MCCOY, Horace

They Shoot Horses Don't They?

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1935. First Edition. First Printing. Octavo (21cm); Tan cloth titled in black and red on cover and spine; red topstain; 187pp. Forward lean; topstain mildly faded; scratches to rear cover, and splitting to rear joint; endpapers soiled; Good (a reading copy only).

"Story of a marathon dance, with all its attendant ballyhoo, set in the Depression years of the 1930's. One of the main participants, a youth still idealistic but down on his luck, reacts to the deep pessimism of his dancing partner by shooting her" (BAIRD 1597). McCoy's first book, much of which was based, no doubt, on what he saw while working as a bouncer at marathon dance contests during the Depression. Beyond being a spare, bleak parable about American life, the novel is also a scathing critique of both the nation's economy as well as the "spectator sport" nature such events devolved into. Contestants were subjected to countless hours of physical and mental torture, pushing themselves to great lengths for the promise of food, shelter, and a potentially life-changing payout. The prizes were exceptional for the time, typically paying out $1,000 to the Grand Prize winners, or the equivalent of a full year's income for the average household during the Great Depression. Basis for Sydney Pollack's Oscar-winning film adaptation (1969), starring Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, and Gig Young. HUBIN 266.

Price: $100.00

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