It's stunning that this amazing novel was written in 1935 - it is as fresh and raw today. Author Horace McCoy was a wanderer, working as a travelling salesman in the South, he drove a taxi in New Orleans, served in the US Air Service in France, was a reporter and sports editor in Dallas, picked vegetables up and down the California coast in the early thirties, acted as a politician's bodyguard, doubled as a wrestler, and acted as a bouncer in marathon dance contests. In France he has been hailed as a peer to Steinbeck and Hemingway, and when this, his first novel, was published in 1935 it became a critical success in America.
I stood up. For a moment I saw Gloria again, sitting in that bench on the pier. The bullet had just struck her in the side of the head; the blood had not even started to flow.
I was her very best friend. I was her only friend.
When Robert met Gloria on a downtown LA street, she wanted to be in pictures and he wanted to become a director. It was the Depression, and there were no jobs, no money and no food. One idea was to join a marathon dance contest down at the pier, where they give you regular meals and a bed - and $1000 if you were the last couple standing. Once the contest begins you don't have to dance, just keep moving, always moving. As the days turn into weeks, couples faint from exhaustion, a man is arrested, fights break out, a woman dancer miscarries. The paying customers come expecting a show, so they begin nightly fifteen minutes derby races, the last couple eliminated. One couple is coerced into a stunt marriage, which brings in sponsors. At 783 hours, 26 couples remain. At 879 hours, 20 couples remain. Gloria is tough as nails, her despair at life causing her to try suicide several times in the past, and this seems a last run at some recognition - she began by hoping to be noticed by a producer. As they literally drag each other around the track, the spectacle grows in popularity, as people watch the contestants burn out.
The writing is terrific, and the story very raw. Hard to imagine reading this in 1935, with beatings of both men and women, liberal swearing, and subjects like abortion and suicide openly discussed. We still participate in contests like this with reality TV - watching people starve or eat disgusting things, eliminating competition any way we can. You can feel the Depression in his writing, where the haves watch while the have-nots struggle even to eat, it's entertainment to watch the contestants scramble for tossed silver coins. It's not an uplifting story, it's bitter and tragic, an unflinching look at despair. The writing is terrific and it's definitely a classic - both of it's time and of human nature.
This was filmed in 1969 by Sidney Pollack and starring Jane Fonda.
1935 / Paperback / 144 pages
Comments