THE SHOW GIRL
Nicola Harrison
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St. Martin's Press
810/21
Fiction
Hardcover, 400 pages
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The Show Girl offers a glimpse of the glamorous world of the Ziegfeld Follies, through the eyes of a young midwestern woman who comes to New York City to find her destiny as a star in the musical revue.
It's 1927 when Olive McCormick moves from Minneapolis to New York City determined to become a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Extremely talented as a singer and dancer, it takes every bit of perseverance to finally make it on stage. And once she does, all the glamour and excitement is everything she imagined and more―even worth all the sacrifices she has had to make along the way.
Then she meets Archie Carmichael. Handsome, wealthy―the only man she's ever met who seems to accept her modern ways―her independent nature and passion for success. But once she accepts his proposal of marriage he starts to change his tune, and Olive must decide if she is willing to reveal a devastating secret and sacrifice the life she loves for the man she loves."
"Full of surprises and romance, Harrison's novel keeps readers turning the pages.
-Booklist
"Lush and evocative...she'll keep readers turning the pages."
-Publishers Weekly
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Dear Reader:
My new novel pulls back the curtain on life as a Ziegfeld Girl and shares both the glitz and glam these talented, independent, beautiful young women experienced as well as the sacrifices they made and the scrutiny they faced along the way.
I was inspired to write this book when I visited White Pines Camp, one of the Great Camps of the Adirondacks. I knew that there was a story hiding out in those woods that was begging to be told, I just didn’t know what that story was yet.
While on a historical tour of the thirteen cottages at the camp, I learned about the Adirondacks style, characterized by the use of local timber, Adirondack granite, and rocks from the rivers. We toured the croquet lawn, the bowling alley, the great room, and the lake house. I learned that in 1926 White Pines Camp was also where President Coolidge spent his summer and set up his “Summer White House.” And then my tour guide told me about the original owner of the camp and casually mentioned that his wife had been a Ziegfeld girl, “a real party girl,” he said. Apparently, she used to say that her guests should never have to walk more than 500 feet without a drink in their hand, so she had bartenders set up fully stocked bar carts on the trails. As soon as I heard this, I knew I had found my way into this story.
I started to picture and conjure up the life of the fictionalized Olive Shine—a feisty and glamorous show girl throwing summer parties in this woodsy, rustic compound set on the lakeshore. As I mapped out the novel and began writing, the story grew and expanded from the retreat in the Adirondacks, to Manhattan’s theater district, to the bohemians and artists in the village. I had so much fun immersing myself in these characters’ lives during the roaring twenties—a decade of new fashions, new music, new attitudes, and new forms of fun. I hope that you will feel the same sense of determination and adventure as I did when you delve into the pages of The Show Girl.
Happy Reading!
Nicola
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THE SHOW GIRL Book Club Menu and Recipe
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While you might think the show girls of the 1920s would eat delicately to keep their figures, my protagonist Olive Shine is a voracious eater and never shies away from a hearty meal. On her first date with the handsome Archie Carmichael, they dine at Sardi’s on West 44th Street where she orders the creamy vegetable duchess soup, a pork chop with potatoes, and french fried onions, while Archie orders a slightly lighter entrée of sirloin steak and a Waldorf salad.
A few weeks earlier, Ruthie, Olive’s closest friend in the show, persuades Olive to go on a double date. At Monte’s on MacDougal Street in the West Village Ruthie orders the shrimp cocktail while Olive unabashedly orders lasagna followed by a peach melba. When Ruthie shoots her a glare she responds, “What? I’m hungry.” Then thinks to herself, “I’d been dancing so much I could eat anything I wanted, in fact, if I didn’t, I’d start to see my ribs, and Ziegfeld didn’t like his girls too skinny.”
Later, when Olive and Archie board his private train car, complete with a butler, to escape to Pines Camp in the Adirondacks, they are treated to miniature hors d'oeuvres. Olive is transfixed when the butler delivers two beautifully molded Jell-O salads—each one about six inches tall – slices of tomato, cucumber, celery, and green pepper,— suspended in clear yellow gelatin (fruit Jell-O sounds more palatable than the vegetable one they ate on the train)! She laughs at how they jiggle with the motion of the train and shimmies right alongside them.
If you’d like a taste of the roaring twenties at your next book club, I suggest serving a few of the following:
Stuffed Mushrooms
Salmon Mousse with Toast
Jell-O Salad with Fruit
Waldorf Salad
Pork Chop with French Fried Onions
Peach Melba
Champagne
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When Olive invites her friends to visit White Pines Camp for the summer, she serves the camp's signature drink, a Maple Bees' Knees—a twist on the better-known Honey Bee's Knees—using maple syrup tapped from the trees on the camp's property.
When Olive returns to New York City for her final show she brings all the girls a small jar of maple syrup:
“What no honey,” Gladys asks.
“That’s right —our barkeep makes them with maple syrup instead, lemon, and plenty of gin."
-Nicola Harrison
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