Greasepaint Puritan details the life and work of Bradford Ropes, author of the bawdy 1932 novel 42nd Street, on which the classic film and its stage adaptation are based. Each of Ropes's long-forgotten novels was inspired by his own experiences as a performer, and focused on the lives of gay men in show business, offering rare glimpses into backstage Broadway. But why did Ropes's body of work, and consequently his biographical footsteps, disappear into such obscurity? Greasepaint Puritan aims to find out and reclaim his story. 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. We follow Ropes's successful career as both a performer and the author of the trilogy of backstage novels: 42nd Street, Stage Mother, and Go Into Your Dance. 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, Greasepaint Puritan 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 42nd Street--but Greasepaint Puritan restores the "forgotten melody" of the man who first envisioned its colorful characters.

A BODY SNATCHER IN GREASETOWN? The Gorshin Institute offers a miracle cure for rich and famous addicts. When a millionaire's son in Wildclown's care goes missing, the detective has to risk it all to clear his name. Wildclown battles through a gruesome landscape of undead bandits and body snatchers to a final showdown with a mad scientist high above the World of Change.

First published in 1982. The intent of this book is to build an understanding of the people who create humor and are expert at making people laugh. Who are the comedians and clowns of the world? Where do they come from? Why are they so dedicated to tickling funny bones? In what ways are they unique? It is primarily to studying comedians, clowns, and other funny people. It seeks to provide an understanding of the origins, the motivations, and personalities of those who make humor and in exploring the factors that shape actors and other public entertainers.

Gloriana Mayall was the prettiest of the two daughters. Her mother, despairing of ever making Ann in any way feminine, concentrated imparting her wide experience with men on Glory. As a child she was cossetted and spoilt, as a teenager she took her first steps towards her eventual career as a theatre designer, as an Art School student she learned how to supplement her income by dispensing perverted sex to perverted men. Somewhere along the way she revealed enough of herself to be blackmailed, but she always held on to her familial scruples even in the deepest depths of self-loathing. So when Ann, the blacksmith, is in danger it is her sister Glory who races to her aid and takes the violence intended for Ann - which Glory sees as just punishment and, if she lives up to her reputation as a lucky black cat, might also mean some form of redemption for her own crimes.

The author’s father, when he was a senior Communist Party member in Belorussia, could have been implicated in the assassination of Mikhoels, the popular director of the State Jewish Theatre in the Soviet Union. This was carried out on the orders of Stalin in 1948 when Vladimir was twenty three years old. His own life is headed towards the theatre rather than politics—and subsequently, ‘shaming his father’s grey hairs,’ into the Moscow dissident movement. Early years are sheltered and privileged, but a psychotic outburst in a restaurant against the tyranny of Stalinism results in him being incarcerated in the Serbsky Institute of Forensic Psychiatry, where he comes across an aristocratic English spy. Gusarov himself has a keen interest in the West and expresses particular admiration for the British Labour Party as well as the Queen. Further deviations, run-ins with the KGB and Soviet psychiatry pattern a failing stage career. But he does at one point find himself the uneasy star of a film about Soviet railways ordered by Kaganovich. During all this time father, for his own sake as much as that of his son, saves Vladimir from being sent to a labour camp. Perhaps that is what allows him to write with such cynical humour about his slow descent into chaos and oblivion. His accounts of a multitude of encounters with people from all walks of Russian life (including colourful episodes with Voroshilov and Solzhenitsyn—as well as his marriages and wayward sexual adventures) are enormously enriched by the actor’s power of speech recall.

Frida Leider, the greatest Wagnerian soprano of the pre-war period, has a permanent place in operatic history. In this, her own memoirs, Leider recreates the fascinating operatic world of her day, and recounts her association with Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Lauritz Melchior, Lotte Lehmann, Maria Jeritza, Elisabeth Schumann, Erich Kleiber, as well as many other great musical figures of the twentieth century. Leider's story embraces her entire career from her childhood in Berlin at the turn of the century, through her apprentice years in the provincial German opera houses, to her years of international triumph when she was acclaimed at Covent Garden, Bayreuth, the Berlin State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. Her account of musical life in Nazi Germany adds yet another dimension to an autoEdition Biography which, by virtue of its charm and warmth, is already far removed from more conventional operatic memoirs.

Last Christmas, Francis had a promising acting career and a budding romance with Duncan. This Christmas, it seems he's lost it all. When his mum persuades him to help her with the annual village production, he's drawn back into the wacky world of amateur pantomime. This year's production has all kind of new twists, the village players are eccentric although enthusiastic, and Francis isn't sure he ever saw himself as a director. And what his mother also didn't tell him was, he'd be working with Duncan by his side. But if he can cope with charity shop costumes, squabbling characters, cross-dressing, and all the corny jokes, can he also believe in the show's magical triumph of Good over Bad, and win a second chance with Duncan? After all, in pantomime, everyone gets their wish granted in the end.

The first in a series of riveting behind-the-scenes mysteries, Renee Patrick's Design for Dying is a delightful romp through Hollywood's Golden Age. Los Angeles, 1937. Lillian Frost has traded dreams of stardom for security as a department store salesgirl . . . until she discovers she's a suspect in the murder of her former roommate, Ruby Carroll. Party girl Ruby died wearing a gown she stole from the wardrobe department at Paramount Pictures, domain of Edith Head. Edith has yet to win the first of her eight Academy Awards; right now she's barely hanging on to her job, and a scandal is the last thing she needs. To clear Lillian's name and save Edith's career, the two women join forces. Unraveling the mystery pits them against a Hungarian princess on the lam, a hotshot director on the make, and a private investigator who's not on the level. All they have going for them are dogged determination, assists from the likes of Bob Hope and Barbara Stanwyck, and a killer sense of style. In show business, that just might be enough. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In 'Gastronomicon', Ernest's wife is a wonderful cook, aided by recipes from the ancient leather book - a family treasure - passed down to her by her mother-in-law. To celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, she undertakes to cook a very special meal - but what are the sounds of deep pounding and tolling bells that come from beyond the kitchen wall? In 'The Ugly Wife' some important questions are posed: What does it feel like to be the Ugly Sister? Will she spend her life looking for love in vain? Or will she finally find her happily-ever-after: a man who sees past appearances and who will love her for who she really is? Part of the Storycuts series, these short stories were previously published in the collection Jigs & Reels.