Harold Gilbert started out as a small-town kid on the vaudeville trouping circuit, and ended up as the world's most popular film comedian. He's got a million-dollar career, his own studio, an estate called Avalon, a cherry-red Bugatti sportscar, a beautiful wife and two children. But in 1927 Hollywood, nothing is quite what it seems…including Harold and everything that seems perfect in his life.


      His wife Ella, formerly his leading lady in his early comedies, is steeped in alcoholism and growing mental illness. His children are strangers to him. His pretty young costar, Lila Lenore, wants more than a working relationship with him. Producer Max Randolph, Harold's former boss and friend from his two-reeler days, seems to have it in for him, although Harold can't figure out why. And a girl from Harold's past, who died under mysterious circumstances keeps coming back to him in dreams that seem to be both a rebuke and a warning. The only way he can keep the demons at bay is by transforming his fears into laughter on film.


      Harold's world is about to turn upside-down. Waiting in the wings are talking pictures - a crude, unperfected medium that Harold refuses to acknowledge. But before long, talkies begin to eclipse the silents - and Harold finds himself enmeshed in a struggle for survival in a suddenly alien world. Slapstick digs beneath the sunny optimism of the movies' Golden Age to examine how myths are made, both on and offscreen. It's a story of both the shipwrecked and the survivors of the film world's first big shakeup, and how they cope with one of man's most primal needs - the drive to create.

Click on excerpt to read the opening chapter,
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click on reviews to read more about "Slapstick".

       “Slapstick is a vivid and touching portrait of Hollywood and its denizens in a bygone age, and it is one of the few Hollywood novels I've read that really captures the spirit of the many movie pioneers I came to know.”

-  Robert S. Birchard,  author,
King Cowboy -Tom Mix and the Movies



       Internationally known film historian and author Anthony Slide praises Slapstick for its “honesty and realism-the fall from grace, popularity and wealth of Harold Gilbert makes entertaining reading.”

-  Anthony Slide, Classic Images



      “Toops takes compelling characters and puts them in vivid, memorable settings to create a story that's hard to put down and impossible to forget.”

- Independent Publisher




       “This story is beautifully written with artistry that transforms reading into an almost tactile experience.”

- Simply Ebooks, 4 Stars




       “Slapstick is a magnificent story. Truly a work of art and a must read!”

-  Simegen Reviews, 5 Stars




       “I highly recommend Slapstick to anyone who enjoys getting into the thick of things and doesn't mind shedding a few tears at the end.”

-  Sharpwriter, 5 Stars



       “Toops spins an intricate web of doubt and passion where nothing and no one is what or whom they seem. . .  Both solidly researched and well written, it transcended cliché and made even the minor characters multi-faceted people for whom I had grown to care...Highly recommended for silent film era buffs and those in the mood for the color and naughty glamour of Roaring Twenties Hollywood. Great read!”

- Gracie McKeever, The Pen is Mightier . . .




4.5 of 5

      “Don't let the title fool you. Although there are a few chuckles here and there, this is not a comedy by any stretch of the imagination. Though a work of fiction, I could well-believe Ms. Toops might have written this from the personal diaries of real people from that era. From the first page to the last, her characters were alive and breathing, and real. My hats off to you, Ms Toops. You drew me in completely. And my apologies for taking so long - I read it twice.”

- Sharon Jennings, Word Museum