About this title: Finding themselves unable to "make it" in Hollywood, would-be director Robert Syverten and would-be actress Gloria Beatty decide to enter a marathon dance. They're broke and unemployed, and the free meals provided by the dance organizers seem like a pretty good deal to the pair, to say nothing of the prize money--a thousand dollars. Along with more than a hundred other couples, "Couple 22" begin the grueling task of dancing 24 hours a day hoping to be the last couple standing. This noir classic, told within a framed narrative, is set during the Great Depression.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Avon
Date Published: 1969
Description: Good- THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? by Horace McCoy. Avon, 1969. Binding: Mass Market Paperback Dust Jacket: No jacket. NOTES: 2nd printing. Showing some exterior wear/creasing, contents are overall clean and tight with no owner markings. read more
Edition: First Printing
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Signet, New York
Date Published: 1948
Description: Good. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Some browning to pages. Water staining to edges. Minor creasing. Light shelf wear. Solid copy with clean pages. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Avon
Date Published: 1966
Description: Fair. Vintage paperback, 1969 printing of 1966 Avon edition, has a little reading wear, but is clean, complete. Has former owner name on front cover and inside front cover. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: New American Library; Penguin Signet, New York
Date Published: 1948
Description: Very Good + 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. 143 pp. Bright illustrated cover with minor edge and corner wear. Cellophane wrapper peeling along spine. Spine uncreased. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Serpents Tail
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9781852424015ISBN:185242401X
Description: Very Good. Upper front corner very slightly bumped and pages lightly tanned. Pages and cover have no marks, bends or tears. Binding tight & uncreased. Appears unread. Not a remainder. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Serpent's Tail, London
Date Published: 1995
Description: Very Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. A dance marathon in the 1930's. Book is unread, spine unbent. Gum mark on front wrapper. Text is clean & unmarked, binding is tight. read more
Description: Good reading condition, pages browned, some page edgewear, some water stains to inside front cover and first few pages and also to inside rear cover and back few pages, owners name inside front cover, cover edgeworn. 1935, paperback. read more
Edition: 2nd Paperback Edition
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Avon N250
Date Published: 1969
Description: Very Good Plus. The second paperback printing is the first movie tie-in. It contains both the novel and the screenplay and is therefore a first edition thus. It is the first publication in book form of the screenplay. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: PROFILE BOOKS LTD Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781852424015ISBN:185242401X
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 121 pages. (121 pages) the depression of the 1930s led people to desperate measures to survive. the marathon dance craze, which flourished at that time, seemed a simple way for people to earn extra money-dancing the hours away for cash. but the underside of that craze was filled with a competition and violence unknown to most ballrooms. (Paperback) read more
Edition: 2nd Printing
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Avon N250
Date Published: 1969
Description: Very Good To Fine. Contains the complete script of the Movie featuring Michael Sarrazin and Jane Fonda. The second printing is the first movie tie-in edition. It includes both the novel and screenplay, and, as such, a first thus edition. This is the first appearance of the screenplay in book form. read more
Edition: First Printing
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: SIGNET
Date Published: 1948
Description: Very Good + A solid tight clean carefully read copy. This copy has browning through out, spine is concave but seems sound, light rubbing/edgewear. Basis for the Jane Fonda movie. read more
Edition: 1st Berkley
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Berkley 108
Date Published: 1955
Description: Fine/Unread. A sharp, square, tight, clean copy. Incredibly wonderful cover art capturing the noir aspect of the dance contest. Outstanding edition! read more
"I found this little novel in, of all places, a collection of American noir, but it's much more akin to Nathanael West's melancholy and surreal downers about Hollywood's fringe folk. McCoy uses the dance marathon to lay bare the cattle-call existence of these people, and if his goal was to show how much the lifestyle blew, all I can say is, mission accomplished. I think McCoy loses his poise toward the end, so that the tragic elements end up heavy-handed. The environment he evokes, however, might haunt your dreams. This book is unlike any other."
"This book may make you want to shoot YOURSELF after you're done reading it, but it will definitely stick with you.
I read it in 2003 for an English class and I still think about it. Very good, very short, very powerful.... and interesting.
And the "protaganist" is such a sucker you want to smack him.
But you will definitely have an opinion about this book, and the characters. It's not something that you will just read and forget about. You will either love it or hate it. Or both. Probably a little bit of both. But it's definitely worth your time. (Especially considering you could read the whole thing in about an hour or two.)"
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