Fred Stone book

Many of you may recognize the name Fred Stone as being the first person to play the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz during the 1902-1903 productions that included Broadway.

The book is "Rolling Stone" written by Fred himself. It was written in 1945 and the book I have is the second printing, it was published by Whittlesey House a division of McGraw-Hill Book Company. It is 246 pages in length and is basically the story of Fred's life up to that point.

It covers his starting working in the circus as an acrobat with his brother and than unto tightrope walking. the book talks only a little about Oz in all reality but does cover how he met Dave Montgomery his partner in Oz who played the Scarecrow. It also covers some of the other things Fred learned how to do rope tricks and his involvement with the Wild Bill Cowboy Shows, working with Annie Oakley, learning to ice skate and involving that into his act. Learning to fly an airplane and working that into his stage act as well.

The thing I think I enjoyed most was his talk about his rather private life, including his daughters and wife. I do wish however more photographs of Fred were included. I would recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn more about Fred and his amazing life. I found my book on E-bay and for under $15.