{"product_id":"9781612778907","title":"Jim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe first biography of the vagabond, hard-boiled writer who rocked Hollywood during the Roaring Twenties\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe son of an Irish ditch-digger, Jim Tully (1886–1947) left his hometown of St. Marys, Ohio, in 1901, spending most of his teenage years in the company of hoboes. Drifting across the country as a “road kid,” he spent those years scrambling into boxcars, sleeping in hobo jungles, avoiding railroad cops, begging meals from back doors, and haunting public libraries. After six years on the road, he jumped off a railroad car in Kent, Ohio, with wild aspirations of becoming a writer. While chasing his dream, Tully worked as a chain maker, boxer, newspaper reporter, and tree surgeon. All the while he was crafting his memories of the road into a dark and astonishing chronicle of the American underclass.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAfter moving to Hollywood and working for Charlie Chaplin, Tully began to write a stream of critically acclaimed books mostly about his road years, including \u003cem\u003eBeggars of Life\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCircus Parade,\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eBlood on the Moon\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eShadows of Men\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eShanty Irish\u003c\/em\u003e. He quickly established himself as a major American author and used his status to launch a parallel career as a Hollywood journalist. Much as his gritty books shocked the country, his magazine articles on movies shocked Hollywood. Along the way, he picked up such close friends as W. C. Fields, Jack Dempsey, Damon Runyon, Lon Chaney, Frank Capra, and Erich von Stroheim. He also memorably crossed paths with Jack London, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce, and Langston Hughes.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe definitive biography of a remarkable writer, \u003cem\u003eJim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler\u003c\/em\u003e compellingly describes the hardscrabble life of an Irish American storyteller, from his immigrant roots, rural upbringing, and life as a hobo riding the rails to the emergent dream factory of early and Golden Age Hollywood and the fall of his fortunes during the Great Depression.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMany saw the dark side of the American dream, but none wrote about it like Jim Tully.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kent State University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47135391285488,"sku":"9781612778907","price":33.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781612778907_p0.jpg?v=1769904013","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781612778907","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}