OF COURSE I'm serious! I played tennis for 15 years and during that time I tried to read everything that was ever written about the game, including encyclopedias, player biographies, instructional books, newspaper articles, magazine articles and of course novels. Why? Because I was just young enough to believe that I could take my game to a higher level, you know, the ITF Satellite Circuit. Ha! Well, that didn't happen, but I did retire from the game as a well versed, relatively solid 5.0 level player, and I'm more than pleased with that, all things considered.
Here's my modest collection of 20th Century paperbacks, both fiction and non-fiction, that have covers or content associated with the great game of tennis.
A young lady named Brenda is talking to her friend Hugh while waiting for their tennis opponents to show up:
"That's the trouble with tennis," complained Brenda, shaking the watch beside her ear. "Whenever you've got time off to play, the other person never has, and-- vice versa. You know? So you never do play. Wouldn't it be wonderful, though, if Nick can invent that tennis robot he's been promising, the machine or dummy that will return your strokes so that you can play alone?"
So begins The Problem of the Wire Cage, a "locked room" murder mystery by John Dickson Carr. When Carr's novel was first published in 1939 there existed only a hand-crank version of the tennis ball launching machine, invented more than ten years earlier by Frenchman and seven time Grand Slam singles winner Rene LaCoste. It worked pretty well too but it took no less than two people to utilize it. The first electrically powered machines were built in the 1950's and then in 1968 a pneumatic tennis ball machine was created by 75-year-old Robert H. McClure, who used its commercial success to build Prince Global Sports LLC., a significant racquet equipment and clothing manufacturer. I never hit against McClure's machine but I did play with a Prince Thunderstick for several years and loved its power and control.
Bantam's 3rd edition of The Problem of the Wire Cage was issued in 1964, but the cover artist was not credited. The court surface is red clay, surrounded by an obligatory wire cage and hence the reason for story's "locked room" puzzle. A body is found on the court but only one set of footprints can be seen entering the cage--the victims! The victim was strangled with a scarf which seems impossible given the circumstances. But what if purely for fun we changed the cause of death to blunt force trauma. Now the absence of secondary footprints makes sense, and Nick and his newly built tennis ball machine are about to be given a police escort downtown.
"Marry me, Jill. Please marry me."
The girl in a white blouse and short tennis skirt dropped her racket on the lawn beside the long chair in which she had been resting after a strenuous game. the brilliant sun poured down on waves of shining auburn hair, on clear brown eyes and smiling tender lips in a vivid face deeply tanned.
She turned her head, looking in surprise at the earnest young man in the chair under the big, gaily striped umbrella. Chester Bennett's pleasant face was anxious as he returned her look.
"Mapleville is a nice village," he said persuasively. "You like it here, don't you?"
"Yes, but--"
"I could make you happy. I'd try very hard."
A slim tanned hand made a quick pleading gesture. "Chester, you're like a very dear cousin I'm terribly found of. But..."
Tennis is barely factored into these two romances. So did Lou Feck,
who was himself a good tennis player, illustrate these scenes out of a
fondness for the game, or because of its then tremendous
commercial appeal?
King's Castle by Leslie Ames (Red Rose Romance No. 115), was published by Bantam in October, 1971. Ames is actually William Edward Daniel Ross (W. E. D. Ross), a Canadian, and one of the most productive fiction writers of all time. Here's why: Ross didn't even start writing until he was 48, but before he passed away at the age of 83 in 1995 he had published more than 300 novels under a variety of pseudonyms and genres.
Dreams in the Sun by Marsha Manning (Red Rose Romance No. 102), was published by Bantam in June, 1971. I couldn't find any biographical information about Manning online, but I did discover that her novel was first published in the U.K. by Ward Lock & Co in 1967, which probably makes her British by birth.
King's Castle by Leslie Ames (Red Rose Romance No. 115), was published by Bantam in October, 1971. Ames is actually William Edward Daniel Ross (W. E. D. Ross), a Canadian, and one of the most productive fiction writers of all time. Here's why: Ross didn't even start writing until he was 48, but before he passed away at the age of 83 in 1995 he had published more than 300 novels under a variety of pseudonyms and genres.
Dreams in the Sun by Marsha Manning (Red Rose Romance No. 102), was published by Bantam in June, 1971. I couldn't find any biographical information about Manning online, but I did discover that her novel was first published in the U.K. by Ward Lock & Co in 1967, which probably makes her British by birth.
The odd title of David Knight's novel, Farquharson's Physique & What It Did to His Mind (Fawcett Crest, 1973) probably confused more than one bookstore browser, but if they were adventurous enough to take the novel home they soon discovered what it was really about, that being the White man's experience in Nigeria's civil war during the 1960's.
The cover is fascinating because the artist, who was not credited but is probably either Stuart Kaufman or Gordon Johnson, likened Charlton Heston as his inspiration for Henry Farquharson. An excellent choice too because Henry's physical charisma is every bit as powerful as Heston's was. Interestingly enough, when Heston and his wife Lydia were living in Hell's Kitchen during the late 1940's they both worked briefly as artists models. I'm sure that Heston's rugged visage impressed the eye of every artist he posed for.
David James Knight (1926- 2001) was born in Toronto, Canada, and earned a degree in English Literature from Victoria College at the University of Toronto. He achieved his doctorate at Yale, then returned to teach English and Creative Writing at Victoria until his retirement three decades later. Farquharson's Physique was directly influenced by his lone exchange trip in 1965 to Ibadan, Nigeria, where he saw first hand the unfolding of a military coup. Supposedly, Knight wrote a series of science-fiction novels too, but I've found no evidence that they were ever published.
The cover is fascinating because the artist, who was not credited but is probably either Stuart Kaufman or Gordon Johnson, likened Charlton Heston as his inspiration for Henry Farquharson. An excellent choice too because Henry's physical charisma is every bit as powerful as Heston's was. Interestingly enough, when Heston and his wife Lydia were living in Hell's Kitchen during the late 1940's they both worked briefly as artists models. I'm sure that Heston's rugged visage impressed the eye of every artist he posed for.
David James Knight (1926- 2001) was born in Toronto, Canada, and earned a degree in English Literature from Victoria College at the University of Toronto. He achieved his doctorate at Yale, then returned to teach English and Creative Writing at Victoria until his retirement three decades later. Farquharson's Physique was directly influenced by his lone exchange trip in 1965 to Ibadan, Nigeria, where he saw first hand the unfolding of a military coup. Supposedly, Knight wrote a series of science-fiction novels too, but I've found no evidence that they were ever published.
The Professional by Edwin Fadiman, Jr., is the story of the making of a male tennis champion, from the slums of his orphaned youth to the Bel Air mansion of his married adulthood. It's a helluva story too, fraught with tragedy and triumph, and one that speaks true to its time and the sport's new Open Era. Fawcett Crest published it in December, 1974, about a year after the hardback edition came out.
Although not signed, the cover art was probably produced by realist painter Peter Caras (1941-). When Caras was starting his career he was critiqued by Norman Rockwell before ultimately becoming his friend and associate. He was also mentored by the late great James Bama. You can see both of these master's influences in most of Caras's early paintings.
Edwin Fadiman, Jr. (1925- 1994) was often overshadowed by his uncle Clifton Fadiman (1904- 1999), a famous radio and television personality, intellectual, author and editor, who while editing for Simon & Schuster turned Robert Ripley's newspaper cartoon Believe it or Not! into a bestselling book series. But Edwin the nephew had a productive literary career in his own right, as a radio and television writer, editor, reviewer, and, touché, a novelist. In addition to his opus on tennis he wrote six really good novels: The Voice and the Light (1949), The Glass Play-Pen (1956), An Act of Violence (1957), The "21" Screen (1960), Who Will Watch the Watchers (1971) and The One-Eyed King (1972).
Four male friends meet at a private tennis court every Saturday morning to play doubles. On Friday night the wife of one of the men starts partying with the others at a community pool while her husband is conspicuously absent. Her body is discovered the next day wrapped in plastic. But was she actually murdered? And by whom? After all, the tennis match went on as per usual.
Saturday Games was written by Brown Meggs and published by Fawcett Crest in January of 1976. It was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1975, but lost out to Gregory McDonald's Fletch. Meggs (1931-1997) wrote his debut in between gigs as an EMI/Capitol Records executive, where he was instrumental in signing The Beatles to their first American recording contract in 1963. During his self-imposed hiatus from the music business he also wrote three other novels, and each one is an ace, just like his first one. They are The Matter of Paradise (1975), Aria (1978), and The War Train (1981).
Canadian born Tom (Thomas John) Miller (1913- 2004) produced the cover art for Saturday Games, and while he chose not draw anything tennis related into his scene Miller will always get a favorable line call from me because he happens to be one of the finest realist painters of the 20th century. When Miller started illustrating paperback covers in the late 1950's he kept his pictures rather simple to comply with what his art directors needed back then, dames and dudes, or doctors and nurses, in basic situational poses, plus he was still in the throes of learning. But by the time the 1970's rolled in Miller had developed his style so acutely that the words realism and gorgeous were one and the same.
Tennis doesn't really factor into Lee Head's mystery-crime novel The Terrarium, even if the cover art tries to suggest otherwise. The cover artist was not credited but it looks to me like the work of Charles Gehm, although it's hard to be sure without seeing at least some vestige of a signature, or taking the time to do an intense cover comparison. But I do see that our handsome tennis player is holding a Yonex racquet, and I remember playing with one of those babies back in the day.
Lee Head was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma. She wrote only one other mystery besides The Terrarium, titled Crystal Clear Case, and they both feature her unorthodox sleuth Lexey Jane Pelazoni, a sixty-eight-year-old widow who has an incredible "eye for detail" and a "nose for trouble." She also wrote the Golden Spur Award winning historical novel Horizon, which chronicles the exploits of an Oklahoma ranch family. However, Head should not be confused with the famous artist, teacher and intellectual polymath of the same name, who only recently passed away in North Hampton, Massachusetts. The novelist Lee Head died of cancer at age 52 in her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1983.
Lee Head was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma. She wrote only one other mystery besides The Terrarium, titled Crystal Clear Case, and they both feature her unorthodox sleuth Lexey Jane Pelazoni, a sixty-eight-year-old widow who has an incredible "eye for detail" and a "nose for trouble." She also wrote the Golden Spur Award winning historical novel Horizon, which chronicles the exploits of an Oklahoma ranch family. However, Head should not be confused with the famous artist, teacher and intellectual polymath of the same name, who only recently passed away in North Hampton, Massachusetts. The novelist Lee Head died of cancer at age 52 in her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1983.
The Terrarium by Lee Head was published by Fawcett Crest in 1976.
I been meaning to read The Tennis Murders, A Dion Quince Mystery by Timothy Welch, for quite some time. Popular Library published it in June of 1976, but I can't tell if their image on the cover is an illustration or a photograph (note the blood on the handle).
The front-page blurb reads like this:
The front-page blurb reads like this:
THE NAME OF THE GAME WAS SUDDEN DEATH
The big time tennis tour had turned into a terror trip. One of the most luscious lady lobbers was mangled in the locker room, another met an even more gruesome end, and players suddenly found they needed more than the guts in the racquets to keep from quitting the courts.
That's when Dion Quince made the scene, using his tennis talents to gain entry into a world of sunlit sport and shadowy evil-- and his hard body and iron nerve to keep his end up in a game where love meant zero, lust scored high, players swung every way, and an unknown killer kept hitting winner after winner...
I came across this tennis cartoon in Tom K. Ryan's collection Hang in There, Tumbleweeds!. It was published in paperback by Fawcett Gold Medal in August of 1976. Ryan's cartoon illustrations are marvelous things all by themselves,
but Ryan also possessed a brilliantly droll sense of humor that kept Tumbleweeds, his comic strip parody of the Old West (or its
myth, anyway), blowing around in newspaper syndication for more than four
decades, from 1965 to 2007. When I was a teenager I used to sketch his zany cast of characters for hours at a time.
Helen Rosenbaum's Tennis Vacations is packed full of information about tennis related resorts, cruises, camps, academies, USTA memberships, rankings, regulations, clothing, physical conditioning and even magazines. It's also crammed with an abundance of black & white photos. I get the impression that Rosenbaum would have liked for her book to become an updated annual. Popular Library published it as a paperback original in May, 1977, but they never reprinted it, and today it is rather rare and perhaps even valuable in the eyes of many tennis fans. It's definitely a book for the old 'time-capsule'.
Is World Class the best novel ever written about life on the tennis circuit? Well, considering that every paperback copy of this title that I've come across has been read to near ruin (like the one here), I'm inclined to believe that, yes, maybe it is. The authors, Jane and Burt Boyar, certainly did their homework in preparation to writing their tome; two years traveling on the pro circuit taking notes and interviewing a who's who of the sport's best players, their wives and coaches. Folks like Butch Buchholz, Marilyn Bucholz, Cliff Drysdale, Roy Emerson, Pancho Gonzales, Rod Laver, Mary Laver, John Newcombe, Dennis Ralston, Tony Roche, Ken Rosewall, Pancho Segura, Fred Stolle, and Roger Taylor. I can just imagine the lavish parties they attended too!
World Class by Jane and Burt Boyar was published in paperback by Popular in September of 1977. The cover image appears to be a photograph and not a painted illustration.
The Tennis Hustler (1978) is one of tennis's 'Holy Grails'. But not because it's one of the best novels ever written about the sport (hmm...), or because J. R. Pici might be the pseudonym of a famous writer (hmm... not likely), but strictly because it was the product of Major Books, a low-budget publisher who had extremely low print runs. So finding a copy is practically an almost impossible task, and I feel incredibly lucky to have stumbled across this one.
The sexy cover art for The Tennis Hustler was painted by Gerald Powell,
a talented paperback and magazine illustrator whose career spanned at
least four decades. One of his biggest clients was probably Major, and
it looks as if he produced more than 100 covers for them.
"The Queen and the winner of your final will be executed unless a suitable ransom is paid before your match ends. If anyone attempts to leave the royal box or the center court before the match ends, the executions will be carried out immediately, but will incllude both of you, not just one. Should any attempt be made to remove the Queen from the royal box, or provide her with cover in it, or get either of you off the court, many innocent spectators will die. Negotiations are in progress, have a good game."
Russell Braddon's rather excellent novel, The Finalists, is really two stories in one. The first story, and the book's better half (some have called it saccharine), concerns two extremely talented international tennis stars who become best buddies. The second story begins at the halfway point and is your typical 'assassin-in-the-stadium' plot (as reflected by the above quote), which while not without its suspense, is really just another way of cementing the bromance between our two stars. And when it's all said and done it's probably the bromance that will be remembered the most.
Bantam published this novel in 1978, but like nearly every publisher at that time they did not credit their stepback illustrator. I've narrowed the choices down to five artists: Bob Heindel, Alan E. Cober, Ken Dallison, Barron Storey and Jack Unruh. My money's on Heindel.
Breakpoint by William Brinkley was published in paperback by Ballantine in 1979. The front and back cover art are the product of Birney Lettick, a prolific illustrator of book covers, magazines, movie posters and advertising.
The best way to describe Brinkley's novel is to quote Kirkus Reviews, whose assessment I completely agree with:
The best way to describe Brinkley's novel is to quote Kirkus Reviews, whose assessment I completely agree with:
"With an eye for catchy details and a tone that drifts blithely from cynical to-sentimental to downright silly, Brinkley keeps things moving right along without leaning too heavily on the non-plot. Result? A cheerfully vulgar, agreeably lousy, very professional chunk of good-natured easy-reading."
William Brinkley (1917- 1993) was an American writer and journalist, best known for his novel's Don't Go Near the Water (1956) and The Last Ship (1988)--the former being made into an MGM feature film and the latter into a TNT television series. He also wrote five other novels, mostly comedic in tone, and a rather serious article for the Washington Post about an exorcism that later became the basis of William Peter Blatty's bestselling novel The Exorcist (1971). It's always interesting what you can discover about an author when you start digging around.
I believe Double Fault was written by this particular Dan Brennan, a Minneapolis based writer with 25 known novels to his credit, who was born in 1917 and died in 2002. Brennan was also a highly decorated WWII tail gunner (RCAF and USAF), political speech and radio spot writer (Hubert Humphrey's 1948 campaign), news reporter, outdoor sports writer, film critic, hunter, husband, father of five kids, and "crazy Irish boozer" (not my quote). He also liked playing tennis, which is my only real reason for believing this novel is his, not having read any of his other books for comparison. Of note though is an interesting dedication inside the book:
"With gratitude to the tennis friends of our family, who helped make it possible for our children to win more than 500 tennis trophies and three college scholarships: Al Teeter, Norman MacDonald, Frank Voigt, Bob DeHaven, Dick Allen, Bill Kuross, Betty and Warren Swanson, Connie Custodio."
Missing from the list is the name Jim Klobuchar, a retired Star Tribune Columnist and friend of Brennan's and one of his frequent tennis partners. So really, I may be way off base here in believing that this Dan Brennan wrote Double Fault when in fact it could be some other Dan Brennan.
Leisure Books published Double Fault in 1979. The cover artist is unknown.
Sudden Death was written by Peter Brennan (no relation to Dan), and it's a novel I've also been meaning to read. The paperback edition was published by Jove in 1979, but the cover artist was not credited and I'm still trying to pin down who exactly that person is. Brennan is an American television producer, writer and journalist, who's noted for creating Judge Judy and several other companion television shows. He also wrote the horror novel Razorback, which was made into a motion picture using his screenplay in 1984.
The stylish painter Richard Bober produced the tennis themed cover art for Alfred Hitchcock's Games Killers Play, but I don't recall reading anything about tennis in any of the fourteen crime stories collected therein. I'm sure Bober was just having fun with the title, and especially with the tagline on the back:
"WHEN YOU FORFEIT THE MATCH IN THE GAMES HITCHCOCK PLAYS... IT'S FOREVER."
The China Cottage by August Derleth
Killed in Kindness by Nedra Tyre
You Can't Be Too Careful by James Holding
Murder Delayed by Henry Slesar
A Pattern of Guilt by Helen Nielsen
Weighty Problem by Duane Decker
Willie Betts, Banker by Mike Brett
Bus to Chattanooga by Jonathan Craig
The Feel of a Trigger by Donald Westlake
Captive Audience by Jack Ritchie
Room to Let by Hal Ellson
Double Trouble by Robert Edmond Alter
Heist in Pianissimo by Talmage Powell
Wish You Were Here by Richard Hardwick
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Roberta Leigh was the pseudonym, and assumed name, of Englishwoman Rita Lewin Shulman (1926- 2014). It was one of four names that she used while writing more than 160 novels, most of which were romances. She was also a painter, and an accomplished British television writer, producer and composer. Her novel Love Match was first published in 1980 by Fawcett Gold Medal (shown at top, with cover art possibly by either Dick Kohfield or Gordon Johnson), and then reprinted twice by Worldwide. The Worldwide copy in the middle is from November, 1982, and the cover art was painted by Charles Geer, an accomplished illustrator known for his distinctly styled, gothic romance covers. The Worldwide copy on the bottom is from June, 1983, and was produced by Victor Gadino, a prolific and obviously very talented realist painter. Why this publisher would shell out money to two different illustrators on the same title within the space of only a year is something that only those involved can answer. Though in my mind both covers are excellent, and so is the Gold Medal cover.
Kirkus Reviews said that author Jean Davies Okimoto was "capable of better things", in regards to her Who Did It, Jenny Lake?, a mystery aimed at teens. And yes, she is capable of better things, there's no question about that, but that's still no justification for them trying to diminish this brisk little mystery adventure, which is the perfect escape vehicle for your bored teenager, or wide-reaching adult. That being said, and after having read it, I now find myself mostly in love with Richard "Dick" A. Williams excellent cover art. Williams is renowned for being one of Mad Magazine's best cover artists during the 1980's, and, among other things, for a marvelous run of Encyclopedia Brown covers for Bantam Skylark. He deserves to have a post just on his EB covers alone (which I may try to do some day!).
Who Did It, Jenny Lake? was published in paperback by Putnam Pacer in 1984.
Who Did It, Jenny Lake? was published in paperback by Putnam Pacer in 1984.
True Love is a sometimes funny, sometimes brilliant novel about Watkins, a warm, sensitive, twice divorced California lawyer who is in love with Bethany, a beautiful, athletic woman who loves playing tennis even more than she loves being with him, which leads her to place a want ad in the local paper to help him find a replacement girlfriend. The book's author, warm, sensitive, 94 year-old twice divorced San Francisco resident Herbert Gold, has been writing insightful novels since 1951, when he was a part of the Paris Literary Scene and New York Beat Scene.
Joel Iskowitz produced the excellent montage see here on this Grove Press paperback edition, which was published in 1986.
Joel Iskowitz produced the excellent montage see here on this Grove Press paperback edition, which was published in 1986.
Doing the research on Tom "Rider" McDowell (1960- ) was almost more interesting than reading his potboiler about tennis, but not quite. Wimbledon, published by PaperJacks of Canada in July, 1987, is actually one of the better, if not one of the best novels ever written about the game of tennis. It's loaded with suspense, drama, and copious amounts of tennis--or did I get that mixed doubles thing all wrong and it's actually copious amounts of sex. Oh well--the stepback art is definitely apropos to the story although as per usual an artist was not credited.
The most gratifying shot I ever made in a tennis match was one that was borrowed from the repertoire of Ilie Nastase: a backhand volley with a wrist-snapped motion that propelled the ball sharply cross court for a clean winner. It felt good and looked good. Nastase of course was one of the game's best shot-makers during his time as a professional and he was even ranked number 1 in the world for ten months (August 1973 to June 1974). However, his shot-making ability is about the only positive thing that I can say about him these days, well that and perhaps his skill at writing novels, which is surprisingly deft, and nearly as deft as that wrist-snap volley of his used to be. You could do far worse than to read his thrillers Break Point and The Net.
St. Martin's published Break Point in paperback in 1987. A cover artist was not credited, but did you notice the pistol in the woman's grip! The Net was published in 1988, also by St. Martin's (photo cover, also not credited).
No collection of tennis novels would be complete without something from Jack M. Bickham (1930- 1997), a long time professor at the University of Oklahoma who wrote six of the better tennis thrillers that have ever been written. He also published 69 other books, including the novels The Apple Dumpling Gang and Baker's Hawk, which were both filmed by Hollywood.
Double Fault by Jack M. Bickham was published by Tor in August, 1994. The cover art is credited to Tim O'Brien.
WELL THAT'S about it for my collection of tennis paperbacks.
Oh-ah, but wait... What's this?
Looks like I have a few bonus book covers, illustrations, and advertisements that have been gathered from elsewhere. Enjoy:
Looks like I have a few bonus book covers, illustrations, and advertisements that have been gathered from elsewhere. Enjoy:
1939 Wimbledon Championships transport advertisement poster. Art and design by Leonard Applebee.
Lawn tennis in 1886, painted by Canadian artist Henry "Hy" Sandham (1842- 1910).
A 1891 tennis racquet patent.
A 1949 RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., one sheet film poster for Walt Disney presents Goofy in "Tennis Racquet."
A 1891 tennis racquet patent.
A 1949 RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., one sheet film poster for Walt Disney presents Goofy in "Tennis Racquet."
"The Tennis Player", a 1980 oil painting by the great illustrator Bernard Fuchs.
This outstanding cover art for the August 8, 1954 issue of The American Weekly is by Arthur Saron Sarnoff (1912- 2000), a prolific illustrator of Americana for magazines and advertising. His most famous illustration is perhaps the one that has dogs playing billiards, titled "Jack the Ripper." This issue of TAW contains a article about tennis champion Maureen Connolly, or "Little Mo", as she was affectionately nicknamed. Connolly won 11 Grands Slams in less than four years (9 in singles and 2 in doubles) before she was forced to retire at age 19 after an unfortunate riding accident. She was one of the game's greatest players, a dynamo with a racquet, and Hollywood even made a movie about her life.
Barbie and Ken (No. 4) was published by Dell Comics in 1962. The cover is a photographic image.
Going Steady by Anne Emery is a typical teen novel aimed at girls. It was first published in paperback by Scholastic Books (T142) in 1961, and reprinted several times. The artist of the upper cover is unknown to me; the bottom cover was painted by Stan Hunter, ca. 1967.
Set Point, A Win Hadley Sport Story by Mark Porter, is a typical teen sports novel aimed at boys. It was published in paperback by Tempo Books in 1966. Although the cover is signed (lower left side), it's unfamiliar to me.
U.S. born artist and illustrator Tom Adams is famous for producing dozens of distinctive Agatha Christie covers, on both sides of the Atlantic, including this simple but very effective one for Cat Among the Pigeons, published by Fontana (UK) in 1971.
Here's another terrific Tom Adams cover for Agatha Christie's Murder at the Vicarage. It was published in paperback by Fontana (U.K.) in 1981.
This is the first edition of Saturday Games by Brown Meggs. It was published in hardback by Random House in 1974. The cover photographer and designer is not known.
The Crime Club, an imprint of Collins (UK) published their hardcover edition of Saturday Games in 1975. They also used a photograph on the cover.
Paperbacks always try harder than hardbacks do to grab your buying attention. Here we have mission accomplished! This first British paperback edition of Saturday Games was published by Fontana in 1976.
Arthur Ashe and Tom Okker are the only top ranked professionals that I ever saw play in person. It was at an exhibition in Denver at McNichols Arena. I sat in the 4th row behind the baseline, which in my opinion is the absolute best spot to watch the sport in person (moving your head back and forth at mid-court is for the birds). Okker was a solid player to be sure, but Ashe, well, he was on a higher plane altogether.
Arthur Ashe, Portrait in Motion by Arthur Ashe with Frank DeFord was published in paperback by Ballantine (24904) in 1976.
Bjorn Borg won 11 Grand Slam single titles in 8 years and only lacked a U.S. Open title--he was beaten in 4 finals due somewhat to mitigating circumstances, but also of course to some stiff competition, and trust me on this, if Federer or Nadal or Jokovic played in the 1970's and 80's they wouldn't have half as many GS titles as they do. I lost my only opportunity to watch Borg play McEnroe in an exhibition here in Denver because by the time I got off work to buy tickets they were all sold out. I didn't make the same mistake with Ashe--I was first in line when tickets went on sale.
Bjorn Borg by Bjorn Borg with Eugene L. Scott was published by
Sidgwick & Jackson (U.K.) in hardback in 1980. It was simultaneously
published in the U.S. by Simon & Schuster.
What better way to end this post than by showing some great tennis covers drawn by Clarence "Boo" Doore (1913- 1988). Doore, an outstanding realist painter, composed figures and faces with an almost signature look about them. During his career he produced hundreds of action-oriented illustrations for men's magazines, pulps, advertising, comics, hardbacks, paperbacks, and of course an occasional program for the United States Lawn Tennis Association.
GAME, SET, and MATCH.
[© September, 2018, Jeffersen.]
