Train by Macqueen Pope (1 results)

Condition: Very Good+. Muswell Hill, London: n.d., ca. 1950s. Quarto (27.5cm); black post-pound wrappers, two typescript labels (title and ownership) mounted to upper cover; [2],16ll. carbon typescript printed on rectos only. Light wear from handling, upper cover labels a bit foxed and lightly dust-soiled, else Very Good or better. Typescript label on lower right-hand corner reads "The property of W. Macqueen Pope. 33, Etheldene Avenue / Muswell Hill. N." Typescript draft to an unpublished one-act play by the English historian and television personality W.J. Macqueen Pope (1888-1960). The play is evidently set somewhere in Canada, in the train signal box at "Moose Canyon" where signalman Stephen Gardner, his fiancée Bessie Winter, and a "Hoodoo" named Kid Murphy band together to save a runaway train before it goes over the canyon. Macqueen Pope's use of the slang "Hoodoo" reveals his shaky grasp of this fairly uncommon colloquialism which hails from West Africa and usually refers to the conjuration of magic or one who practices the art of hoodoo. In this case, however, Kid Murphy is simply a young Black man with a long police record and a heart of gold who arrives in handcuffs and claims "I've patronized every police station from Montreal to Vancouver, or just on. Say, Sergeant, it's your turn now!" But when emergency strikes and the cuffs are off, it's Kid Murphy who saves the day. Reference: Dictionary of American Regional English.