Synopses & Reviews
"A great marriage of scholarship and gossip."—Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Meade deftly choreographs these boldface names as they rush to and fro between Hollywood and New York, those antipodes of 1930s writers."—Wall Street Journal Set in the 1930s against the bright lights of New York and the klieg lights of Hollywood, a dazzling joint biography and lively snapshot of one of our most captivating eras Nathanael West was a comic artist whose insight into the absurdities of modern life proved prophetic. Eileen McKenney, accidental literary heroine, was the inspiration for her sister Ruths humorous bestseller, My Sister Eileen, which led to stage, film, and television adaptations, including Leonard Bernsteins 1953 musical Wonderful Town. Until their tragic deaths in 1940, West and McKenney were intimate with many of the notables of the era, and in this dual biography, they provide a one-of-a-kind lens into a world that continues to capture our imaginations. With trenchant insight and erudite charm, acclaimed biographer Marion Meade paints a dynamic tableau of interwar America and of two of its most charming actors. "Meades dual biography smartly plays one life against the other, maximizing the gradual tension that comes from watching two fireballs happily, and then disastrously, collide."—Free Times (Columbia, SC) MARION MEADE is the author of Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? and Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties. She has also written biographies of Woody Allen, Buster Keaton, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Madame Blavatsky, and Victoria Woodhull, as well as two novels about medieval France.
Synopsis
NATHANAEL WESTnovelist, screenwriter, playwright, devoted outdoorsmanwas one of the most gifted and original writers of his generation, a comic artist whose insight into the brutalities of modern life proved prophetic. He is famous for two masterpieces, Miss Lonelyhearts (1933) and The Day of the Locust (1939). Seventy years later, The Day of the Locust remains the most penetrating novel ever written about Hollywood. EILEEN MCKENNEYaccidental muse, literary heroinewas the inspiration for her sister Ruths humorous stories, My Sister Eileen, which led to stage, film, and television adaptations, including Leonard Bernsteins 1953 musical Wonderful Town. She grew up in Cleveland and moved to Manhattan at 21 in search of romance and adventure. She and her sister lived in a basement apartment in the Village with a street-level window into which men frequently peered. Husband and wife were intimate with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Katharine White, S.J. Perelman, Bennett Cerf, and many of the literary, theatrical, and movie notables of their era. With Lonelyhearts, biographer Marion Meade, whose Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin earned accolades from the Washington Post Book World ("Wonderful") to the San Francisco Chronicle ("Like looking at a photo album while listening to a witty insider reminisce about the images"), restores West and McKenney to their rightful places in the rich cultural tapestry of interwar America.
Synopsis
Nathanael West was a comic artist whose insight into the brutalities and absurdities of modern life proved prophetic. He is famous for two masterpieces,
Miss Lonelyhearts and the most penetrating novel ever written about Hollywood,
The Day of the Locust. Eileen McKenney, accidental muse and literary heroine, fled Cleveland in search of romance and adventure, inspiring her sisterandrsquo;s humorous stories,
My Sister Eileen, which led to stage, film, and television adaptations.
Until their tragic deaths in 1940, husband and wife were intimate with many of the literary, theatrical, and movie notables of the era, and in this dual biography, they provide a one-of-a-kind lens into a world that continues to capture artistsandrsquo; imaginations. With trenchant insight and erudite charm, acclaimed biographer Marion Meade restores the star-crossed lovers to their rightful places in the rich cultural tapestry of interwar America and paints a lively tableau of one of the countryandrsquo;s most engrossing eras.
Synopsis
From the author of the acclaimed BOBBED HAIR AND BATHTUB GIN comes a joint biography of the author of The Day of the Locust and his wife, the Eileen of My Sister Eileen, set against the world of New York writers and Hollywood screenwriters in the 1930s.and#160;
About the Author
MARION MEADE is the author of Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? and Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties. She has also written biographies of Woody Allen, Buster Keaton, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Madame Blavatsky, and Victoria Woodhull, as well as two novels about medieval France.
Table of Contents
and#160;and#160;The Ensemble xiii
and#160;and#160;Introduction xv
and#160;1and#160;IN THE HOTEL 1
and#160;2and#160;DUSTY ESKY IN HARLEM 6
and#160;3and#160;MISHAWAKA 19
and#160;4and#160;SAN JUAN HILL, NEW YORK 26
and#160;5and#160;THE STENOGRAPHER FROM CANTON 36
and#160;6and#160;CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS 46
and#160;7and#160;BECOMING and#147;NATHANAEL WESTand#8221; 59
and#160;8and#160;BALSO SNELLand#8217;S BOOK OF DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS 73
and#160;9and#160;CLEVELAND HEIGHTS PRINCESS 83
and#160;10and#160;RING OUT, WILD BALLS 91
and#160;11and#160;THE BIG STEAL 110
and#160;12and#160;MAROONED ON SILSBY ROAD 131
and#160;13and#160;SCREWBALLS AND SCREWBOXES 141
and#160;14and#160;SHIRTSLEEVES TO SHIRTSLEEVES 152
and#160;15and#160;14 GAY STREET 171
and#160;16and#160;CHEAPSVILLE 187
and#160;17and#160;SISTER EILEEN AND MRS. WHITE 209
and#160;18and#160;DESTINED TO BE A HEROINE 223
and#160;19and#160;AN ARSONISTand#8217;S GUIDE TO LOS ANGELES 236
and#160;20and#160;STINKOLAS, HUMDINGERS, LOLLAPALOOZAS, TWISTEROOS 256
and#160;21and#160;EILEEN IN DISNEYLAND 267
and#160;22and#160;TOGETHER 288
and#160;23and#160;EL CENTRO 300
and#160;and#160;POSTSCRIPT 315
and#160;and#160;The Works of Nathanael West 325
and#160;and#160;Notes 328
and#160;and#160;Acknowledgments 362
and#160;and#160;Photo Credits 367
and#160;and#160;Index 368