Marquard & Seeley

Hyannis, MA: Parnassus Imprints, 1996. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Format 5.25 inches by 7.25 inches. ix, [3], 259, [1] pages. Illustrations. Bibliography. Noel Hynd was born in New York City and grew up in New York and Connecticut. He began writing professionally before graduation from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in International Relations. His first novel, "Revenge", was published in 1976. Hynd worked with former British intelligence office 'Christopher Creighton' to tell the inside story of Britain's Crabb Affair, one of the most notorious British diplomatic and intelligence scandals of the 1950s. He published a biography titled "Marquard and Seeley" in 1996. It is the true story of Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Rube Marquard, who attempted to quit baseball and join his wife, actress/singer Blossom Seeley, as a musical hall star in the years before World War I. Derived from a Publisher's Weekly review: Rube Marquard (ne Richard LeMarquis) was the pitching star of the New York Giants in their pennant-winning years of 1911-1913. Blossom Seeley (nee Minnie Guyer) had success as a singer on the West Coast and went to New York City, where her show, The Hen-Pecks, established her as a star. Sports stars often played in vaudeville shows written for them, and so it was that the skit ""Breaking the Record"" was put together for Marquard and Seeley. The two fell in love and Seeley divorced her husband to marry Marquard. In 1914, however, the Giants had a bad year, Marquard became less of a stage attraction and his wife went back on the vaudeville circuit as a solo act. They separated in 1916 and were divorced in 1922, as his career went downhill and hers soared so high that George Gershwin wrote ""Somebody Loves Me"" for her. Hynd has captured the spirit of the times in this quaint and entertaining sidelight to sports and show-biz history.