Dancing with a Star: The Maxine Barrat Story

6x9 paperback,

Maxine Barrat's story is the stuff of dreams—riveting, exotic, passionate—from fracturing her back as a child in a dance recital fall that put her in a full body cast for almost half a year, to sneaking into Radio City Music Hall as a teenager to watch her idol Ginger Rogers on the silver screen; to dancing in the arms of Gene Kelly in her first Broadway show; to appearing in a second Broadway production costumed in yards and yards of flowing white silk in a winter gown and ermine-lined hood, specially designed for her by renowned Vincente Minnelli, who was still working on Broadway and had not yet made a name for himself as a great film director.
A stint at the glamorous Copacabana catapulted Loper & Barrat to international stardom: ocean voyages to Rio and Europe; a special performance for the King of Denmark; and an M-G-M film contract to star with Kathryn Grayson, Mickey Rooney, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Eleanor Powell, Lucille Ball, Red Skelton, Lena Horne, Donna Reed and more, in what has been called "M-G-M at its Best," Thousands Cheer.
"Will you dance with me in my next film?" Fred Astaire asked Maxine, and she flew to Hollywood for a screen test with him. She reinvented herself as a nightclub singer, donated her time and talents to the war effort and continued her stellar career in the world of fashion. Then a phone call from a DuMont Television Network exec, "How would you like your own TV show?" and it was back to New York and a new career in the up-and-coming medium of television. Maxine's sensational life is interlaced with those of the stars she befriended, from Kathryn Hepburn and Ginger Rogers, to those with whom she danced and romanced—from admiring South American caballeros, Hollywood moguls and stars, to a one-and-a-half-year affair with Gone with the Wind matinee idol Clark Gable.
Maxine Barrat is a performing arts legend who holds a vital key to the American dance story. She is the real star.
It's time to put Maxine Barrat back on the dance floor