My guest again this week is author Maya Cantu who returns for the third and final part of our conversation about her fascinating book: Greasepaint Puritan — Boston to 42nd Street in the Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes.
In this episode we focus on Ropes’ 1934 novel, Go Into Your Dance, the third in his evocative backstage trilogy which also includes 42nd Street (the source material for both the classic film and the stage musical), and Stage Mother, (a sort of proto version of Gypsy). All three of these novels were heavily inspired by Ropes’ actual experiences as a dancer and performer on Broadway and in Vaudeville during the 1920s.
To a great extent Go Into Your Dance is a roman á clef of the star dancer & legendary showman George White and his scandals, both professional and personal, including his long-standing relationship with Broadway star Ann Pennington, fictionalized by Ropes as "Ted Howard," who rises from messenger boy to dancer to one of the most powerful figures on Broadway, and his indispensable collaborator, "Nora Wayne."
Ted Howard's series of "Town Talk" revues become major competition for "Lane's Frivolities" (Ziegfeld Follies), and along the way he interacts with figures from what Maya and I dub the "Bradford Ropes Literary Universe" such as producer/director, "Julian Marsh," dance director, "Andy Lee," and "the Wilson Brothers," a thinly disguised version of the Shuberts).
Of perhaps greatest interest are the two gay chorus boys, Arthur and Bobby, who befriend Ted when he joins the chorus of Marsh's musical "Sweet Sally," and play a crucial role in the plot of this remarkable novel.
Maya and I also discuss the major themes that tie these novels together, as well as her remarkable six-year journey in unearthing and re-discovering the life and work of Bradford Ropes.
If you missed the first two episodes in this series you may want to catch up with those before listening to this one.
May Cantu is a dramaturg and historian who teaches on the Drama Faculty of Bennington College and is also the author of American Cinderella on the Broadway Musical Stage: Imagining the Working Girl from “Irene” to “Gypsy”.
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