The Girl Who Fell Down: A Biography of Joan McCracken Hardcover – September 18, 2003

Dancer and actress Joan McCracken (1917-1961) commanded a pioneering career that influenced some of the greatest artists on Broadway and in Hollywood. An overnight sensation for her 1943 comedic role as "The Girl Who Falls Down" in the groundbreaking musical Oklahoma!, McCracken established the prototype dancer-comedienne, headlining in ballet, stage, film, and television productions before her life was tragically cut short by complications from diabetes.Derived from extensive interviews with McCracken's friends, family, and colleagues, this is the first biography of the charismatic dancer. Lisa Jo Sagolla paints a complex portrait of the petite, blue-eyed, and sprightly entertainer as a woman exploiting her mesmerizing beauty and magnetism to succeed in the man's world of entertainment, yet always retaining the persona of childlike pixie she portrayed onstage. McCracken's comic exuberance and athleticism also epitomized a new ballet form that married the European ideas of aristocratic grace and movement with a uniquely American spirit and style. Read more