The Mysterious Montague is a true tale that rivals the best Hollywood scriptwriter, about a man with a dark past who used his astonishing golf-playing as an entrée into the swirl of the golden age of movies.
It is hard to believe that a man who hung out with W. C. Fields and Babe Ruth would eventually wind up dying unknown and penniless in a down-and-out hotel all alone, a man once lauded as a magical golfer who could make trick shots that would astonish even Tiger Woods.
However, when he tried to make a real career out of his natural talents, he failed embarrassingly. A handsome man with frightening strength (he could lift the portly Oliver Hardy up onto a bar with only one hand), he confused friends and foes alike with his insistence of not being photographed.
The reason for that last idiosyncrasy was that he had been involved in an armed robbery years before. Even then, there were paparazzi, and that began Montague’s downfall after a Time magazine photographer published his picture, leading police to find him and put him on trial.
The Mysterious Montague is a must-read for Hollywood buffs, golfers, and anyone who likes to delve into the past triumphs and trials of quirky characters.