Введение
Книга П. Г. Вудхауза «Приведите девочек!» – полуавтобиографическое произведение П. Г. Вудхауза и Гая Болтона, впервые опубликованное в США 5 октября 1953 года издательством Simon & Schuster, Inc., Нью-Йорк, а в Великобритании 21 мая 1954 года издательством Herbert Jenkins, Лондон. Подзаголовок – «Невероятная история нашей жизни в музыкальной комедии, с иллюстрациями в подтверждение», – книга представляет собой серию частично вымышленных, частично апокрифических историй, действие которых разворачивается в мире Бродвея, где Вудхаус и Болтон успешно работали лириками, сотрудничая с такими композиторами, как Джером Керн. В ней рассказываются анекдоты о ярких и харизматичных персонажах, доминировавших на Бродвее между 1915 и 1930 годами, однако биограф Фрэнсис Дональдсон отмечает, что книгу следует воспринимать как развлечение, а не как исторический документ: «Гай, однажды придумав анекдот, рассказывал его так часто, что в конце концов стало невозможно понять, верил ли он в него сам». Название книги отсылает к практике добавления танцевального ансамбля к скучной сцене в музыкальной комедии, чтобы её оживить, что, согласно книге, является «неподводным камнем, который никогда не подводит». Как сказано на первых страницах книги:
Bring on the Girls! is a semi autobiographical collaboration between P. G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton, first published in the United States on 5 October 1953 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on 21 May 1954 by Herbert Jenkins, London. Subtitled "The Improbable Story of Our Life in Musical Comedy, With Pictures To Prove It", it takes the form of a series of partly fictionalised, partly apocryphal stories centred on the world of Broadway, where both Wodehouse and Bolton had worked successfully as lyricists, collaborating with the likes of composer Jerome Kern. It features anecdotes about the larger than life characters who dominated Broadway between 1915 and 1930, but the biographer Frances Donaldson writes that it is to be read as entertainment rather than history: "Guy, having once invented an anecdote, told it so often that it was impossible to know whether in the end he believed it or not." The title of the book refers to adding a chorus ensemble to a dull scene in a musical comedy in order to improve the scene, which, according to the book, is "the panacea that never fails". As stated in the book's opening pages:
Actors might walk through their parts, singers save their voices, but the personnel of the ensemble never failed to go all out, full of pep, energy and the will to win. A hundred shows have been pushed by them over the thin line that divides the floperoo from the socko. It is for this reason that Bolton (Guy) and Wodehouse (P. G.), looking back over their years of toil in the musical comedy salt mines, raise their glasses and without hesitation or heel taps drink this toast: "To the Girls!" And they feel that the least they can do in gratitude for all their hard work is to honor them in the title of this book.
Актеры могут отыгрывать свои роли спустя рукава, певцы могут беречь голоса, но участники ансамбля никогда не жалели сил, энергии и стремления к победе. Сотни спектаклей были ими вытащены из пропасти провала благодаря их усилиям. Именно поэтому Болтон (Гай) и Вудхаус (П. Г.), оглядываясь на годы, проведенные в «соляных копях» музыкальной комедии, поднимают бокалы и без колебаний произносят этот тост: «За девочек!» И они считают, что наименьшая благодарность за их тяжелый труд – это увековечить их имена в названии этой книги.
Bring on the Girls! is a semi autobiographical collaboration between P. G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton, first published in the United States on 5 October 1953 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on 21 May 1954 by Herbert Jenkins, London. Subtitled "The Improbable Story of Our Life in Musical Comedy, With Pictures To Prove It", it takes the form of a series of partly fictionalised, partly apocryphal stories centred on the world of Broadway, where both Wodehouse and Bolton had worked successfully as lyricists, collaborating with the likes of composer Jerome Kern. It features anecdotes about the larger than life characters who dominated Broadway between 1915 and 1930, but the biographer Frances Donaldson writes that it is to be read as entertainment rather than history: "Guy, having once invented an anecdote, told it so often that it was impossible to know whether in the end he believed it or not." The title of the book refers to adding a chorus ensemble to a dull scene in a musical comedy in order to improve the scene, which, according to the book, is "the panacea that never fails". As stated in the book's opening pages:
Actors might walk through their parts, singers save their voices, but the personnel of the ensemble never failed to go all out, full of pep, energy and the will to win. A hundred shows have been pushed by them over the thin line that divides the floperoo from the socko. It is for this reason that Bolton (Guy) and Wodehouse (P. G.), looking back over their years of toil in the musical comedy salt mines, raise their glasses and without hesitation or heel taps drink this toast: "To the Girls!" And they feel that the least they can do in gratitude for all their hard work is to honor them in the title of this book.