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.
