[Downey was an American journalist, poet, and critic. In the following review, he favorably assesses Saratoga Trunk.]

"Hi, wait a minute, fellas," broke in the tabloid reporter. "Something tells me Mr. Maroon isn't kidding. Are you, Mr. Maroon? Say listen, maybe we're missing the real story."…

They did miss the real story, that group of newspaper men and women interviewing Clint and Clio Maroon in their rooms in the United States Hotel, Saratoga. Of course they already had a big story: the old Colonel's announcement that he was giving away his many millions. Also they had a deadline to meet. Furthermore there was dynamite in the sensational confession the old-timer from Texas was trying so hard to make. Add to press of time and chance of libel the fact that any reporter prefers to cover one yarn at a time.

So they missed it. No matter. Miss Ferber, who was a reporter when she was seventeen, covered it for them, and did she do a job on it! The story within the "frame," the fabulous career of Clint and Clio, is her new novel, Saratoga Trunk. Unpacking it is absorbing entertainment. There's everything in it but the kitchen stove—no, that's in, too, and the New Orleans and Saratoga dishes cooked on it will make your mouth water. The author could hardly be expected to provide an appendix with recipes, yet there is sure to be a demand for them. Perhaps the publishers will come through with a gustatory supplement, gathering rosebuds and publicity while they may.

Miss Ferber serves up some very nice phrases, too. As for instance, in describing the Vieux Carré of New Orleans: "Past the old houses whose exquisitely wrought ironwork decoration was like a black lace shawl thrown across the white bosom of a Spanish señora." Or of Saratoga: "A neat New England town with a veneer of temporary sophistication, like a spinster school teacher gone gay."

And there is also a theme. Colonel Maroon states it when he tells the reporters:

This is going to be a different America … This country today is finer and more honest and more free and democratic than it has been since way back in Revolutionary days. For a century we big fellows could grab and run. They can't do it today. It's going to be the day of the little man. Tell them to have faith and believe that they're the best Americans in the decentest government the world has ever seen.

But none of these—theme or background or well-turned phrases—get in the way of the main business, which is the telling of a tale; they only further it and enhance it, which is as it should be. Perhaps the beginning of the liaison between Clint and Clio in her New Orleans house is rather too lightly sketched. Many an incident could have been developed to greater length. Indeed the book could have been half again as long without being overwritten. But Miss Ferber has been mindful of that cardinal principle of the entertainer: Stop while they still want more. Successful playwright that she is, she knows good theater.

Saratoga Trunk, of course, is just that. Good theater. Can it be a mere coincidence? No, neverl The story, it may be confidently predicted, will soon be out from between boards and on the boards. Call in Collaborator George Kaufman. Page the one and only Jerome Kern to compose the score. He hasn't had a chance like this since Show Boat; the book is crammed with song cues. Cast Clio, Clint, Kaka, Cupidon. What parts!

Please reserve me two on the aisle, Miss F.