Luis Van Rooten(1906-1973)

In addition to his talents as a stage, screen, radio and television actor, van Rooten was an accomplished artist and author of three sophisticated humor books: "Van Rooten's Book of Improbable Saints" (Viking, 1975); "The Floriculturist's Vade Mecum of Exotic and Recondite Plants, Shrubs and Grasses, and One Malignant Parasite" (Doubleday, 1973); and "Mots D'Heures: Gousses, Rames" (Viking, 1967). Of the three, "Mots D'Heures" is the most brilliant. In it, van Rooten uses actual French words and phrases which, when spoken aloud, become Gallic Mother Goose Rhymes.