{"product_id":"greasepaint-puritan-maya-cantu-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\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Maya Cantu\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0472076574\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780472076574\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Michigan Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/16\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 330\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.90w x 1.00d","brand":"Maya Cantu","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44860330705151,"sku":"9780472076574","price":75.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_a367ad33-40b5-420f-a80c-c345da96a923.jpg?v=1709135843","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/greasepaint-puritan-maya-cantu-9780472076574","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}