cover image Sprinkle Ruby: Sh

Sprinkle Ruby: Sh

H. N. Swanson. Warner Books, $16.45 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-446-51429-3

Now nearly 90, ``Swanie,'' founder of College Humor magazine in 1923, recalls working with Benchley, Mencken, Perelman and Noel Coward, suggesting the title The Great Gatsby to Fitzgerald, and meeting or avoiding Hemingway, Sandburg, Hearst and Al Capone. After producing and scripting films for RKO, he became an agent, and for the next 55 years represented Cain, Chandler, Faulkner, Hailey, O'Hara and Luke Short. Sprinkled with anecdotes, this brief, superficial memoir mixes sketchy chronology with high jinks, references to alcohol and business lunches, and stories about Goldwyn, Cohn, Mayer, Selnick, Thalberg, Warner, Zanuck, Disney and Hitchcock. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)