Valiant Minstrel: The Story of Harry Lauder - Paperback

by Gladys Malvern (Author)

The winner of the 1943 Julia Ellsworth Ford Foundation Award, Valiant Minstrel tells the life story of beloved Scottish entertainer Harry Lauder, presented as a biographical novel. Gladys Malvern's intimate account of Lauder's humble beginnings in mills and coalmines and incredible thirty-year career, which saw him knighted, makes it clear why he was the highest paid theatrical performer of his time.

Author Biography

Gladys Malvern authored over 40 books, including many popular historical novels for young adults. Many of her works focus on entertainers, having had a successful career in theater, herself. She began acting at age 3 and performed on Broadway in 1908, at age 11, in a production of The Man Who Stood Still. She toured as an actress and vaudeville performer extensively into her early twenties, when she began a career writing copy at a Los Angeles based advertising agency. After over a decade in advertising, and with growing confidence in her ability to write and sell books, she dedicated herself to a new career as an author. She won the Julia Ellsworth Ford Foundation Award for Valiant Minstrel in 1943 and, in 1958, Behold Your Queen! was a main selection of the Junior Literary Guild.