Botts is back! After nearly 30 years, the fabulously popular stories of Earthworm Tractor salesman Alexander Botts are back in print to delight both those who remember reading William Hazlett Upson's tales, and those who will be discovering the amusing adventures of the "natural born salesman" for the first time. Author William Hazlett Upson turned his work experience with the Holt Caterpillar Company into a second career when "The Saturday Evening Post" published his first story in 1927 in the saga of tractor salesman extraordinare Alexander Botts and Earthworm crawlers. The series was so popular that it led to 112 Botts tales and a movie, "Earthworm Tractors," that starred Joe E. Brown as Botts.
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William Hazlett Upson
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tales of a natural-born salesman,
By Buck Bauer (ELDERSBURG, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fabulous Saga of Alexander Botts and the Earthworm Tractor (Machinery Hill) (Paperback)
Self-proclaimed "natural-born salesman" Alexender Botts worked for the Earthworm Tractor Company, of Earthworm City, Illinois. Growing up as the son and grandson of tractor dealers, only 100 miles from "Earthworm City" [Peoria, home of Caterpillar], I was used to monthly visits by traveling sales representatives from the makers of the several types of farm machinery we sold, each with his own jokes to pass on and stories to tell. Dad, in turn, related his own stories. He had a copy of the ©1962 Pocket Book paperback "The Best of Botts," and lent it freely among these fellows, who all loved it. Sometimes a copy would not come back, having gone on to circulate farther afield. Dad could afford replacements -- at 35 cents apiece, it wasn't a great loss, even in 1960's dollars.
3 of its 13 chapters are among the 14 that appear in this (©2001) compilation. My favorite Botts quote is from the story "Botts Gets a New Job," which appears on page 173 of this volume: "It is, as I said before, the last straw. Coming on top of everything else, it is the final grain of salt that causes the solution to reach a point of supersaturation, so that the camel is precipitated to the bottom of the test tube." I remember first reading it in the book "The Best of Botts". I thought that it was so brilliant that for years I had misremembered it as being from P.G. Wodehouse. Reading it again, after several decades, I realized how similar Upson's Botts stories are to Wodehouse's Jeeves & Wooster tales. Wooster gets himself into scrapes, and Jeeves gets him out of them. Botts gets himself both into and out of scrapes -- he's Wooster and Jeeves rolled into one, and transplanted from English polite society to the mud-and-money world of tractor sales. There are none of the cultural and literary references that pepper the pages of Wodehouse, but Botts never tires of waxing poetic about his =own= abilities, or the lack of same in his boss Henderson. Volume #2 (©2005) of this new set is "Alexander Botts Rides Again." Here are the stories in these three books, with the date of each story's publication in The Saturday Evening Post. The Best of Botts (©1962) [B in the last table below] [MAR 1920] I'm a Natural-Born Salesman [DEC 1933] The Big Tree [MAY 1944] Situation Haywire [JUL 1945] A. Botts and the Möbius Strip [FEB 1947] Botts Gets a New Job [SEP 1947] Alexander Botts vs. the Income Tax [DEC 1950] The Crime of Alexander Botts [JAN 1951] Botts Runs For His Life [OCT 1953] Botts and the Impossible Mountain [JUL 1956] Botts' Perfect Alibi [SEP 1957] Botts Turns Traitor [JAN 1858] Botts and the Day the Dam Broke [AUG 1959] Botts and the Picket Line The Fabulous Saga of Alexander Botts (©2001) [F] [MAR 1920] I'm a Natural-Born Salesman [NOV 1921] The Big Sales Talk [JAN 1925] The Old Home Town [JUN 1932] "Thar's Gold in Them Thar Mountains" [JUL 1934] The Depression Is Over [NOV 1939] Confidential Stuff [0CT 1940] Tractors on Parade [JUL 1942] Wrong Again, Henderson [AUG 1943] "Keep Moving, Captain Botts" [FEB 1947] Botts Gets a New Job [JUN 1950] Tractor Hoarder [OCT 1953] Botts and the Impossible Mountain [FEB 1954] Botts and the Fire Bug [JAN 1958] Botts and the Daredevil Driver Alexander Botts Rides Again (©2005) [R] [JUN 1920] The Indirect Method [JAN 1921] I'm a Hard Boiled Bozo [JUN 1925] Sandy Inlet [JAN 1932] More Trouble With the Expense Account [SEP 1934] Good News [JAN 1940] Grand Canyon Brain Storm [MAY 1941] The Cockroach Cavalry [MAY 1943] Alexander Botts Obeys Orders [SEP 1945] I Want Out [FEB 1949] Botts Makes Magic [MAR 1957] Botts' Folly [MAR 1959] Botts and the Bag of Tricks Here is a chronological table with the stories from these three books interleaved, with added stories from the following two "late entries": Alexander Botts: Great Stories . . . (©1977) [G] Alexander Botts Earthworm Tractors (©1929) [E] BF_GE [MAR 1920] I'm a Natural-Born Salesman __RGE [JUN 1920] The Indirect Method __R_E [JAN 1921] I'm a Hard Boiled Bozo ____E [MAR 1921] The Wonders of Science ____E [MAY 1921] Trouble With the Expense Account _F__E [NOV 1921] The Big Sales Talk ____E [JUN 1922] Second Hand Stuff ____E [SEP 1922] The Endurance Test ___GE [APR 1924] Big Business _F__E [JAN 1925] The Old Home Town __R_E [JUN 1925] Sandy Inlet ____E [APR 1926] Always Polite ___G_ [JAN 1928] Europe Is Due for a Surprise ___G_ [MAY 1928] The New Model __R__ [JAN 1932] More Trouble With the Expense Account _F___ [JUN 1932] "Thar's Gold in Them Thar Mountains" ___G_ [JUL 1932] The Peacemaker B____ [DEC 1933] The Big Tree _F___ [JUL 1934] The Depression Is Over __RG_ [SEP 1934] Good News _F_G_ [NOV 1939] Confidential Stuff __R__ [JAN 1940] Grand Canyon Brain Storm _F___ [0CT 1940] Tractors on Parade __RG_ [MAY 1941] The Cockroach Cavalry _F___ [JUL 1942] Wrong Again, Henderson __R__ [MAY 1943] Alexander Botts Obeys Orders _F___ [AUG 1943] "Keep Moving, Captain Botts" B____ [MAY 1944] Situation Haywire B____ [JUL 1945] A. Botts and the Möbius Strip __R__ [SEP 1945] I Want Out ___G_ [AUG 1946] Botts is Back. . . BF_G_ [FEB 1947] Botts Gets a New Job B____ [SEP 1947] Alexander Botts vs. the Income Tax __R__ [FEB 1949] Botts Makes Magic ___G_ [APR 1950] Botts Discovers Uranium _F___ [JUN 1950] Tractor Hoarder B____ [DEC 1950] The Crime of Alexander Botts B__G_ [JAN 1951] Botts Runs For His Life BF___ [OCT 1953] Botts and the Impossible Mountain _F___ [FEB 1954] Botts and the Fire Bug ___G_ [AUG 1955] Dear Henderson: I Quit . . . ___G_ [APR 1956] Botts and the Biggest Deal of All B____ [JUL 1956] Botts' Perfect Alibi __R__ [MAR 1957] Botts' Folly B__G_ [SEP 1957] Botts Turns Traitor B____ [JAN 03 1958] Botts and the Day the Dam Broke _F___ [JAN 31 1958] Botts and the Daredevil Driver ___G_ [DEC 1958] Alexander Botts, Security Agent __R__ [MAR 1959] Botts and the Bag of Tricks B____ [AUG 1959] Botts and the Picket Line ___G_ [SEP 1960] Alexander Botts, Jailbird ___G_ [MAR 1973] Alexander Botts and the Younger Generation ___G_ [MAY 1974] Alexander Botts, Detective
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hope springs eternal,
This review is from: The Fabulous Saga of Alexander Botts and the Earthworm Tractor (Machinery Hill) (Paperback)
This is fun reading. If your idea of a good book is that it weigh 10 lbs and makes you feel miserable, then this is not the book for you. The stories of Alexander Botts are short, funny, and always have a happy ending, despite the absolutely horrific conditions in the middle of each story. These are stories of hope, that no matter how bad things seem to be, there is always a silver lining for those who don't give up. Alexander claims he's a "Natural Born Salesman"...I'd quibble with that and claim he's a natural born optimist. More than just a "glass half full" attitude, more of a "there are thousands of uses for crushed glass" optimism. Enjoy.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Belly laughts from Saturday Evening Post,
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This review is from: The Fabulous Saga of Alexander Botts and the Earthworm Tractor (Machinery Hill) (Paperback)
As a child, living on the Panama Canal Zone, I would look foreward to recieving the Saturday Evening Post , from the states, to read the lastest adventures of Alexander Botts, the bumbeling but Super Salesman from the Earthworm Tractor Company. Our family would gather around the kitchen table each Saturday night as Dad would read this halarious series to us. Great stories! A must for anyone who read Saturday Evening Post in the '20s, onward.
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