Queen of the court : the many lives of tennis legend Alice Marble

Queen of the court The many lives of tennis legend Alice Marble

Madeleine Blais

Book - 2023

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Madeleine Blais, the dramatic and colorful story of legendary tennis star and international celebrity, Alice Marble. In August 1939, Alice Marble graced the cover of Life magazine, photographed by the legendary Alfred Eisenstaedt. She was a worldwide celebrity, having that year won singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles tennis titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open, then an unprecedented feat. Yet today one of America's greatest female athletes and most charismatic characters is largely forgotten. Queen of the Court places her back on center stage. Born in 1913, Marble grew up in San Francisco; her favorite sport, baseball. Given a tennis racket at age 13, she took to the spo...rt immediately, rising to the top with a powerful, aggressive serve-and-volley style unseen in women's tennis. A champion at the height of her fame in the late 1930s, she also designed a clothing line in the off-season and sang as a performer in the Sert Room of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York to rave reviews. World War II derailed her tennis career, but her life off the court was, if anything, even more eventful. She wrote a series of short books about famous women. Ever glamorous and connected, she had a part in the 1952 Tracy and Hepburn movie Pat and Mike, and she played tennis with the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, and her great friends, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. However, perhaps her greatest legacy lies in her successful efforts, working largely alone, to persuade the all-white US Lawn Tennis Association to change its policy and allow African American star Althea Gibson to compete for the US championship in 1950, thereby breaking tennis's color barrier. In two memoirs, Marble also showed herself to be an at-times unreliable narrator of her own life, which Madeleine Blais navigates brilliantly, especially Marble's dramatic claims of having been a spy during World War II. In Queen of the Court, the author of the bestselling In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle recaptures a glittering life story"--

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Subjects
Marble, Alice, > 1913-1990.
Tennis players > United States > Biography.
Women tennis players > United States > Biography.
Tennis players.
Women tennis players.
United States.
Biographies.
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York, NY : Atlantic Monthly Press 2023.
Language
English
Main Author
Madeleine Blais (author)
Edition
First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition. First edition
Physical Description
xii, 412 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780802128324
  • Part one: 1913-1931
  • The little white house on the hill
  • "Atta boy, Alice"
  • Where it is always June
  • High hat
  • Three crisp twenty-dollar bills
  • "Teach"
  • Precarious ; Part two: 1932-1934
  • Cannonball
  • A little hideaway
  • Heat wave
  • Hello, Venus
  • "You don't know me, but . . ." ; Part three: 1935-1939
  • Starry nights
  • And then . . . she kissed it
  • The heart of their universe
  • Debut tonight!
  • July 8, 1939
  • Swing high, swing low ; Part four: 1940-1945
  • $100,000 on the table
  • Sixty-one stops
  • Wonder woman ; Part five: 1946-1966
  • A good address
  • A vital issue
  • This is your life
  • The homestretch ; Part six: 1966-1990
  • Once a champion
  • Queen Alice
  • Taking a chance on love
  • Lullaby at night
  • Iron lady
  • Game, set, match . . . and questions.
Review by Booklist Review

Before women's tennis had superstars like Serena Williams, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, and Althea Gibson, there was Alice Marble (191390), who dominated the sport in the late 1930s and early 1940s. She changed the game with her "power" playing style, built an impressive resume with 18 Grand Slam Championships, was ranked number one in the world, and was twice named Associated Press Athlete of the Year (1939, 1940). In this extensively researched and beautifully written biography, Pulitzer Prize--winning journalist Blais (To the New Owners, 2017) tells Marble's fascinating life story, including her early childhood in San Francisco, years as an amateur and professional tennis player, and post-retirement life as a singer, fashion designer, and writer. Marble was a colorful personality whose social circle included old Hollywood icons like Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. The author's journalistic strength shines throughout, especially navigating conflicting and inconsistent aspects of Marble's life detailed in her memoirs. (Was she a WWII spy? married?) The appendix includes Marble's most lasting and radical legacy: her courageous 1950 editorial in American Lawn Tennis advocating for Gibson to play in the U.S. National Championships, which helped to break the sport's color barrier. An essential addition to tennis and sports history collections.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Blais (To the New Owners), a journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, serves up an enthralling biography of pioneering tennis player Alice Marble (1913--1990). Born in rural Beckwourth, Calif., and raised in San Francisco, Marble took up tennis in high school and quickly mastered the sport. Blais offers a detailed overview of Marble's career--from winning junior tournaments to nabbing singles and doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1939 to going pro in 1941--but the narrative is equally exciting when describing Marble's endeavors off the court, which included overseeing a line of comics about notable historical women and pursuing a singing career. More consequentially, she spoke out in 1950 to support ending racial segregation in tennis so that phenom Althea Gibson would be permitted to compete in the U.S. Open. Blais's handling of Marble's spurious claim to have served as a spy during WWII showcases the author's dogged research and empathetic analysis, pointing out travel records that contradict Marble's story and suggesting that it may have stemmed from the former champion's yearning to hold the public's attention as her star power declined. This will likely stand as the definitive account of Marble's life. (Aug.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Alice Marble's (1913--90) performance as one of the first women stars of tennis was all it would have taken to earn her place in history books, but she wasn't content to be solely an athlete. Pulitzer Prize--winning Blais (journalism, Univ. of Massachusetts; In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle: A True Story of Hoop Dreams and One Very Special Team) illuminates the icon's life in this biography that details not only her rise in the sport of tennis but also her work as a writer, fashion maven, and civil rights activist. Marble's life intersected with names that readers will certainly recognize; she played tennis with Charlie Chaplin and Marlene Dietrich, and she even gave tennis lessons to a young Billie Jean King. Drawing inspiration from Marble's life and her two fantastic--and somewhat fantastical--autobiographies (The Road to Wimbledon and Courting Danger), this book reminds readers that this sometimes forgotten figure earned her place in the chronicled events of tennis as well as in the annals of women's history overall. VERDICT An informative and intriguing story of the life of a formidable woman. An essential read for anyone who loves learning about the women whom history threatens to forget or erase.--Jennifer Moore

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

An adept biographer chronicles the life of a resilient Renaissance woman and tennis champion who should not be forgotten. Pulitzer Prize--winning journalist Blais, author of In These Girls Hope Is a Muscle and other books, presents a vividly complete portrait of Alice Marble (1913-1990), one of the first celebrity champions in women's tennis, who also happened to be an actor, singer, writer, and civil rights pioneer. The author deftly shores up inconsistencies in the two memoirs that Marble penned while also utilizing that material and her own thorough research to form a definitive story. Blais includes a fascinating chapter about the origins of tennis and its evolution in the U.S., the rivalry between the coasts, and the popularity of tennis in California--particularly the Bay Area's production of players like Marble, Helen Wills Moody, and Helen Jacobs. The author also focuses on the significance of the idyllic Golden Gate Park to Marble's life and career and writes evocatively--and with just the right amount of detail--about significant tennis matches at places like Forest Hills, Wimbledon, and Paris. Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the book is the author's exploration of Marble's relationship with Eleanor "Teach" Tennant, who served as coach, agent, defender, and friend. Tennant introduced her student to the worlds of Hollywood, wealth, and fame that Marble loved, and she traveled the world with Marble as they built a career that saw Marble defeat men and women alike--most notably, the misogynistic tennis promoter Julian Myrick. Blais is excellent when describing what could be viewed as Marble's greatest contribution, the 1950 editorial that appeared in the influential journal American Lawn Tennis, which was instrumental in the integration of U.S. women's tennis and helped pave the way for the ascendance of Althea Gibson. The high level of detailed research and compelling writing show why tennis player Hazel Wightman described Marble as "the first girl who became sensational." An engagingly thorough biography of a dazzling woman. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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