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

The Roaring Twenties are a romantic period. Jazz. Flappers. Consumption of vast quantities of alcohol despite (or perhaps because of) Prohibition. Americans living in Paris on the cheap. Writers as celebrities exchanging witty barbs. The Algonquin Round Table. A golden era in New York, a city built on golden eras.

Marion Meade attempts to capture this glamorous period in Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties by focusing on the lives of Zelda Fitzgerald, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker, and Edna Ferber. I’d never heard of Ferber (her novels became the basis of the musical Show Boat and the film Cimarron), and really only knew just a bit of the reputation of the other three women.

The romance of the show more twenties crashes down in this book. In contrast to the romantic images we see these women’s lives scarred by depression, alcoholism, suicide attempts, failed marriages, abortions, and sexism. That they made it through the decade alive seems to be a great accomplishment, much less their great writing and contributions to popular culture.

Meade sticks to a straight chronology for the narrative with eleven annual chapters from 1920 to 1930. In each chapter, Meade goes through the year weaving in and out of the lives of the four principals in a series of vignettes. That the book is in a sense a quadruple biography makes it a challenge to read compared to traditional biographies especially since one has to learn the family, friends and associates of each writer. I found it more confusing that although Fitzgerald, Parker, Millay and Ferber rarely interact with one another the ancillary characters often do show up with each of them.

The book is gossipy at times, in a sense aping the writing style of 1920’s personality pages, but one does get a good sense of each writer. Parker – or Dottie as she’s called throughout the work — known for her quick wit and charm is revealed to have a darker interior life. She attempts suicide three times within the course of the narrative and never seems ready to acknowledge her inner demons. Millay – called Vincent – finds early success redefining herself in a Bohemian mold, yet seems to lose herself in it and by the end of this time period she seems to be leading and unsatisfactory life built on pretension. Ferber seems to me to lead the most conventional life and most devoted to the straightforward career of writing divorced from the glamour of the era. While it may make her story a bit dull, it also makes her accomplishments the most impressive. Zelda to me is the most heartbreaking yet inspiring. Her desire to define herself through dance and writing despite the constraints of her upbringing and the insults of Scott Fitzgerald (definitely the villain of this piece) was especially moving. Her descent into insanity seems inevitable but I can’t help feeling she’d have done well if only given a fair shake.

Overall, I’d say this is an interesting and educational book. It may not have the information value of a straightforward biography but it does capture the essence of the era and offer valuable contrasts among the four women writers. A particularly depressing afterword also demonstrates the wisdom of cutting short the narrative after 1930, while these writers were still at their peak.

Interesting Quotes:

Zelda Fitzgerald asserts feminist principles at parties hosted by Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. An interesting counterpoint to reading The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas where Stein has Toklas stating her duty was to talk with the wives of famous men, as if the women had made no contributions themselves:

“From her vantage point in the ladies’ ghetto, Zelda found it all a little offensive. Of course Gertrude and Alice were eccentrics — and lesbians — but that was besides the point. What made her indignant was how they treated women. She had never cared for the role of the wallflower.” (p. 142-43)

Zelda on Ernest Hemingway:

“There could be little doubt who wrote The Sun Also Rises, because the author sounded exactly like a man obsessed with hunting and fishing — and killing bulls. Ernest’s tough-guy act was a fake, in her opinion, because nobody could be “as male as all that.” (p. 164) show less

The 1920s scene was an era filled with extravagance and excess. Everybody floated through life, seemingly without a care in the world. Jazz music and flapper dresses. Gin and lazy days on the beach. Wild behavior was almost the norm. Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin brings to life the women writers of the decade and the men who loved and loathed them. I would call this a tale of trying. Dorothy Parker's bitchy attitude and botched suicide attempts. Zelda Fitzgerald's insane attempts to be a professional ballerina. Edna St. Vincent Millay's scandalous sexual trysts attempting to find true love. Edna Ferber's tendency to always be alone, attempting to find happiness in solitude. The hysterical behavior of everyone: women liked to toss their show more expensive jewelry out of windows and off trains as a sign of their theatrical disgust, for example. The decade of the 1920s was an era when pregnancies were an inconvenience to be shrugged off either by handing the offensive newborn babes to nannies or distant relatives, or having illegal abortions to avoid the mess of childbirth and child rearing altogether. Excessive drinking only meant one could dry out from time to time at an exclusive resort. Mental breakdowns and overdoses were treated as cases of hysteria. It was also an era of triumph. Pulitzers were won. Women made names for themselves and carved out writing careers for future generations. show less

Dorothy Parker has always been a personal fascination, one evidenced by the myriad collections of her work, biographies, and even a movie starring Jennifer Jason Leigh that grace my bookshelves. So naturally I picked up Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin by Marion Meade, with its arresting title, and promises to be an account of "writers running wild in the twenties".

Though not strictly speaking a scholarly work - the footnotes and liberal use of quotations notwithstanding, it is often difficult to separate accounts from conjecture - this nonetheless provides a detailed, intimate look at the lives of poetess Edna St. Vincent Millay, Edna Ferber, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzgerald, and of course, Dorothy Parker from 1920 to 1930. Those show more familiar with the Algonquin Round Table will see familiar names pop up, though even I had trouble keeping track of everyone since Meade refers to them mostly by their first names.

This conceit makes sense, as the book reads more like a fiction novel than a biography. Meade is not entirely objective, whether she strove to be or not (it's difficult to tell), and clearly has mixed feelings about some of her subjects while clearly adoring others. The quotes and writing are superb, with just the amount of caustic wit and unbridled charisma that draws readers to read about these extraordinary writers and their extraordinary lives in the first place. While there are successes, this is a highly private look: the tragedies, the setbacks, and the behind-closed-doors and private letters type of information, without ever resorting to scandalous gossip or unverified rumors the type tabloids live on. She treats the ones she likes with dignity, though a few telltale tidbits slip out that point to her feelings toward what could euphemistically be called "bad behavior". That said, I realized about halfway through that something was bothering me - namely, the absolute erasure of any evidence that Edna St. Vincent Millay was queer. There may have been a fleeting mention, but it was quickly swept under the rug. While it may have been an oversight or simply left on the cutting room floor since it didn't fit into Meade's narrative, it felt uncomfortably close to queer erasure.

Despite that, if you're not looking for a source for a textbook, but instead interested in a period of time that can never be repeated but only imagined, this is your book. show less

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 show more 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! show less

Good. The structure (year by year rather than person by person) gave it a kind of frantic, fragmented energy that goes well with the era. Millay comes off terribly, nothing pleasant or redeeming about her and there's an implication that even her poetry was over rated. Parker is more sympathetic, as is Zelda. (Though the epilogue irritated me when it referred to Scott as a loyal husband and father. There was nothing in this book that that word fit with) Ferber was not exactly sympathetic but her story was written with a great deal of respect. I need to go back and finish the book about Sara and Gerald Murphy and re read biographies on the rest.

This book will make you want to buy a flask and fill it with the finest hooch! From genius to madness, we see the evolution of four trailblazers during the 1920s. Meade chronicles the lives of Dorothy Parker, Zelda Fitzgerald, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Edna Ferber, year by year, with as much flair as her subjects. Fascinating and informative this is a great read for lit lovers! -Monica

"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 show more 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. show less