Saturday, August 23, 2014

MELBOURNE CUP ON THE GHASTLY WESTERN FRONT BATTLEFIELDS !!!

Unusual  Nat  Gould link  found  in Queensland
 
Nat  Gould name  stamped  top  right  corner .
The    works   of   prolific  writer of  novels and  stories   in  which  horses and racing loomed large  , Nat Gould ( 1857-1919) ,  were   popular with  troops   in the  trenches before  they  went  “ over  the top”  during  WW1 .  It comes as  a  deep surprise to think that  the  legion of  unfortunate  soldiers  in   that  bloodbath  had  any time  to read .    Another  unexpected   surprise  for   this   blog  was  to  find  an  old piece of  sheet music  in   Townsville    stamped   NAT  GOULD  ...  WARD STREET , BRISBANE By calculation  , this  obviously  was  not   the  author  Nat  Gould , who was  dead  at the time  the sheet music , for a song from  the   World War  l  comedy-drama movie , What Price Glory? , was  issued  in  the 1920s .   It could  be  one of  his sons . 
 
 Nat  Gould , a turf writer in Lancashire, came to Australia in 1884  and worked on the Brisbane Telegraph,  covering shipping , commercial and  racing  news . He also corresponded for  the  Sportsman and the   Sydney Referee .

In Brisbane he   married  EliZabeth Madelaine  Ruska  and they had  three sons  and  two daughters. Moving to Sydney, he became the   turf   editor of  the Referee and a race tipster  under  the nom- de- plume , Verax. He also wrote for the Bulletin and for a time  edited  the  Bathurst Times , NSW.

He  churned  out a  popular racing serial, made  into a book  released  in London at the time of the 1891 Melbourne Cup. In turn it was made into  a  play by George Durrell with   20 horses on stage. Gould  left  Australia in 1895 aboard the ship  which carried the champion  racehorse , Melbourne Cup  winner  Carbine .  More  than  30 of  his novels   were set in Australia  with  titles such as  On and Off  The Turf in Australia , Town and Bush , Bred In The Bush , Settling Day , The Magic of  Sport .   So  homesick Australian   soldiers  in  the  trenches  may  have  avidly  read   his   works  to  escape  the  madness  of war  before  going over  the top  and facing a photo finish with  death . The State library of Queensland has 68 of Gould’s books.

 Originally released  in 1926, the American Fox Film Corp  movie , What Price Glory ? , based on a 1924 play, was in 1952 made into another   film starring James Cagney . The name Robino which appears on the  cover is  apparently  a   name  from North Queensland    and appears  on  numerous other pieces  of  old  sheet  music  seen  by  Little Darwin  and  will  feature in  future  posts  .