Tucsonan Charles G. Finney’s novel, “The Circus of Dr. Lao” was first published in 1935. The story of the curious doctor and his mysterious circus has been intriguing readers ever since. Seems that when Lao and his traveling menagerie of characters showed up in Abalone, Ariz. strange things began happening.
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1984 Star photo
Charles G. Finney
In 1952, his story was turned into a play. A movie version, “The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao,” came out in 1964. The movie’s makeup artist received an honorary Oscar his work on the film. Tony Randall, the star, required seven different faces.
The book garnered many awards including, in 1953, being named to the Saturday Review’s list of the 15 best books in recent years. Others on that esteemed list included Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” and Dreiser’s “Sister Carrie.”
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Finney wrote seven other books and many short stories, including “The Ghosts of Manacle,” “Past the End of the Pavement,” and “The Unholy City.” His story “The Iowan’s Curse” was included in an anthology of the Best Short Stories in 1959. “The Life and Death of a Western Gladiator” was Finney’s version of life as seen through the eyes of a rattlesnake. It was based on his pet rattler.
Originally from Missouri, while in the Army, Finney was stationed in China in the late 1920s, an experience that would influence his later writings.
The Abalone Morning Tribune was based on the Arizona Daily Star where Finney worked for forty years. He was a copy editor, proof reader, page editor and financial editor. But never a reporter. He said “I never had any interest in news reporting. I didn’t mind editing.”
After retiring from the Star in 1970, he retired in Tucson. Charles Finney died in 1984.
