Found a few more in a box in my workshop...
Here's a wonderfully poignant short novel by one of the most beloved "clowns" on the 20th century.... Red Skelton.
A vaudevillian
named Charlie Kay comes to a small town in the Midwest four days before
Christmas. He's nearing the end of his career, as according to the story, ventriloquism is nearing
the end of its popularity (the horror!), and vaudeville's days are numbered. Plus, the
theaters have gotten smaller and their managers cheaper. This was a world that
Skelton himself knew all too well. Charlie has a good heart but the brain of a con man. He meets a young female acrobat, who has tired of
theater life and rather quickly falls for him. Charlie eventually manages to save a life
and make himself reasonably affluent without actually harming anybody.
It's a sweet story and Skelton manages to throw in the occasional comic line,
delivered by his protagonist in a manner where it reads naturally.
This would have made a great hour-long black-and-white Christmas special
back in the day...assuming, of course, that Skelton
himself starred in it!
The book is new old stock. Mint condition. 1984 first (only) edition hardcover. Limited edition of 5000 copies worldwide. Measures 6" x 9-1/4"; 57pp.
$12.95
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