42nd Street Play & Allentown

(circa 2001)

 I grew up in Allentown Pennsylvania, went to
college and graduate school in Nyack NY, and
moved into NYC in 1993.   I lived in NYC from
1993 up to July of 2002.  In 2001 I go to Broadway
to watch the 42nd Street play with my wife.

Forty-Second Street is the quintessential Broadway Show
with singing, tap dancing and many scene changes.
The play was written in 1980, but
is based on novel by Bradford Ropes
and the 1933 film adaptation.
 
It is about NYC actors auditioning
for the newest  show called Pretty Lady,
in the midst of the Great Depression.
 
The one time star Dorothy Brock is in the show,
and the new kid,  Peggy Sawyer is from Allentown
Pa, tries out for the show chorus.  Peggy runs into
the “star” and is fired on the spot, but when the Ms.
Brock breaks her ankle,  the director runs to the 
train station to get Peggy Sawyer to replace the lead.
 
All Ms. Sawyer can say is,  “I have a ticket back
to Allentown Pa!”  The director says,  “You have a
lead role and all you can say is ALLENTOWN PA?”
 The audience roars at this punch line,  and I want to
Stand up and yell,  “I am from Allentown Pa.,
and it is a GREAT TOWN!"

The audience  was not laughing at Allentown per se,
but the idea that the new girl is getting her show
business break and willing to lose it for the sake
of the cost of a train ticket
 
In the Play, Peggy Sawyer grew up at 121 Elm Street.
Elm Street is three blocks from my home street.
There is also a scene where she runs into the director
and he says,  “Peggy,  you almost ran me over
like a Mack Truck.”  My grandfather, father and
many uncles worked at Mack Trucks.
 
Why are there so many connections to
Allentown Pa.
in this play?
 
Did the author,  Bradford Ropes have family in
Allentown,  or did he just take his finger and blindly
point his finger on  a map for any small town USA
where the “new girl” would come from?
 
I do not know, and Wikipedia, and the internet
searches will not tell me.