The Girl Who Fell Down: A Biography of Joan McCracken Review

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The Girl Who Fell Down: A Biography of Joan McCracken ReviewThis is a fascinating book about an artist who participated in some of the most significant moments in American cultural history. Joan McCracken was just a name to me before I read this book. I knew she had been in a minor Rodgers and Hammerstein show called ME AND JULIET and that she was Bob Fosse's second wife, but that was it. She catapulted to fame in the original cast of OKLAHOMA, was a founding member of The Actors Studio and an early performer in the new medium of television, as well as being an active mentor to many artists including her husbands Jack Dunphy (later Truman Capote's lover) and Bob Fosse. As a performer, Joan McCracken created a whole new "type" in the American musical-the hoydenish comic pixie who could dance up a storm. She was the prototype for a long line of sensational entertainers that includes Carol Haney, Shirley MacLaine and Sandy Duncan, among many others. But there was a lot more to Joan McCrakcen than her professional credentials. Personally she was a complex individual usually described as a loner. James Mitchell said, "she was wonderful to work with...however, she was not a stable woman." She liked to paint and walk on the beach rather than party. Although she never went to college, she nonetheless (through the influence of Dunphy) developed a formidable intellect. She was a political Conservative, which seems to upset author Sagolla, rationalizes, "like her antiunion statements, McCracken's tirade against taxes was more likely the result of political naïveté than of true conservative leanings." She was prone to fantasy and some thought she experimented with hallucinogenic drugs. As a diabetic in the days before much was known about its treatment, her health was always precarious and she tried to keep her condition a secret. Ultimately she died of its complications at age 44. In her brief life Joan McCracken left a lasting influence on American culture. Lisa Jo Sagolla's excellent biography pays McCracken the tribute she truly deserves. This is one of the most interesting books about a woman I've read since THE DIARY OF ANAIS NIN. Sagolla provides detailed notes at the end of the book. (And by all means read the acknowledgements at the end of the book. That's quite a story in itself.)
THE GIRL WHO FELL DOWN is a must-read for anyone interested in the Broadway musical. Really. Five stars.
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