Review: The 'Queen of the Court' struggled to get what she was owed in Depression-era tennis

In 1954, Ralph Edwards, host of television show "This Is Your Life," introduced viewers to Alice Marble, a champ who held six prestigious titles simultaneously, and "revolutionized the game of tennis for women."

At the end of the program, Edwards noted that Marble's car had "played its last match," and presented her with a new Mercury. The gift, Madeleine Blais writes, implied that at 40, "nothing in Alice's present was as exciting as her past."

In "Queen of the Court," Blais — a journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and author, among other books, of "In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle" — provides an informative, if more dispiriting than inspiring biography of the largely forgotten tennis star of the 1920s and '30s.

Blais documents the emotional, physical and financial challenges Marble faced as an amateur, as well as her determination and good fortune. Until she won titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, Marble supported herself with part-time jobs, and Eleanor "Teach" Tennant — her coach, mentor, and perhaps lover — paid for her meals, clothing and living expenses.

Carole Lombard, the queen of screwball comedy, who took lessons from Tennant, pitched in as well, and introduced Marble to Hollywood celebrities. These connections helped the tennis star get a gig as a singer at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel and a cameo role (as herself) in the Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn movie, "Pat and Mike."

At the outset of her brief professional career (matches were suspended during World War II), Marble was paid $25,000 for a 4 1/2-month tour, one-third the salary of Don Budge, her male counterpart. An hour before a match in Minneapolis, she threatened to strike, and the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association caved.

In July 1950, Marble urged the "sanctimonious hypocrites" in her sport's establishment to desegregate the sport by allowing Black player Althea Gibson to compete in the U.S. championship tournament in Forest Hills, N.Y. If Gibson "represents a challenge to the present crop of women players," Marble declared, "it's only fair that they should meet that challenge on the courts, where tennis is played." The tennis association relented.

"Queen of the Court" is not without flaws. The narrative is cluttered with names and tennis scores. Adopting an old-fashioned approach, Blais details the clothing Marble wore on and off the court. And the author devotes too much space to Marble's long, lonely, financially strapped, alcohol-lubricated retirement.

In her final chapter, Blais reveals that Marble almost certainly fabricated many stories. The list includes: marriage to a soldier who was killed in action in World War II; a miscarriage; adoption of a 5-year-old boy, who died in an accident; a stint in Switzerland as a spy for the U.S. government; an honorary degree from Harvard University; and an affair with Rod Serling, creator of "The Twilight Zone."

Alice Marble, it seems clear, was one of many athletes who were born too early and, after her sport was done with her, lived too long.

Glenn C. Altschuler is a professor of American Studies at Cornell University.

Queen of the Court: The Many Lives of Tennis Legend Alice Marble

By: Madeleine Blais.

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press, 432 pages, $30.