most
popular.
Paradoxically, however,
some of our most typical
American authors are the
best liked .— Sinclair Lew-
is, John Steinbeck, Damon
Runyon, Ernest Heming-
way, Saroyan. So-called
“women’s books” are ex-
tremely popular; there-
fore it is not surprising to
learn that “Gone With the
Wind” has been one of the
best-liked translations to
date. Another has been the
“Song of Bernadette.”
As for the cost) of books
here, a book by an Ice-
landic writer will cost ap-
proximately 40 kronur
($6.00) for a 320-page vol-
ume, paper-bound. An
American imported book
will cost about fifty per-
cent above the cost abroad
—- a $3.25 book selling for
$5.25 here- A translation
will cost around 75 kron-
ur ($11.25) for a leather-
bound edition, 50 kronur
($7.50) for a paper-hound
one.
As in America, “book-
of-the-month” clubs flour-
ish here. But one is unusu-
al — it is subsidized by the
Government. As lending
libraries are rare, especi-
ally in the rural sections,
most people have to buy
their hooks. So the Gov-
ernment contributes lo
one of the largest (12,000
members) of the six hook
clubs, enabling its memb-
ers to buy more books
through lower prices. All
the clubs operate on the
same principle as their
American counterparts —
group selections being
made and printed on a
contract basis. But they do
not detract from the sales
of the many independent
hook shops that crowd the
streets of any town in Ice-
land.
One of the presses at an Icelandic printing firm