Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity & the Women Who Made America Modern
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3 “either a fool”: Barry Paris, Louise Brooks: A Biography (New York: Knopf, 1989), 5.
4 “fourteen-room gray frame”: Louise Brooks, Lulu in Hollywood (New York: Knopf, 1982), 9.
5 “ ‘How dare she?’ ”: Paris, Louise Brooks, 89.
6 Mr. Flowers: Louise Brooks to Tom Dardis, November 14, 1977, LB Vertical File.
7 “first curious raptures”: Paris, Louise Brooks, 4.
8 “Now, dear”: Brooks, Lulu in Hollywood, 7.
9 “bespectacled housewife”: Paris, Louise Brooks, 28–31.
10 “Even in the ballet”: Brooks, Lulu in Hollywood, 9.
11 “my Kansas accent”: Brooks, Lulu in Hollywood, 10–14.
12 “very flirty in the hotels”: Paris, Louise Brooks, 53–54.
13 Algonquin Hotel: Paris, Louise Brooks, 70.
14 “How old are you”: Brooks, Lulu in Hollywood, 15.
15 Follies girl: Paris, Louise Brooks, 72.
16 Over one weekend: Paris, Louise Brooks, 108–09.
17 “Scott Fitzgerald’s mind”: Paris, Louise Brooks, 136.
18 San Simeon: Brooks, Lulu in Hollywood, 39–41.
CHAPTER 24: THE DREAMER’S DREAM COME TRUE
1 “All their lives”: Larry May, Screening Out the Past: The Birth of Mass Culture and the Motion Picture Industry (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), 166.
2 “No romance”: Heather Addison, “Hollywood and the Reducing Craze of the 1920s,” unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Kansas, 2001, 67.
3 “In the strange place”: Addison, “Hollywood and the Reducing Craze,” 75.
4 “They build the swimming pools”: Addison, “Hollywood and the Reducing Craze,” 76.
5 “splurged on homes”: “Colleen Moore: The Original Flapper in Bel-Air,” Architectural Digest (April 1996): 216–21, 294.
6 It was exotic: May, Screening Out the Past, 188–89.
7 “a paradise”: May, Screening Out the Past, 185.
8 “just wild about you”: Martha Meadows to Clara Bow, October 20, 1926, Clara Bow Letters, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills [hereafter CB Letters].
9 “you naughty girl”: Connie Romero to Clara Bow, 1926, CB Letters.
10 “mad about your eyes”: Audrey Ashuru to Clara Bow, undated, CB Letters.
11 “watching the actions”: Garth S. Jowett, Ian C. Jarvie, and Kathryn H. Fuller, eds., Children and the Movies: Media Influence and the Payne Fund Controversy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 254.
12 “considerable … attention”: Jowett, Jarvie, and Fuller, eds., Children and the Movies, 279.
13 high school junior confessed: Jowett, Jarvie, and Fuller, eds., Children and the Movies, 288.
14 study of delinquent girls: Peiss, Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture (New York: Metropolitan Books, 1998), 191.
15 “No wonder”: Jowett, Jarvie, and Fuller, eds., Children and the Movies, 276.
16 “I saw Rudolph Valentino”: Jowett, Jarvie, and Fuller, eds., Children and the Movies, 247.
17 “Oh, what a life!”: Jowett, Jarvie, and Fuller, eds., Children and the Movies, 274.
18 Dorothy Dushkin: Margaret A. Lowe, “From Robust Appetites to Calorie Counting: The Emergence of Dieting Among Smith College Students in the 1920s,” Journal of Women’s History 7, no. 4 (Winter 1995): 241.
19 those who read the fan magazines: Addison, “Hollywood and the Reducing Craze of the 1920s,” 232–34.
20 “thought Clara too plump”: Untitled review, [Chicago] American, undated, Clara Bow Notebooks, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills [hereafter CB Notebooks].
21 “Diet!”: Addison, “Hollywood and the Reducing Craze of the 1920s,” 59.
22 “Hollywood Eighteen-Day Diet”: Addison, “Hollywood and the Reducing Craze of the 1920s,” 78.
23 “The slim figure”: Addison, “Hollywood and the Reducing Craze of the 1920s,” 26.
24 “ ‘easy to be slender’ ”: “Fashions & Fancies in Filmland,” Picture Show, April 19, 1924, Colleen Moore Scrapbook #11.
25 “What It Costs”: Scott Pierce, “What It Costs to Be a Well-Dressed Flapper,” undated news clipping [ca. 1920s], Clara Bow Clippings File.
26 Colleen Moore perfume: “Colleen Moore to Distribute Perfume,” Los Angeles Express, July 19, 1923, Colleen Moore Scrapbook #2.
27 Adele Hernández Milligan: Vicki L. Ruiz, “Star Struck: Acculturation, Adolescence, and Mexican American Women, 1920–1950,” in Elliot West and Paula Petrik, eds., Small Worlds: Children & Adolescents in America, 1850–1950 (Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, 1992), 67.
28 Chinese flapper: Judy Yung, “ ‘It’s Hard to Be Born a Woman but Hopeless to Be Born a Chinese’: The Life and Times of Flora Belle Jan,” Frontiers 18, no. 3 (1997): 66–91.
CHAPTER 25: SUICIDE ON THE INSTALLMENT PLAN
1 “Ernest could be brutal”: Nancy Milford, Zelda: A Biography (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), 117.
2 Dingo Bar: Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast (New York: Scribner, 1964), 150.
3 Carl Van Vechten: Milford, Zelda, 98.
4 in for a surprise: Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, 151.
5 “dirty singlet”: Sara Mayfield, Exiles from Paradise: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald (New York: Delacorte Press, 1971), 91.
6 Lalique turtle: Mayfield, Exiles, 106.
7 $25,000: Matthew J. Bruccoli, Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, rev. ed. 1993 (New York: Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich, 1981), 288.
8 Gertrude Stein: Gertrude Stein to FSF, May 22, 1925 in Matthew J. Bruccoli and Margaret M. Duggan, eds., Correspondence of F. Scott Fitzgerald (New York: Random House, 1980), 164.
9 cavorting with the likes of: FSF to Ernest Hemingway, November 30, 1925, in Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed., F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters (New York: Scribner, 1994), 130.
10 James Thurber and William Shirer: Bruccoli, Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, 276–77.
11 James Joyce: Bruccoli, Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, 311; Mayfield, Exiles, 135.
12 the destructive side: Mayfield, Exiles, 115.
13 grabbed the wheel: Mayfield, Exiles from Paradise, 115–16.
14 “inconvenient friends”: Milford, Zelda, 115.
15 “I was quite ashamed”: FSF to EH, November 30, 1925, in Bruccoli, ed., F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters, 130.
16 “phony as a rubber check”: James R. Mellow, Invented Lives: F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984), 241.
17 “bullfighting, bullslinging”: Mayfield, Exiles, 112.
18 “well-laundered”: Mellow, Invented Lives, 202.
19 “depressing … about a country”: Milford, Zelda, 105.
20 “everybody was so young”: Milford, Zelda, 105.
21 fourteen-room Moorish villa: Mellow, Invented Lives, 253.
22 “Most people are dull”: Gerald Murphy to FSF and ZSF, September 19, 1925, in Bruccoli and Duggan, eds., Correspondence of F. Scott Fitzgerald, 178.
23 “could write and didn’t”: Mayfield, Exiles, 113.
24 reckless high dives: Bruccoli, Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, 296.
25 “no fun here anymore”: Mayfield, Exiles, 132.
26 Juan-les-Pins casino: Bruccoli, Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, 295.
27 “pay and pay and pay”: FSF to Ernest Hemingway, September 9, 1929, in Bruccoli, ed., F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters, 168–69.
28 “sparkle had gone”: Mayfield, Exiles, 131.
29 “Zelda could be spooky”: Milford, Zelda, 124.
30 “What Becomes of Our Flappers”: F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, “What Becomes of Our Flappers and Our Sheiks?” McCall’s, October 1925, reprinted in Matthew J. Bruccoli and Mary Gordon, eds., Zelda Fitzgerald: The Collected Writings (New York: Scribner, 1991), 397–99.
CONCLUSION: UNAFFORDABLE EXCESS
1
Clara’s good luck ran out: “Clara Bow,” American National Biography.
2 “My [New York] friends”: Barry Paris, Louise Brooks: A Biography (New York: Knopf, 1989), 187.
3 “the strangeness and excitement”: Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks, eds., Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2002), part three.
4 “When I was your age”: FSF to Scottie Fitzgerald, July 7, 1938, in Andrew Turnbull, ed., Scott Fitzgerald: Letters to His Daughter (New York: Scribner, 1965).
5 “It is the custom”: F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Echoes of the Jazz Age,” in The Crack-Up (New York: New Directions, 1945).
6 “No More Flappers”: New York Times, February 16, 1928, 22.
7 Loren Knox: Knox, “Our Lost Individuality,” Atlantic Monthly 8 (Dec. 1909), 20.
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS
The illustrations and photographs are reprinted by permission of:
Bettmann/CORBIS.
Chicago Daily News negatives collection; courtesy of the Chicago Historical Society.
CORBIS.
Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
The family of Lois Long.
Gordon Conway Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Collection, The University of Texas at Austin.
Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS.
John Springer Collection/CORBIS.
Library of Congress.
Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
LIKE ALL AUTHORS, I owe a tremendous debt to the legions of friends, family, and colleagues who provided me with critical support along the way.
At Crown, I had the good fortune to be paired with Rachel Klayman, a veteran editor of uncommon talent and wisdom. Rachel devoted countless hours to this book, reworking the manuscript until it was leaner and stronger, always delivering her sharp—and critical—insights with humor and wit. Ultimately, Rachel’s hard work made this a far better volume, and for that, as well as for her friendship, she has my sincere gratitude. Thanks are also due to assistant editor Lucinda Bartley, who provided much-needed support toward the end of the writing process; Laura Duffy, who designed a brilliant dust jacket; Lauren Dong, who designed the book’s interior; Patty Bozza, who so meticulously oversaw the copyediting and production editing of the book; Leta Evanthes, production manager; Sona Vogel, whose extensive copyedits saved me from many an embarrassing error and poor turn of phrase; Jill Flaxman, director of marketing, and Christine Aronson, senior publicist, for their tremendous work in promoting the book; as well as Kristin Kiser, editorial director, and Steve Ross, publisher, both of whom lent this project early and steadfast support.
I would never have found my way to Crown were it not for Susan Ginsburg, my agent at Writers House, and her assistant, Emily Saladino. Susan read more drafts of this book than either she or I would care to remember, suffered through marathon brainstorm sessions (in person and by e-mail), and provided both expert skill in guiding this book to publication, and great friendship along the way.
Troy Rondinone, a close friend and fine historian, generously helped me cull through the archives at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills. Kathleen Lawton, Andy Trask, Erik Gillespie, and Andrew Stengel gave the manuscript a skilled read and provided the kind of honest and critical feedback that only friends can really offer up. Thanks go also to Josh Baran for offering sage advice on any number of book-related questions.
Cindi Leive, the editor-in-chief of Glamour, generously took time out of her busy schedule to read my manuscript and to share insights about the inner workings of the contemporary fashion cycle. Our conversation greatly informed the introduction and conclusion of my book.
Patricia Arno and her daughter, Andrea Brown, kindly agreed to share family pictures of Lois Long. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the staffs of the Library of Congress, Princeton University Library, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Chicago Historical Society, as well as Matthew Bruccoli, a leading Fitzgerald scholar, for their kind help in locating and reproducing some of the pictures that appear in this volume.
Many of the ideas in this book came to me during extended conversations with students at Brown University and Cambridge University. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to work with such bright minds.
I might never have gravitated toward the historical profession were it not for Connie and Peggy Mewborn, dear friends who, over the years, became family to me and to my brother, Nate. Connie and Peggy bought me my first subscription to American Heritage when I was ten years old—which they renewed faithfully each year on my birthday—and helped kindle my fascination with the past. At the time, neither they nor I could have anticipated that one day I’d be fortunate enough to write for the magazine.
For five years it has been my privilege to count Richard Snow and Fred Allen, editor and managing editor, respectively, at American Heritage, as good friends. They’ve been incredibly supportive of my work and have shown, by example, that good scholarship and good writing need not be mutually exclusive.
Above all, I am deeply fortunate to have grown up in a house filled with books and ideas, and with two parents—Carl and Elaine Zeitz—who supported their sons’ every whim and dream. My only regret is that my mother didn’t live long enough to see this book in print. She was a modern woman who juggled career and family while balancing strongly held political convictions with a sense of style and grace. She knew that this book was on its way to publication, and I like to think she would have enjoyed reading it. In her memory, I’m pleased to thank a group of extraordinary friends from Bordentown, New Jersey—Randye Bloom, Rhea Goldman, Marsha Dowshen, Phoebe Nissim, Barbara Blair, Jeanette Poole, Heather Vail, Joanne Lutz, and Marlene Thompson—whose kindness to my family has been so great that it defies any adequate expression of gratitude.
Finally, my deepest thanks go to Juli-anne Whitney, who is my best editor, best critic, and best friend, all rolled into one. For her love and support—and for all the laughs along the way—this book is dedicated to her.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JOSHUA ZEITZ is a lecturer on American history and fellow of Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge. He earned his undergraduate degree at Swarthmore College and his PhD at Brown University, where he later served as a faculty member. He was also a lecturer on history and literature at Harvard University and is a contributing editor at American Heritage Magazine. His work has appeared in The New Republic, New York Times, Washington Post, The Forward, Los Angeles Times, and Dissent. He lives with his wife, Juli-anne Whitney, in New York and Cambridge, England.