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Bezig met laden... The Mysterious Montague: A True Tale of Hollywood, Golf, and Armed Robberydoor Leigh Montville
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. LaVerne Moore was one of the more colorful figures in the world of golf in the 1930's and Leigh Montville tells his tale in all its boisterous glory in The Mysterious Montague, A True Tale of Hollywood, Golf, and Armed Robbery. John Montague, as Moore was better known, was a trick shot artist who could chip a ball into a highball glass or under the sash of a partially-opened window across the room. He reputedly knocked a bird off a power line from 170 yards and consistently drove the ball over 300 yards with a specially-made oversized driver the weighed twice as much as the standard club of its time. Most famously, he once beat Bing Crosby while playing only with a rake, a shovel, and a baseball bat. Montague had a secret, though. It was why he never allowed himself to be photographed and reputedly why he never entered any professional events. When that secret was revealed, it led to a sensational trial in upstate New York that turned into a celebrity-laden media fest. The secret is told in the first chapter of the book: Montague was wanted under his real name, LaVerne Moore, for the armed robbery of a roadside restaurant in the Adirondacks in 1930. The trial and its aftermath is an interesting window into the media world of the time. Montville entertains the reader with tales of Montague's prowess, although it's obvious many of them grew to legendary status mainly through the re-telling such feats engender. He also gives us a good look at the celebrities who flocked to Montague's cause. Babe Ruth, Bing Crosby, Oliver Hardy, W.C. Fields, Howard Hughes, Babe Didrickson Zaharias, and many more were tied to Montague one way or another. Sportswriter Grantland Rice was his biggest fan. The end of the book, which chronicles Montague's late-in-life attempt to break into the ranks of professional tournament golf, may be of the greatest interest to players of the game. Weakened by too many years of Hollywood parties and lack of practice, Montague was a miserable failure in his attempts to compete with PGA stars, who had disdained him from the start. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
John Montague was a boisterous enigma. He had a bagful of golf tricks, on and off the course. He could knock a bird off a wire from 170 yards, and when the big man arrived in Hollywood in the early 1930s, he quickly became a celebrity among celebrities. He played golf with everyone from Howard Hughes to Babe Ruth and his close friend Bing Crosby, whom he famously beat with only a rake, a shovel, and a bat. Yet strangely Montague never entered a professional tournament, and he never allowed his image to be captured on film. When a photographer snapped his picture with a telephoto lens, police in upstate New York recognized him as a fugitive wanted for armed robbery. As Montague was indicted, hordes of national media descended and turned a star-studded legal carnival into the most talked about trial of its day.--From publisher description. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)796.352092The arts Recreational and performing arts Athletic and outdoor sports and games Ball sports Ball and stick sports Golf Biography And HistoryLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Not giving the story away the book is about the life with great gaps particularly in his youth of the man that briefly held the nation as kind of gossipy intrigue like you would see in today's outlandish tabloids and Internet sites. The mystery of a man who appears from nowhere to befriend himself to early show biz folks of Hollywood. His entry is made through his sensationalized golfing feats, or tricks, and his ability to blend well with the cast of characters in this mix of mostly successful actors and a sportswriter.
The mystery culminates in the man's shady unknown background that implicates him in a crime years earlier back east. The two things that were driven home to me was that it is a good thing to have famous friends. And secondly Montague did manage to be ahead of his time in introducing formats to golf that would become successful application by modern era golfers. Sadly he did not quite capitalize on his mystique and creative folklore like so many who have attempted the same. ( )