What'll You Have, Boys? by Joe Markee Madden. SIGNED and inscribed by the author. First edition, self published.

Fascinating 1934 memoir and essay collection written by Joe "Markee" Madden, a legendary ex-speakeasy proprietor and bartender from New York City. Published at the tail end of Prohibition, the book offers a raw, comedic, and unfiltered look at Manhattan's underground nightlife and drinking culture through the eyes of a man who served the alcohol but famously never took a drink himself.

Madden self-funded the book's initial publication using $1,000 he won at the Jamaica racetrack on a 20-to-1 longshot horse named Greedy Girl. It was later picked up and distributed by mainstream publisher Farrar & Rinehart.

Madden affectionately referred to his select fraternity of roughly 3,000 regular customers as "the mob". His essays became an unexpected cult sensation, gaining immense popularity among elite Ivy League college students who circulated his writings in their dormitories.

Content and ThemesProhibition-Era Memoirs: 

• The book serves as a historical time capsule of what it was like to tend bar and manage an illegal watering hole in New York City during the 1920s and early 1930s.
• Social Satire: Madden used his essays to ruthlessly mock Manhattan's elite "café society". He viewed the upper-class nightlife scene as a phony "Show-Off Handicap," writing that people were loud, cheap, and desperate for attention or a mention by a newspaper columnist.
• Gritty Street Philosophy: Described by contemporary reviewers as a modern, colloquial version of folklore philosophy, Madden's writing style is bluntly honest and deeply observant. While many essays are humorous, some are described as "ominously vivid," featuring stark commentary on the darker sides of alcoholism and street life.

Self published 1934 by the author. Very good condition. Bright cover, firm binding, strong hinges and clean text.