Guadalcanal Diary
New York: Random House, 1943. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. A Very Good + copy of the first edition, later printing, in a good price-clipped dust jacket with general wear, of the first edition, first printing, being written by a newspaperman who lived with the front-line invading Marines who participated in this critical World War II invasion and accompanied the soldiers during the invasion itself. It was the first Random House book to sell over 100,000 copies and provided the basis for a movie of the same name. The film featured William Bendix, Richard Conte, Anthony Quinn, and John Archer and was the movie debut of Richard Jaeckel (who later received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor with his role in the 1971 adaptation of Ken Kelsey's "Sometimes a Great Notion"). Jaeckel also served in the United States Merchant Marines (1944-1946). Per Wikipedia he "then starred in two of the most remembered war films of 1949: Battleground and Sands of Iwo Jima with John Wayne. One of Jaeckel's shortest film roles was in The Gunfighter, in which his character is killed by Gregory Peck's character in the opening scene. He played the role of Turk, the roomer's boyfriend, in the Academy Award-winning 1952 film Come Back, Little Sheba, with Shirley Booth, Burt Lancaster, and Terry Moore. In 1960, he appeared as Angus Pierce in the Western, Flaming Star, starring Elvis Presley. He played Lee Marvin's able second-in-command, Sgt. Bowren, in the 1967 film The Dirty Dozen for director Robert Aldrich, and reprised the role in the 1985 sequel, The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission. Jaeckel appeared in several other Aldrich films, including Big Leaguer (1953), Attack (1956), Ulzana's Raid (1972), and Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)." While there is some wear to the dust jacket, such wear is common to this title and it remains a nice copy. Very good + / good. Item #3938
Price: $25.00