Beau James: The Life and Times of Jimmy Walker.

Fowler, Gene.

Price: 14.50 USD

New York: The Viking Press, 1949. 8vo - over 7" - 9" tall. FIRST US EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. The book is in VERY GOOD condition with owners inscription on front paste down, owners stamp and inscription on ffep, wear to board edges. Red cloth boards. The dust jacket is GOOD with tape on all edges of the cover, including spine. Spine edges have small open tears/chipping. NOT price-clipped. 389 pages with index. Black and white photo illustrated. JMVintage specializes in books, magazines and other treasures related to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and other curious people. Dust jacket reads: "This is the affectionate chronicle of James J. Walker, and of a glittering New York which 'wore him in its buttonhole.' His great days were the days of revelry from the end of World War I to Roosevelt's first election, the extravaganza of the twenties before the giant hangover began. These were the days of millionaires and gangsters, of Lindbergh's first flight and Rothstein's murder, of speakeasies and bull markets. The whole sequin-studded epoch is set forth here, as is the public and private life of debonair Beau James. The famous and infamous figures of the day parade through the narrative, and here for the first time is told in full the moving story of Jim's love for the beautiful Betty Compton. Called Jimmy by millions, he was always Jim to his friends. He feared crowds, dreaded being touched, but no one was ever more surrounded by people, more slapped on the back. He wanted to be a songwriter, but won the second biggest political job in the United States. He never seemed to take anything seriously, yet he was a brilliant trial lawyer and a state senator. He was late to engagements of state indiscreet, extravagant; he offended the politicians and the Church. But he was also a man of amazing memory, flashing wit, and fabulous generosity. The book spans much more than the twenties. Jim's beloved father came to New York from County Kilkenny when he was a young man, and the Irish family life in New York of those days is portrayed here, as are the later years in James J. Walker's life-the Seabury investigation which ended his political career, the loss of the woman he loved, his return to the Church. And, as would be anticipated by readers of Fowler's other books, BEAU JAMES is liberally embroidered with the delightful, irreverent, and highly amusing anecdotes which he excels in telling. Again as he did with John Barrymore in GOOD NIGHT, SWEET PRINCE, Gene Fowler gives us an engaging gentleman of the bright lights, with all his grace and all his human frailities." First edition. Very Good in Good dj.

ISBN: 0396067905