GOLDEN SLIPPERS

Maggie Jones, the young ballerina of Slipper Under Glass, goes to New York to fulfill her part in the contract to film Golden Slippers- with which she was rewarded at the end of the last book. Her trials- dreams of dancing in the grand manner, smarting under the brash tutelage of her young comedian partner, Duncan Elliot- plus the excitement of doing big things in a big way in a big city, make a novel of astute and suspenseful comment on theatre world ins and outs. Befriended by the show's star, Alison, Maggie is taught the rudiments of show spirit after her first squabble with the enigmatic Duncan. Alison, whose life in a sense is embodied in the ballet's plot- the story of a sick ballerina who is urged to dance again, imparts something of her own honesty and generosity to Maggie, but it takes an actual situation- with Maggie herself in the lead after Alison's nearly disastrous fall- to teach her the value of Duncan's life goal; an American ballet built on the imaginative use of the country's music. Straightforward and honest characterizations plus conversational sidelights on dancing are supplemented by the sophistication of Vera Bock's angular drawings.