Cabbages and Harlequins

New York: Coward-McCann, Inc.. Near Fine in Good dj. 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. [nice tight copy with no discernible wear, appears unread, vintage bookseller's label on rear pastedown (Newbegins, San Francisco); jacket has some shallow chipping along the top edge, small tears and a bit of paper loss at most corners, general overall wear but still colorful and attractive]. Very scarce novel with a theatrical background, "about Min, who grew up among the cabbages, and married the harlequin, Lancelot Le Roy, star 'heavy' of the Julie La Verne Repertoire Company. An inexperienced country girl, Min was transplanted to the theatre of the nineties, where she became a buck and wing dancer -- and the mother of twins. The youngsters grew to be child actors of talent, and finally Broadway stars of international fame." The first of two novels by this author, a former film actress who had appeared in over one hundred silent films (many of which she also wrote), almost all between 1906 and 1915; because movie stars' names were not yet being revealed to the public during the first several years of that period, she was known for a time as "the Kalem Girl," after the company for which she worked. .