The bar act by Bud La Mar
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The bar act by Bud La Mar is a Western short story written in the late 1920s. The tale explores a rodeo trick-riding contest upended by a mysterious new stunt dubbed “the Bar Act,” focusing on rivalry, ingenuity, and showmanship among hard-pressed cowboys. Leonard Carter, a celebrated trick rider known for unveiling last-minute stunts, alarms his rivals when the program lists his new “Bar Act.” They attempt to spy on him, only
to be decoyed on a grueling night chase to a graveyard. At the show, Carter dazzles with standard tricks, then bolts a Ford axle to his saddle and spins on it at full gallop, electrifying the crowd. His competitors scramble to copy him with improvised bars—a windmill handle and a broomstick—and even a stolen trick rope, resulting in falls, a broken broomstick, and one rider injured during another stunt. After the uproar, the judges rule the Bar Act non-cowboy and exclude it, awarding first to a rival whose conventional riding held up, while Carter, having gambled on his invention and eased off elsewhere, loses out. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | La Mar, Bud |
|---|---|
| Title | The bar act |
| Original Publication | New York: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1928. |
| Series Title | Produced from the September 25, 1928 issue of Short Stories magazine. |
| Credits | Prepared by volunteers at BookCove (bookcove.net) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Western stories |
| Subject | Cowboys -- Fiction |
| Subject | Texas -- Fiction |
| Subject | Rodeos -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78116 |
| Release Date | Mar 4, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 6500 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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