The Peerless Four
a novel
by Victoria Patterson
Counterpoint
Berkeley, CA
2013
212 pages
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| Ethel Catherwood, Olympic HJ Champion 1928 aka 'Saskatchewan Lily' |
The Peerless Four is a fictional account/novel about the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics when women were first allowed to compete in track and field on a very limited basis. As we know from earlier reportings in this blog, the opening of events to women was done with great reluctance and trepidation by the men who ruled the Games. Because of these male sentiments, women had already organized a world games for themselves without the approbation of the old boys' clubs that ran the world. Pierre de Coubertin who is given credit for founding the modern Games was very hesitant, and thought women should only be present to hand out awards. The ancient Greeks banned women entirely, even from spectating, on threat of death. So it was a major concession to tradition when women were allowed to compete in the 100 meters, 800 meters, high jump, discus, and 4x100 meters. Why the 200 and 400 meters were left out is a mystery, and God forbid anything over 800 meters should even be considered.
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| Florence "Jane" Bell, Myrtle Cook, Ethel Smith, and Bobby Rosenfeld The victorius 4x100 team |
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| Jean Thompson Winning her heat in the 800 |
The novel follows the pre-games life of four Canadian women loosely disguised by fictional names, who justly earned their way to the Games and were sent to Amsterdam under close supervision to represent their country. The real women of the fictionally depicted in the novel were Ethel Catherwood, World Record holder in the high jump and a beauty known affectionately as "Saskatchewan Lily" , Bobby Rosenfeld, an immigrant from Odessa in the Ukraine, and later a journalist for the Toronto Globe and Mail, Myrtle Cook, who also would later write a sports column for the Montreal Star. The fourth woman depicted in the book is Jean "Jenny" Thompson who finished fourth in the 800 meters. Victoria Patterson gives life to these young athletes with all their confidence, fears, and flaws as well as life to the people around them, the coaches, chaperone, and a promoter who is there to make a few bucks after the Games only to fall in love with the chaperone. Percy Williams, the Canadian man who won the 100 and 200 at Amsterdam also is fictionally portrayed, including commentary on his later suicide. The Canadian official who votes against giving women the right to continue running the 800 after 1928 is treated as the chaperone's husband, a doctor, who stays at home and doesn't witness what he votes to discontinue. The drug of choice is alcohol from the hip flask that is carried by the men and the chaperone and with liberal imbibing at all times of day. It's 1928, remember and women are just getting out from under some of the old societal rules. They are allowed to vote, corsets are out of style, they can smoke, and drink. The public can see their ankles in modern fashion apparel. Why shouldn't they be allowed to step on a track in shorts and sleeveless tops and compete like men? Okay but with that exception of nothing longer than the 800 and after these Games, for the next 35 years nothing longer than 200. Gotta save those ovaries and uteri for breeding. My acquaintance, Diane Palmason, a long time world class masters distance runner has the best comment on that thinking. "If women can't run long distance on the excuse of protecting reproductive abilities, why should men be allowed to run the hurdles?"
This weekend on CBS Sunday Morning, I was made aware that this form of 'historical novel' is a burgeoning market with the appearance of a book speculating that George Washington had holed up in Harlem during the seize of NYC at the house his former first love, Sally Fairfax, and that she might have been present during that crucial period in US history. His wife Martha was home tending Mt. Vernon at the time. However scholars of Washington's history made clear that this is highly speculative and cannot to date be proven by and documents proving that the first girlfriend was actually hanging out with George.
Women's rights or lack thereof along with sexism are the main themes of the book. I overwhelmingly support the author in those endeavors. At the end of the book there is an index of women's achievements in the early days of sport as well which is greatly appreciated. However the book fails in an attempt to be spot on with details of the sport. The writer seems to have a superficial knowledge of track and field that could have been acquired in the scanning of a coaching primer. Perhaps being historically accurate was not a goal of this work. But any track and field fan, who is seduced by the cover of this book showing "Saskatchewan Lily" clearing the high jump bar, will be somewhat deceived by the less than stellar descriptions of the sport. By comparison, Tim Johnston wrote a nonfiction book titled "Otto Peltzer, His Own Man", and he made it as exciting as a novel, with great descriptions of actual races, training, and societal leanings. Peltzer, a world class runner and homosexual was as controversial as any athlete in the 1932 and 1936 Games and for thirty years thereafter. For its lack of historical accuracy, I cannot recommend The Peerless Four to a reader who is a fan or serious and knowledgeable participant in the sport. In reality there were 6 women on that first Canadian team known affectionately as "The Matchless Six". The title cops a plea and calls itself The Peerless Four. No way. No thank you.
The author and publisher get away with the standard disclaimer about works of fiction , "Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used ficticiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental." Okay you're cleared, but it is a disappointment to this reader. The cover has a nice picture of Ethel Catherwood clearing the bar in Amsterdam, but the newspaper clipping under it a fiction, and I should have picked up on that.
Among the journalists who lambasted the 'collapsing women' after the 800 meters in which the first four broke the world record was William L. Shirer who would later write the popular Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and John R. Tunis who wrote a bevy of boys books (fictional). I guess their 'journalistic work' was somewhat fictional as well. In Amsterdam, Paavo Nurmi was flat on his back after one of his races, but that was okay. He was a man. Probably some old boy collusion between the organizers and the journalists.
Here are links to brief but real bios of each of the six Canadian women on that team from Sports Reference.
Ethel Catherwood HJ 1st HJ WR
Jenny Thompson 4th 800
Bobby Rosenfeld 2nd 100 5th 800 1st 4x100
Myrtle Cook 5th 100 1st 4x 100
Florence "Jane" Bell 9th 100 1st 4x 100
Ethel Smith 3rd 100 1st 4x 100
George Brose
Note: I've just become aware that a nonfiction book on the same subject is available:
"The Matchless Six" by Ron Hotchkiss is also available.
This weekend on CBS Sunday Morning, I was made aware that this form of 'historical novel' is a burgeoning market with the appearance of a book speculating that George Washington had holed up in Harlem during the seize of NYC at the house his former first love, Sally Fairfax, and that she might have been present during that crucial period in US history. His wife Martha was home tending Mt. Vernon at the time. However scholars of Washington's history made clear that this is highly speculative and cannot to date be proven by and documents proving that the first girlfriend was actually hanging out with George.
Women's rights or lack thereof along with sexism are the main themes of the book. I overwhelmingly support the author in those endeavors. At the end of the book there is an index of women's achievements in the early days of sport as well which is greatly appreciated. However the book fails in an attempt to be spot on with details of the sport. The writer seems to have a superficial knowledge of track and field that could have been acquired in the scanning of a coaching primer. Perhaps being historically accurate was not a goal of this work. But any track and field fan, who is seduced by the cover of this book showing "Saskatchewan Lily" clearing the high jump bar, will be somewhat deceived by the less than stellar descriptions of the sport. By comparison, Tim Johnston wrote a nonfiction book titled "Otto Peltzer, His Own Man", and he made it as exciting as a novel, with great descriptions of actual races, training, and societal leanings. Peltzer, a world class runner and homosexual was as controversial as any athlete in the 1932 and 1936 Games and for thirty years thereafter. For its lack of historical accuracy, I cannot recommend The Peerless Four to a reader who is a fan or serious and knowledgeable participant in the sport. In reality there were 6 women on that first Canadian team known affectionately as "The Matchless Six". The title cops a plea and calls itself The Peerless Four. No way. No thank you.
The author and publisher get away with the standard disclaimer about works of fiction , "Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used ficticiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental." Okay you're cleared, but it is a disappointment to this reader. The cover has a nice picture of Ethel Catherwood clearing the bar in Amsterdam, but the newspaper clipping under it a fiction, and I should have picked up on that.
Among the journalists who lambasted the 'collapsing women' after the 800 meters in which the first four broke the world record was William L. Shirer who would later write the popular Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and John R. Tunis who wrote a bevy of boys books (fictional). I guess their 'journalistic work' was somewhat fictional as well. In Amsterdam, Paavo Nurmi was flat on his back after one of his races, but that was okay. He was a man. Probably some old boy collusion between the organizers and the journalists.
Here are links to brief but real bios of each of the six Canadian women on that team from Sports Reference.
Ethel Catherwood HJ 1st HJ WR
Jenny Thompson 4th 800
Bobby Rosenfeld 2nd 100 5th 800 1st 4x100
Myrtle Cook 5th 100 1st 4x 100
Florence "Jane" Bell 9th 100 1st 4x 100
Ethel Smith 3rd 100 1st 4x 100
George Brose
Note: I've just become aware that a nonfiction book on the same subject is available:
"The Matchless Six" by Ron Hotchkiss is also available.
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