The Mysterious Montague: A True Tale of Hollywood, Golf, and Armed Robbery [Hardcover]

Leigh Montville (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 2008

He was a 1930s golf legend and Hollywood trickster who adamantly refused to be photographed. He never played professionally, yet sports-writing legend Grantland Rice still heralded him as “the greatest golfer in the world.” Then, in 1937, the secrets of John Montague’s past were exposed—leading to a sensational trial that captivated the nation.

From three-time New York Times bestselling author Leigh Montville

John Montague was a boisterous enigma. He had a bagful of golf tricks, on and off the course. He could chip a ball across a room into a highball glass, and knock a bird off a wire from 170 yards—and when the big man arrived in Hollywood in the early 1930s, he quickly became a celebrity among celebrities. He lived for a time with Oliver Hardy (whom he could lift, one-handed, onto the country club bar) and played golf with everyone from Howard Hughes and W. C. Fields to Babe Ruth and his close friend Bing Crosby, whom he famously beat while playing only with a rake, a shovel, and a bat. Yet strangely Montague never entered a professional tournament, and in a town that thrived on publicity, he never allowed his image to be captured on film.

The reasons became clear when a Time magazine photographer snapped his picture with a telephoto lens … and police in upstate New York quickly recognized Montague as a fugitive wanted for armed robbery. As Montague was indicted in the tiny upstate town of Jay, New York, hordes of national media descended and turned a star-studded legal carnival into the most talked about trial of its day – the trial of “the Mysterious Montague.”

From the glamour of 1930s Hollywood, to John Montague’s extraordinary skill and triumphs on the golf course, to the shady world of Adirondack rumrunners and bootleggers, three-time New York Times bestselling author Leigh Montville captures a man and an era with extraordinary color, verve, and energy. The Mysterious Montague is Leigh Montville’s most entertaining achievement to date.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When John Montague died alone on May 25, 1972, age 69, in a fleabag hotel in Studio City, Calif., his body went unclaimed for a week. Hardly a fitting end for a man who once rubbed shoulders with Bing Crosby, Richard Arlen, Oliver Hardy and the other Hollywood swells who golfed, drank and caroused at the Lakeside Country Club in L.A. In the capable hands of bestselling sportswriter Montville (Ted Williams), Montague's is a quintessentially American story of a man from a hardscrabble background who found himself in the glamorous, easy-money world of Hollywood. But Montague had a past that caught up to him. Having fled a charge of armed robbery in upstate New York, Montague was brought back in 1937 to stand trial, and though he got off, his life quickly unraveled. Hyped by the great sportswriter Grantland Rice (who called him a golfer who would be a wrecking whirlwind in any amateur championship and on a par with any pro) and other newshounds, Montague struggled through a series of increasingly embarrassing attempts to go legit on the golf circuit. An entertaining read for the golf lit completist, this doesn't rise to the level of compulsion for the average reader. (May)
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Review

“Critics who think bestselling sports biographer Montville’s popularity rests on that of his gargantuan subjects, from Ted Williams to Dale Earnhardt, had better think again: He hits the pin in one with this page-turning account of a long-forgotten golfer….Explaining why reporters loved to write about Montague, the author declares, ‘Intrigue is a better seller than great golf any day.’ Here, he gives readers both.”
—Kirkus, starred review

PREVIOUS PRAISE FOR NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR LEIGH MONTVILLE

TED WILLIAMS

“Exceptional. Montville on Ted Williams is can’t-miss, one of America’s best sportswriters weighing in on one of the last century’s most intriguing figures. A great read.”
—Chicago Tribune

“In Ted Williams, Leigh Montville reaches a threshold even the mighty Williams could never touch: perfection. The beauty of Montville’s work is that it is not a baseball book, per se, so much as the life and times of an oft perplexing, always fascinating man.”
—Newsday

“Montville is refreshingly nonjudgmental about his superstar subject. First-rate biography.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Crisp analogies and astute observations, combined with a fluid writing style, are Leigh Montville’s strengths in this definitive biography of the Splendid Splinter.”
—Tampa Tribune

THE BIG BAM

“[A] vivid, intimate account. Montville’s unique voice … makes old yarns seem new.”
—Sports Illustrated

“Montville is a wonderful storyteller and Ruth’s story, from Baltimore street urchin to international celebrity is indisputably amazing … a fascinating tale, alternately happy and sad, and always artfully written.”
—Chicago Tribune

“The best Ruth biography to date … [Montville’s] adroit organization of the historical material—enhanced by newly studied archival material and oral history transcripts, together with his flair for marshalling undisputed facts that are intertwined with plausible speculations—has produced an engaging, entertaining, and eminently readable biography.”
—Library Journal, starred review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (May 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385520336
• ISBN-13: 978-0385520331
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #799,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Links Braggart Laid Low, June 25, 2008

By 

David Donelson "Author of The Dynamic Manager... - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mysterious Montague: A True Tale of Hollywood, Golf, and Armed Robbery (Hardcover)

LaVerne Moore was one of the more colorful figures in the world of golf in the 1930's and Leigh Montville tells his tale in all its boisterous glory in The Mysterious Montague, A True Tale of Hollywood, Golf, and Armed Robbery.

John Montague, as Moore was better known, was a trick shot artist who could chip a ball into a highball glass or under the sash of a partially-opened window across the room. He reputedly knocked a bird off a power line from 170 yards and consistently drove the ball over 300 yards with a specially-made oversized driver the weighed twice as much as the standard club of its time. Most famously, he once beat Bing Crosby while playing only with a rake, a shovel, and a baseball bat.

Montague had a secret, though. It was why he never allowed himself to be photographed and reputedly why he never entered any professional events. When that secret was revealed, it led to a sensational trial in upstate New York that turned into a celebrity-laden media fest. The secret is told in the first chapter of the book: Montague was wanted under his real name, LaVerne Moore, for the armed robbery of a roadside restaurant in the Adirondacks in 1930. The trial and its aftermath is an interesting window into the media world of the time.

Montville entertains the reader with tales of Montague's prowess, although it's obvious many of them grew to legendary status mainly through the re-telling such feats engender. He also gives us a good look at the celebrities who flocked to Montague's cause. Babe Ruth, Bing Crosby, Oliver Hardy, W.C. Fields, Howard Hughes, Babe Didrickson Zaharias, and many more were tied to Montague one way or another. Sportswriter Grantland Rice was his biggest fan.

The end of the book, which chronicles Montague's late-in-life attempt to break into the ranks of professional tournament golf, may be of the greatest interest to players of the game. Weakened by too many years of Hollywood parties and lack of practice, Montague was a miserable failure in his attempts to compete with PGA stars, who had disdained him from the start.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds: A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the Congo

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mysterious Montague - An Enjoyable Book, May 7, 2008

By 

Dana49 (New England) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Mysterious Montague: A True Tale of Hollywood, Golf, and Armed Robbery (Hardcover)

The title of Leigh Montville's new book tells you a lot about the story without ever having to read a page. John Montague played golf and schmoozed with some of the most famous of the 1930's Hollywood celebrities. However, something in his personal life would eventually turn his world totally around. This book will probably not win any literary awards, but it is entertaining, amusing, and at times quite unbelievable. Golfers will love it, non-golfers will enjoy it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Legend Discovery, then Evaporation, March 14, 2009

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Mysterious Montague: A True Tale of Hollywood, Golf, and Armed Robbery (Hardcover)

Amazing tale of a mysterious Hollywood golfer and friend of the stars who no one seemed to know his past, due to robbery gone bad in native NY.

The reader is instantly hooked with the robbery account at the beginning, then moving on to his legendary exploits in golf and feats of strength around Hollywood country club set the likes of Olver Hardy to Bing Crosby. The man resisted any photos until sportswriter Grantland Rice gets the man too much press in newspaper story which eventually results in secret photos of the man in national magazine. The photo of him on the cover reminds me much of a young Jackie Gleason and one of my dad's brothers. The NY authorities see this picture, and go to California to have the man arrested and brought back for trial seven years after its the alleged law breaking.

After the trial, unfortunately now in freedom, Montague does not perform up to his legendary status, which gives me dual emotions: sorry that he couldn't and not sorry that his loose behavior prevent it. The likes of John Wayne, Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb play in his fascinating life.

Great read for golfer, sports aficianado and anyone else liking a good read of Americana sports/Hollywood history. Montville is a great writer who holds your interest.