RINGSIDE ROMANCE

Southland Times, Issue 23332, 16 October 1937, Page 19

RINGSIDE ROMANCE

KID GALAHAD. By Francis Wallace. Robert Hale and Co., London. Price 7/6. It has become a practice among reviews to speak of American novels in terms of the cinema; and here is one case where the reference is fully justified. The opening sentences have the pace and economy of the first sequences in a film drama. A. new bell-boy—-who happens to be six feet one in his socks—is sent upstairs to the apartment of Nick Donati. Assembled in festive confusion are some of the stock figures of the American half-world. A prize fight manager without a fighter, his decorative secretary’ and a few friends are receiving a visit from Buzz Beaver, another manager whose fighter —also present—is none other than Chuck McGrew, destined for early championship honours. Now Chuck McGrew is slightly in his cups; Nicks secretary is easy to take notice of, and when there is an argument the girl has her face slapped. That brings the bellboy into the picture. He hits out promptly, and the prize fighter lies along the carpet. After this, of course, it is inevitable that the boy—— named Kid Galahad on the spot by the sentimental secretary—should be marked down for a career in the ring. It is equally inevitable that the courses of the plot should converge upon a championship bout between Galahad and the vindictive Chuck McGrew. Other matters come into the story. There is a nice girl on a farm who does not care for fighting; and Nick Donati has to overcome his baser impulses before Kid Galahad comes out for a glorious finish amid the roars of the crowd. It is all very swift and clear; the plot is oiled and smooth, and the characters are not complex. The big fight is immensely exciting, and there is a climax dominated by a repulsive little killer known among gangsters as “Turkey.” Nothing could be easier to read.