Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties

Such an immensely readable book. Really enjoyed it ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I was, likely, predisposed to since I came to it with a long-time interest in the period (Roaring 20's), in the literature of the times, and it's celebrated authors. I think [The Great Gatsby] is, perhaps, the finest novel of American Literature and Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald's lives are major portion of the book.

[Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin:Writers Running Wild in The Twenties] focuses on four "superstar' women from the culture of The Twenties: Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker, Zelda Fitzgerald and Edna Ferber. Well-researched, with extraordinary access to personal diaries and correspondence, plus extensive interviews with descendants, "Bobbed Hair..." puts us inside the daily lives of these four and their fast-living, artistic friends.

Author [[Marion Meade]] gives us the real-life story in a novelized fashion that is fun to read. In addition to the four stars, we encounter other major players in business, literature, publishing, the theater and Hollywood. Ernest Hemingway, George Kaufman, Jerome Kern, Sam Harris (George M. Cohan's former partner), Edmund "Bunny" Wilson, Harold Ross, John Dos Passos and on-and-on.

Part social/proto-feminist history, part psychological study of a hard-drinking, non-conformist lifestyle, part literary history of an era, this book touches many genres, and is a respectable addition to all, in my opinion.

A great read! ( )

Occasionally the author decides that she needs to take the tone of the witty gossip but it just came across as annoying and flippant. ( )

Marion Meade is also the author of a biography about Dorothy Parker, *What Fresh Hell Is This?*. This was such a fun book. What a shame that I seem to be the only member with this book in her library. I HUGELY recommend this book.

Here's a line taken from random, typical of Meade's writing: "Westport, a peaceable village, characterized by lawn mowers and cocktail shakers."

Meade has written a group biography: she includes Zelda Fitzgerald, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker, and Edna Ferber. You don't have to know a single fact about these women before picking up the book in order to be hugely entertained. Plus you can trust her information. Meade really knows 1920s Manhattan. ( )

"Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin" is a biographical compilation of the lives of four famous American female writers during the 1920’s: Zelda Fitzgerald (married to F. Scott), Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker, and Edna Ferber.

Each one of these women were fascinating, intriguing, and worthy of individual study. They wrote Pulitzer Prize winning novels, poetry, short stories, and essays for magazines. They were all fiercely independent and believed in the revolutionary idea of a woman’s right to have a career.

Reporting chronologically, each year starting with 1920, the narrative jumps brusquely from character to character leading the reader on a muddled labyrinth. Marion Meade seems to have scoured the archives for every tidbit about these four famous authors, and crammed it all into this hodgepodge. The problem is that Marion Meade laid no foundation for the story, no solid detailed description of each woman (background, personality traits, physical appearance) so at times Dorothy Parker and Edna St. Vincent Millay seemed to melt into one person. The fact that two of the women were named Edna further confused the story. Reading was constantly interrupted by thoughts, “is this the Edna who keeps having affairs with married men, or is this the other Edna who’s a workaholic?” It took me quite a while to figure out Edna St. Vincent Millay was always referred to as Vincent.

In addition, the dry matter-of-fact presentation of their various sex scandals, abortions, mental problems, and tendencies towards alcoholism, made it difficult to empathize with these women. These “1920’s legends” just didn’t come alive.

Now I finally understand what the saying “never judge a book by its cover” really means. Doesn’t the title conjure up notions of juicy “roaring twenties” stories and evoke images of flappers, jazz, fashion, festive parties, elegant Manhattan penthouses, and dark exotic speakeasies? Kind of a 1920’s "Sex in the City"? I guess I just expected too much.

The one interesting aspect of this book is that it illustrates how each one of these women lived during the most productive 10 years of their lives. I hoped to glean some insight into what inspired these very talented women, but as they flitted from continent to continent, relationship to relationship, party to party, year after year the source of their motivation remained a mystery. ( )