|
|
|
|
Holistic Guidance - The Mysterious Montague: A True Tale of Hollywood, Golf, and Armed Robbery
|
List Price: $26.00
Our Price: $17.16
Your Save: $ 8.84 ( 34% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Doubleday
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.352092
EAN: 9780385520331
ISBN: 0385520336
Label: Doubleday
Manufacturer: Doubleday
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: 2008-05-06
Publisher: Doubleday
Release Date: 2008-05-06
Studio: Doubleday
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
|
He was a 1930s golf legend and Hollywood trickster who adamantly refused to be photographed. He never played professionally, yet sports-writing legend Grantland Rice still heralded him as “the greatest golfer in the world.” Then, in 1937, the secrets of John Montague’s past were exposed—leading to a sensational trial that captivated the nation.
From three-time New York Times bestselling author Leigh Montville
John Montague was a boisterous enigma. He had a bagful of golf tricks, on and off the course. He could chip a ball across a room into a highball glass, and 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 lived for a time with Oliver Hardy (whom he could lift, one-handed, onto the country club bar) and played golf with everyone from Howard Hughes and W. C. Fields to Babe Ruth and his close friend Bing Crosby, whom he famously beat while playing only with a rake, a shovel, and a bat. Yet strangely Montague never entered a professional tournament, and in a town that thrived on publicity, he never allowed his image to be captured on film.
The reasons became clear when a Time magazine photographer snapped his picture with a telephoto lens … and police in upstate New York quickly recognized Montague as a fugitive wanted for armed robbery. As Montague was indicted in the tiny upstate town of Jay, New York, hordes of national media descended and turned a star-studded legal carnival into the most talked about trial of its day – the trial of “the Mysterious Montague.”
From the glamour of 1930s Hollywood, to John Montague’s extraordinary skill and triumphs on the golf course, to the shady world of Adirondack rumrunners and bootleggers, three-time New York Times bestselling author Leigh Montville captures a man and an era with extraordinary color, verve, and energy. The Mysterious Montague is Leigh Montville’s most entertaining achievement to date.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Mysterious Montague
Comment: A detailed recollection of events in the life of a very mysterious person.
Leigh Montville brings back a time when personalities were indeed bigger than life, and one that reluctantly stood out in that crowd is the subject of the story. As the reader enjoys amazing stories involving some famous hollywood names it becomes clear why our subject is not willing to share the spotlight. I found The Mysterious Montague a wonderful read, and recommend it to all.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Links Braggart Laid Low
Comment: 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.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds: A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the Congo
Customer Rating:
Summary: "The Mysterious Montague"
Comment: This is the fascinating, intriguing tale of a man who changed identities to start a new life in Hollywood and leave a criminal past behind - or so he hoped. It's one of those "only in America" stories - featuring golf and Hollywood celebrities such as Bing Crosby - with a surprise ending that actually seems fitting although justice isn't done, strictly speaaking.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Mason's Mom
Comment: This is a good read, with an entertaining view of a time gone by that we have only read and heard about. John Montague is larger than life but stuck with the human flaws that the rest of us have. You don't have to know golf to enjoy this as Montville makes it a story for every one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!!
Comment: The book brings to life of an man, whom I was unfamiliar with, and brought to live America before World War II. The story is a fascinating journey that causes the reader to wonder what is true and what is legend. The stories will amaze you and the people who surrounds the man are legendary.
Before there was Tin Cup.. there was Montague. (after reading, I realize that Tin Cup was a rip off of this great story!)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
