Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Publisher Unknown (1969)
Description
"Capturing the jazz rhythms and desperate gaiety that defined the era, Meade gives us Parker, Fitzgerald, Millay, and Ferber, traces the intersections of their lives, and describes the men (F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edmund Wilson, Harold Ross, and Robert Benchley) who influenced them, loved them, and sometimes betrayed them. Here are the social and literary triumphs (Parker's Round Table witticisms appeared almost daily in the newspapers and Ferber and Millay won Pulitzer Prizes) and inevitably the penances each paid: crumbled love affairs, abortions, depression, lost beauty, nervous breakdowns, and finally, overdoses and even madness." "These literary heroines did what they wanted, said what they thought, living wholly in the moment. They kicked open the door for twentieth-century women writers and set a new model for every woman trying to juggle the serious issues of economic independence, political power, and sexual freedom."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Othemts
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
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 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)
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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 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)
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LibraryThing member labwriter
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:
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.
Here's a line taken from random, typical of Meade's writing:
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"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.
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LibraryThing member skylightbooks
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
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flair as her subjects. Fascinating and informative this is a great read for lit lovers! -Monica Show Less
LibraryThing member DameMuriel
Ambitious-tries to explore the lives of the Queen Bees of the literary scene in America in the 1920s-Edna St. Vincent Millay, Edna Ferber, Dorothy Parker, and Zelda Fitzgerald. The book isn't long enough to do them justice so it sort of comes off as a long-winded synopsis. Plus, I don't really dig
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Edna Ferber. She doesn't seem to be as widely read these days as the others (though she was immensely popular at the time) and she seemed a bit boring compared with the others. I think the author wasted too many pages on her. Show Less
LibraryThing member thejazzmonger
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
[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!
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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!
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LibraryThing member kittyjay
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
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 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.
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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 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
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Awards
Original publication date
2004
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