{"product_id":"greasepaint-puritan-boston-to-42nd-street-in-the-queer-backstage-novels-of-bradford-ropes-9780472076574","title":"Greasepaint Puritan: Boston to 42nd Street in the Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes","description":"\u003ci\u003eGreasepaint Puritan\u003c\/i\u003e details the life and work of Bradford Ropes, author of the bawdy 1932 novel \u003ci\u003e42nd Street\u003c\/i\u003e, on which the classic film and its stage adaptation are based. Inspired by Ropes's own experiences as a performer, \u003ci\u003e42nd Street \u003c\/i\u003e\"reads less like a novel than like a documentary about the lives of New York's theatre people and, above all, about the practicalities, the personalities, and the sexual politics that go into the making of a show,\" according to Richard Brody in \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e. Why did Ropes's body of work--which included a trilogy of backstage novels--and consequently his biographical footsteps, disappear into obscurity? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Descended from Mayflower Pilgrims, Ropes rebelled against the \"Proper Bostonian\" life, in a career that touched upon the Jazz Age, American vaudeville, and theater censorship. \u003ci\u003eGreasepaint Puritan\u003c\/i\u003e follows Ropes's successful career as both a performer and the author of the backstage novel\u003ci\u003es 42nd Street\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eStage Mother\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eGo Into Your Dance\u003c\/i\u003e. Populated by scheming stage mothers, precocious stage children, grandiose bit players, and tart-tongued chorines, these novels centered on the lives and relationships of gay men on Broadway during the Jazz Age and Prohibition era. Rigorously researched, \u003ci\u003eGreasepaint Puritan\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles Ropes's career as a successful screenwriter in 1930s and '40s Hollywood, where he continued to be a part of a dynamic gay subculture within the movie industry before returning to obscurity in the 1950s. His legacy lives on in the Hollywood and Broadway incarnations of \u003ci\u003e42nd Street\u003c\/i\u003e--but \u003ci\u003eGreasepaint Puritan\u003c\/i\u003e restores the \"forgotten melody\" of the man who first envisioned its colorful characters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMaya Cantu\u003c\/b\u003e is a dramaturg, interdisciplinary scholar, and historian who teaches on the Drama Faculty of Bennington College. She is also the author of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Cinderellas on the Broadway Musical Stage: Imagining the Working Girl from \"Irene\" to \"Gypsy\"\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Michigan Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50526342349074,"sku":"9780472076574","price":53.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a20b658c-789d-40f4-be24-2ec9c8cd9636.jpg?v=1731270714","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/greasepaint-puritan-boston-to-42nd-street-in-the-queer-backstage-novels-of-bradford-ropes-9780472076574","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}