Back Street
by Fannie Hurst
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Description
The bestselling story behind Ross Hunter's classic melodrama starring Susan Hayward and John Gavin. When "fly girl" and gorgeous socialite Ray Schmidt first meets Walter Saxel in Cincinnati, their attraction is instant and everlasting. As their bond deepens, Ray finds herself envisioning a future with Walter, until one fateful day when the settling of her family affairs interferes with their plans to meet, and his relationship with another woman forms. Though years pass and Ray manages to show more carve out a life for herself in New York City, Walter remains in her memory, and a chance run-in with him leads them both to fall into their former ways. What unfolds is the fascinating tale of what life was for selfless, devoted Ray, a prisoner to her love for the one man who would never fully love her back. Originally published in 1931, this bestselling classic novel about the heartbreak of living along the "back streets" of a man's life was adapted into film three times. With a new foreword by Cari Beauchamp. Vintage Movie Classics spotlights classic films that have stood the test of time, now rediscovered through the publication of the novels on which they were based. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I know Fanny Hurst is cheesy, but I still enjoy her novels occasionally...especially when they have been made into a film. HATED the way this woman sacrificed her life to a married man and was faithful to him even when he didn't take care of her. HATED it...but I suppose it was meant as some kind of warning.
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Lists
Publisher's Weekly Bestsellers Part I - 1895-1939
399 works; 8 members
Author Information
41+ Works 516 Members
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Florin Books (66)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Back Street
- Original publication date
- 1931
- People/Characters
- Ray Schmidt; Walter Saxel
- Important places
- USA; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; New York, USA; New York, New York, USA; Ohio, USA
- Related movies
- Back Street (1961 | IMDb); Back Street (1941 | IMDb); Back Street (1932 | IMDb); Seven kadin unutmaz (1965 | IMDb); Forbidden (1932 | IMDb)
- First words
- One evening in one of those Over-the-Rhine cafes which were plentiful along Vine Street of the Cincinnati of the nineties, a traveling salesman leaned across his stein of Moerlein's Extra Light and openly accused Ray Schmidt ... (show all)of being innocent.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)She had died from lack of food, her dry mouth open, with a bubble, as if of glassine paper, spanning it, and, all the time, a five-hundred-france note plastered to her bosom like a porous plaster.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 83
- Popularity
- 384,768
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.35)
- Languages
- 5 — Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 9
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 12
