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Quote by Karen Abbott

“Gypsy [Rose Lee] wasn't a linear person, and she didn't live life in a linear fashion. She was relentlessly self-inventing, and moved backward as often as she moved forward.”

Quote by Karen Abbott

Author

Karen Abbott, born on January 23, 1973, is an American author known for her focus on American history, particularly the stories of women and marginalized groups. more

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“I thought both she [Gypsy Rose Lee] and her story would be ill-served by a conventional, birth-to-death narrative, and so I structured the book like one of her stripteases: revealing a peek of shoulder, then a glimpse of knee, pulling back a bit before you go a bit further, until all is revealed at the end.”

Book Ends Stories Would Be Bits Birth Rose Ill Shoulders Narrative Knees Conventional Pulling Glimpse Revealing Gypsy

Author:Karen Abbott

“Gypsy [Rose Lee] is as unique as she is timeless. Her story is classic Americana, and the strangest rags-to-riches saga you'll ever read; I like to call it Horatio Alger meets Tim Burton.”

Stories Unique Rose Riches Classic Timeless Gypsy Rags Saga Horatio Americana Rags To Riches

Author:Karen Abbott

“Burlesque thrived during the Great Depression, and by extension, so, too, did Gypsy [Rose Lee]. Men could no longer afford to pay $5.50 to see a show on Broadway, but they could scrape together $1.00 for a matinee at a burlesque house.”

Men Shows Together House Pay Rose Extensions Broadway Gypsy Great Depression Burlesque

Author:Karen Abbott

“A half-century before Madonna, Gypsy [Rose Lee] understood how to make performance out of desire, how to exploit the very human and eternal instinct to always want most what we'll never have.”

Want Humans Desire Half Century Eternal Understood Performances Rose Instinct Exploits Gypsy

Author:Karen Abbott

“She [Gypsy Rose Lee] was a sophisticated self-satirist with a contagious delight in the comedy of sex. She was coy; she was sly; she always had a witty quip; she had an intensely dramatic presence.”

Self Sex Comedy Rose Delight Witty Dramatic Sophisticated Contagious Gypsy Sly Satirist Quip

Author:Karen Abbott

“I have to say, you know, I've seen so many people go through the cycle and become famous and not famous anymore and, you know, want - have their priorities change and want different things.”

People Knows Want Different Priorities Different Things Cycles

Author:Rashida Jones

“If Lady Gaga and Dorothy Parker had a secret love child, it would've been Gypsy Rose Lee. Gypsy arrived for opening nights at the Met wearing a full-length cape made entirely of orchids, while Lady Gaga shows up wearing a full-length cloak made of meat.”

Ifs Children Made Shows Night Secret Mets Rose Opening Meat Length Gypsy Cloaks Children Love Secret Love Capes Gaga Orchids Opening Night

Author:Karen Abbott

“Gypsy [Rose Lee], who was called Louise as a kid, gave her first performances here with her sister [June Hovac], playing for the local Masonic lodge halls. It was a tight-knit community, and the support and success the act enjoyed here enabled them to hit the road and make it in big-time vaudeville.”

Firsts Bigs Kids Community Support Performances Rose Locals Enjoyed Halls June Gypsy Masonic Lodges Vaudeville

Author:Karen Abbott

“When Gypsy was older, after she became Gypsy Rose Lee, I think she was both proud and slightly ashamed of her Seattle roots. She worked very hard to rid her voice of any trace of a local accent, cultivating an affected way of speaking that sounded as if she pinned the ends of her words.”

Ifs Thinking Way Ends Hard Voice Proud Roots Rose Locals Ashamed Affected Accents Gypsy Seattle Cultivating

Author:Karen Abbott

“Classic burlesque in the style of Gypsy which many modern burlesque troupes practice is, at its core, so playful and teasing and innocent. It's not hardcore stripping so much as letting your body tell a story; the women are playing characters and unfolding a complete narrative onstage, with beginning, middle, and end.”

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Author:Karen Abbott