The Curse of Drink
By Tuttle, W. C.
In the raucous cowtown of San Pablo, a church benefit play promises culture, charity, and a grand moral lesson—but with cowpunchers Peewee Parker and Hozie Sykes pressed into service, the stage becomes a battleground of bruised egos, bad acting, and frontier chaos. W. C. Tuttle’s comic Western tale turns amateur theatricals into a riot of saloon humor, small-town rivalry, and slapstick disaster. Told in a lively vernacular voice, this archival short story captures the absurdity and exuberance of early twentieth-century pulp Western comedy.
Publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co. (in Short Stories Magazine)
First published: 1929