Rapp, Augustus: The Life and Times of Augustus Rapp ©1959 Augustus Rapp ©1987 Renewed by Jay Marshall This edition ©1991 Meyerbooks Hardcover, 6.25x9.25", 183 pages ISBN: 0916638448

Image courtesy e-Bay seller JayAndLefty

Comments: This edition extensively reorganized and edited by Marcia Boggs. "Gus Rapp was a magician, mentalist, juggler, ventriloquist, puppeteer and actor -- a roving entertainer in search of an audience. He spent nearly 60 years as a wandering showman in the villages of the Midwest and rural South during the 1890s and early decades of the 20th century. At the grand old age of 89 Rapp began his amusing and curiously readable autobiography about life on the road by writing, I was born dead. Illustrated with photographs and playbills. A wealth of anecdotes and a selection of old portraits and playbills help to make this a uniquely interesting book."

Contents (Chapters Only):

xi Foreword by Dr. Joseph French
xiii Introduction by Robert Parrish
1 Chapter 1 A Short History of Gus Rapp
31 Chapter 2 Horse and Buggy Days
41 Chapter 3 Small Towns
61 Chapter 4 Booking Small Towns
77 Chapter 5 Hotels De Luxe
91 Chapter 6 The Show
115 Chapter 7 Must Be Spooks
135 Chapter 8 Other Small Shows, Schemes and Fakes
157 Chapter 9 My Finish
162 Appendix
162 My Contemporaries
162 - Alexander Herrmann
164 - Harry Kellar
165 - Houdini
168 - Howard Thurston
169 Blackstone Home
171 Six Night Program
173 "Photograph Gallery"
178 Ventriloquist Act With Shorty
180 On Making Rag Pictures