Earl Wilson		Pike's Peek or Bust

Articles from which the book is assembled were first published in the New York Post in 1940, 1943, 1944, 1945 and 1946. Book published by Doubleday & Company Inc, New York, 1946. Book publication date used for the purposes of Yarns Without Threads chronology.

For many years, Earl Wilson wrote anecdotes, profiles and outright gossip about the major players from Broadway and Hollywood. His columns were widely syndicated, and he also appeared on popular radio shows. Because of this, his name sometimes crops up in fiction set in the '40s. He was unashamedly politically incorrect, greatly enjoyed the company of beautiful women, and seems to have been at his happiest propping up a fashionable bar surrounded by cronies and film stars. Despite a waspish way with words, I suspect he was genuinely liked by those he featured, since he was always more interested in a human interest angle than a sensational revelation or indiscretion. Pike's Peek or Bust is the second collection edited from his newpaper columns, and shows all too clearly the ephemeral nature of fame. Although the names of some of his subjects are still widely recognised, most have faded into obscurity. Similarly, the thoughts, sayings and doings of these people tend to be amusing at best today, whereas half a century ago they may well have had readers in hysterics.

Interspersed with the stories of the rich and famous are occasional nuggets illustrating Wilson's jackdaw fascination with ancilliary aspects of showbusiness. If these give him an opportunity to spend time with lovely ladies, so much the better - even more so if the ladies are relatively unclad. Thus there is an interesting visit to a man who provides the chorus girls and strippers with their G-strings, and, in Nudity, an interview with a life model. Most of the extract is taken from the latter, plus a snippet from one of several chapters consisting of random extra-short items. Nudity also provides an element of the dust-jacket illustration (above) - note that, as with UK magazines today, nipples were prohibited on the covers of books in 1940s USA! The graphics outside and inside the book are provided by John Groth, and most show Wilson as an overweight, slightly sleazy little man, forever in pursuit of dishy dames.

I'm not sure if there was a significant pun in the title Pike's Peek or Bust beyond the obvious reference to the pioneer slogan of "Pike's Peak or bust". Clearly, Wilson likes to peek, especially at a bust, but whether he was a "pike" - whatever that may have denoted - I have no idea, and Web searches have turned up nothing relevant. While most of the gossip in the book was of no interest, and I have only a limited interest in 1940s showbiz, I did enjoy this glimpse of a lively and unselfconsciously hedonistic society.

Ratings:

Nudity	Naturist nudity	A good read?

Last updated 2006 January 27.
 
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