Rudolph Belarski, 1900-1983.

Rapture Alley is a fascinating piece of writing. The plot is not terribly complicated or even original, but the writing is too good to pass up. It contains themes about young actresses coming to Hollywood to make it and ending up begging for bit parts and taking anything that comes their way, no matter how trashy, just hoping for a chance to be noticed and make it somehow. It is also about obsessive, unrequited love. Lora Cassell is the young lady come to the big city to become a star, but until she makes it, she lives with her older sister, who is confined to a wheelchair, and her sister's husband, who she has been having a torrid love affair with, telling him there is no one else for her. A horrible love triangle that can only end in bitterness and guilt and unhappiness. There are other stories in this short piece, including a trip into the drug world of the early fifties as Lora is introduced to the evils of marijuana and then convinced to try harder stuff in her veins by a failed singer who wants to take her down the sewer with him. There's also the story of back alley abortion doctors, unwed mothers, and failed lives so common for young girls in the fifties who get into trouble. Most of all, this story is about the blues, Lori Cassell's blues. Whiskey can't dull the pain of living for her so she she's searching for what can.… (mais)