Word: babbittical
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...English novelist, W. L. George, who, mirabile dictu, has come to visit, not to lecture, has said that "Babbitt" remains the most popular American novel in England. The little salesman, he asserts, with his squandered energy, his lusts, and his pathetic aspirations is not only one of the world's heroes like M. Perrichon, but is, for the Englishman, the prototype of the American...
Many readers of the novel have thought Babbitt, like M. Perrichon, grossly exaggerated to prove a point. There is perhaps a suggestion of Babbitt in every American salesman, but every salesman is not therefore a Babbitt...
...there are several passages of not too heavy pathos, but on the whole it runs along at a charming level of quaint humor and light philosophy, "Shavings" himself, the kindly, absent minded toy-maker, is usually engaged in trying to unite the village feudists, Captain Sam Hunniwell and Phineas Babbitt, and eventually he succeeds when Leander Babbitt and Maude Hunniwell decide to be married. There are several other parallel themes, but the plot is not important, nor is it intended...
...Boston Stock Company showed itself thoroughly at home in the various parts, from Miss Theresa Kilburn, who played the child part, to Walter Gilbert, who did more than his usual good job, as "Shavings". Mark Kent and Harold Chase, as the inveterate rivals, Hunniwell and Babbitt, were especially delightful, and Ralph Remley was a most realistic Gabriel Bearse. For once, Edward Darney was excused from his customary role as villain,--probably because there wasn't any,--and enjoyed a comfortable romance with Miss Bushnell, while Houston Richards paired off as is his fortunate habit, with Miss Middleton. The only really...
...motives are simple. They are not, as George F. Babbitt ignorantly supposes, an " advertising stunt" for Hershey almond bars. Mr. Hershey was a poor boy. He had no education. He learned a trade and made a fortune out of it. He has no children. Now he would like to give an opportunity to as many boys as possible to make fortunes for themselves. Girls he does not provide for, on the ground that they can always get married or do housework, and so find homes. "Girls don't need help like boys," said he, " so I decided on boys." Boys...