The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything

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The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1962) is a science fiction novel written by John D. MacDonald. The story is a classic screwball mystery about a man, Kirby Winter, who inherits a gold pocket watch that stops time for everyone but the person holding it.

The book clearly was inspired by the work of Thorne Smith, whose classic humorous supernatural fantasy novels, such as Topper (1926), defined the genre. In fact, a back-cover blurb that describes the novel as similar to a collaboration between Thorne Smith and Mickey Spillane appeared on the book's first 13 printings (through October 1979).

It is possible that the given name of MacDonald's protagonist (Kirby Winter) was inspired by the surname of one of Smith's lead characters in Topper (George Kerby).

Contents

[edit] Publishing history

The first printing of this book was as a paperback original:

  • The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything. Greenwich, Conn.: Gold Medal Books | Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1962. 172 pp. Wrappers. s1259 (35¢). Title page: "an original gold medal book"; copyright page: "First Printing, December 1962."

This book has appeared in at least 24 printings in the United States through June 1991 and, with MacDonald's two other science fiction novels, Wine of the Dreamers (1951) and Ballroom of the Skies (1952), was collected as part of an omnibus in Time and Tomorrow (1980).

A second comma was added to the title (after "Watch") with the 2nd printing, and dropped again with the 14th printing.

The only English-language printing that used "and" instead of an ampersand (&) was the Coronet Books printing published by Hodder Fawcett Ltd. in the United Kingdom (1968).

In addition, the book has appeared in at least one Canadian printing (1964) and four British printings (1964, ca. 1965, 1968, and 1974). The latter book was the first hardcover appearance of the novel.[1]

The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything has been translated into at least six languages and published in Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, and Russia.

[edit] Adaptations

The novel was adapted directly as a TV movie starring Robert Hays and Pam Dawber, The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything (1980). The title song was released as a 45-rpm record by Richie Havens on the Elektra label.

The TV movie was successful enough to inspire a sequel based on the original characters, The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Dynamite (1981).

[edit] Parodies, pastiches, and allusions

MacDonald's plot device, the watch that stopped time, was incorporated into Lady Slings the Booze (1992) by Spider Robinson, who included John D. MacDonald in his acknowledgments.[2]

The title was parodied—apparently with the permission of Gold Medal Books—in The Girls, the Massage, & Everything (1973) by Bernhardt J. Hurwood.[3]

Several additional parodies and pastiches of the original plot device are identified in the article on "A Kind of a Stopwatch."

[edit] References

  1. ^ MacDonald, John D. The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything. London: Robert Hale, 1974. Cloth; jacket. 207 pp. ISBN 0-7091-4198-X (£1.90).
  2. ^ Robinson, Spider. Lady Slings the Booze. New York: Ace Books, November 1992. Cloth; jacket. 257 pp. "First edition: November 1992." ISBN 0-441-46928-0 ($18.95). Jacket painting by Richard Hescox © 1992. Acknowledgments include Philip José Farmer and John D. MacDonald.
  3. ^ Hurwood, Bernhardt J. The Girls, the Massage, & Everything. Greenwich, Conn.: A Fawcett Gold Medal Book | Fawcett Publications Inc., July 1973. Wrappers. 223 pp. P28555; ISBN 0-449-02855-0 ($1.25).

[edit] External links

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