
Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin
Writers Running Wild in the Twenties
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $20.97
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Lorna Raver
-
By:
-
Marion Meade
About this listen
Marion Meade re-creates the aura of excitement, romance, and promise of the 1920s, a decade celebrated for cultural innovation, the birth of jazz, the beginning of modernism, and social and sexual liberation, bringing to light, as well, the anxiety and despair that lurked beneath the nonstop partying and outrageous, unconventional behavior.
The literary heroines in Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin did what they wanted, said what they thought. They drank gallons of cocktails and knew how to have fun in New York, the Riviera, and Hollywood, where they met and played with all the people worth knowing. They kicked open the door for 20th-century female writers and set a new model for every woman trying to juggle the serious issues of economic independence, political power, and sexual freedom.
In a style and tone that perfectly captures the jazzy rhythms and desperate gaiety that defined the era, Meade tells the individual stories of Parker, Fitzgerald, Millay, and Ferber, traces the intersections of their lives, and describes the men, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edmund Wilson, Harold Ross, and Robert Benchley, who influenced them, loved them, and sometimes betrayed them. She describes their social and literary triumphs (Parker's Round Table witticisms appeared almost daily in the newspapers and Ferber and Millay won Pulitzer Prizes) and writes movingly of the penances they paid: the crumbled love affairs, abortions, depression, lost beauty, nervous breakdowns, and, finally, overdoses and even madness.
A vibrant mixture of literary scholarship, social history, and gossip, Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin is a rich evocation of a period that continues to intrigue and captivate listeners.
©2004 Marion Meade (P)2004 Blackstone AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
Astor
- The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune
- By: Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe
- Narrated by: Anderson Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 1783, when German immigrant John Jacob Astor first arrived in the United States, until 2009, when Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, was convicted of defrauding his elderly mother, the Astor name occupied a unique place in American society. The family fortune, first made by a beaver trapping business that grew into an empire, was then amplified by holdings in Manhattan real estate. Over the ensuing generations, Astors ruled Gilded Age New York society and inserted themselves into political and cultural life, but also suffered the most famous loss on the Titanic.
-
-
A family first made, then destroyed by wealth.
- By Barbara W. on 09-23-23
By: Anderson Cooper, and others
-
Dorothy Parker
- By: Marion Meade
- Narrated by: Grace Conlin
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
She was known for her outrageous one-liners, her ruthless theater criticism, her clever verses and bittersweet stories. But there was another side to Dorothy Parker, a private life set on a course of destruction.
-
-
heartbreaking and hilarious
- By h and l on 01-05-10
By: Marion Meade
-
The Giver of Stars
- Reese's Book Club (A Novel)
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So, when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything.
-
-
About time!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-19
By: Jojo Moyes
-
The Rose Code
- A Novel
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything - beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses - but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets.
-
-
My Favorite Book!!!
- By Jan M on 03-09-21
By: Kate Quinn
-
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- A Novel
- By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan, Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated.
-
-
Glucose Gluttony
- By W Perry Hall on 03-17-18
-
The Alice Network
- A Novel
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive.
-
-
We are standing on the shoulders of giants...
- By Marie on 02-25-18
By: Kate Quinn
-
Astor
- The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune
- By: Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe
- Narrated by: Anderson Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 1783, when German immigrant John Jacob Astor first arrived in the United States, until 2009, when Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, was convicted of defrauding his elderly mother, the Astor name occupied a unique place in American society. The family fortune, first made by a beaver trapping business that grew into an empire, was then amplified by holdings in Manhattan real estate. Over the ensuing generations, Astors ruled Gilded Age New York society and inserted themselves into political and cultural life, but also suffered the most famous loss on the Titanic.
-
-
A family first made, then destroyed by wealth.
- By Barbara W. on 09-23-23
By: Anderson Cooper, and others
-
Dorothy Parker
- By: Marion Meade
- Narrated by: Grace Conlin
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
She was known for her outrageous one-liners, her ruthless theater criticism, her clever verses and bittersweet stories. But there was another side to Dorothy Parker, a private life set on a course of destruction.
-
-
heartbreaking and hilarious
- By h and l on 01-05-10
By: Marion Meade
-
The Giver of Stars
- Reese's Book Club (A Novel)
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So, when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything.
-
-
About time!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-19
By: Jojo Moyes
-
The Rose Code
- A Novel
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything - beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses - but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets.
-
-
My Favorite Book!!!
- By Jan M on 03-09-21
By: Kate Quinn
-
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- A Novel
- By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan, Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated.
-
-
Glucose Gluttony
- By W Perry Hall on 03-17-18
-
The Alice Network
- A Novel
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive.
-
-
We are standing on the shoulders of giants...
- By Marie on 02-25-18
By: Kate Quinn
-
Big Lies in a Small Town
- A Novel
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher's life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, her dream of a career in art is put on hold - until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will get her released from prison immediately. Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy Southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to be free, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets.
-
-
5++++🌟
- By kimberly U on 01-18-20
-
The Huntress
- A Novel
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 19 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bold and fearless, Nina Markova always dreamed of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she risks everything to join the legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on the invading Germans. When she is stranded behind enemy lines, Nina becomes the prey of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress, and only Nina's bravery and cunning will keep her alive.
-
-
EVEN BETTER THAN ALICE NETWORK
- By Nina on 03-02-19
By: Kate Quinn
-
What Fresh Hell Is This?
- Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities, and You
- By: Heather Corinna
- Narrated by: Heather Corinna, Aria Baci
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perimenopause and menopause experiences are as unique as all of us who move through them. While there’s no one-size-fits-all, Heather Corinna tells you what can happen and what you can do to take care of yourself, all the while busting pernicious myths, offering real self-care tips - the kind that won’t break the bank or your soul - and running the gamut from hot flashes to hormone therapy.
-
-
Awesome.
- By Anonymous User on 07-07-21
By: Heather Corinna
-
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter
- By: Theodora Goss
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents' deaths, is curious about the secrets of her father's mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father's former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture...a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes. But her hunt leads her to Hyde's daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns.
-
-
Cute, erratic, sloppy but not without charm
- By Rachel on 07-07-17
By: Theodora Goss
-
Savage Beauty
- The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay
- By: Nancy Milford
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 24 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If F. Scott Fitzgerald was the hero of the Jazz Age, Edna St. Vincent Millay, as flamboyant in her love affairs as she was in her art, was its heroine. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Millay was dazzling in the performance of herself. Her voice was likened to an instrument of seduction, and her impact on crowds and on men was legendary. Yet beneath her studied act, all was not well.
-
-
Fascinating Woman
- By David P on 04-29-22
By: Nancy Milford
-
The Man of Legends
- By: Kenneth Johnson
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York City, New Year's weekend, 2001. Jillian Guthrie, a troubled young journalist, stumbles onto a tantalizing mystery: the same man, unaged, stands alongside Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, and Gandhi in three different photographs spanning eighty-five years of history.
-
-
Enjoyed every minute.
- By G. Nightingale on 07-12-17
By: Kenneth Johnson
-
Before I Met You
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Helen Duff
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After her grandmother Arlette's death, Betty is finally ready to begin her life. She had forfeited university, parties, boyfriends, summer jobs in order to care for Arlette. Now she's ready for whatever life throws at her, and, since the will included a beneficiary unknown to her who lives in the city, she heads there to find the mysterious woman. In 1920s London, Arlette is starting her new life in a time of postwar change. Beautiful and charismatic, she's drawn into a hedonistic world, but then tragedy strikes, and she flees back to her childhood home....
-
-
Awful
- By cristina on 08-13-18
By: Lisa Jewell
-
The Woman Before Wallis
- A Novel of Windsors, Vanderbilts, and Royal Scandal
- By: Bryn Turnbull
- Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1925, Thelma Morgan arrives at the Paris Ritz still stinging from the heartache and humiliation of her failed marriage. Her twin sister, Gloria, newly and blissfully wedded to Reginald Vanderbilt and with a baby in tow, has invited her to spend the summer - and though romance is the last thing on Thelma’s mind, she can’t deny that Reggie’s friend Duke Furness is as charming and dapper as he is keen to win her affection.
-
-
Beautifully Written
- By Amazon Customer on 11-29-20
By: Bryn Turnbull
-
Cast of Characters
- Wolcott Gibbs, E. B. White, James Thurber, and the Golden Age of the New Yorker
- By: Thomas Vinciguerra
- Narrated by: Tony Pasqualini
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From its birth in 1925 to the early days of the Cold War, The New Yorker slowly but surely took hold as the country's most prestigious, entertaining, and informative general-interest periodical. In Cast of Characters, Thomas Vinciguerra paints a portrait of the magazine's cadre of charming, wisecracking, driven, troubled, and brilliant writers and editors. He introduces us to Wolcott Gibbs, theater critic, all-around wit, and author of an infamous 1936 parody of Time magazine.
-
-
But...Where's Dorothy Parker
- By Constant Reader on 06-05-18
-
Kitchen Privileges
- Memoirs of a Bronx Girlhood
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: Mary Higgins Clark
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even as a young girl, growing up in the Bronx, Mary Higgins Clark knew she wanted to be a writer. The gift of storytelling was a part of her Irish ancestry, so it followed naturally that she would later use her sharp eye, keen intelligence, and inquisitive nature to create stories.
-
-
I’ve read and re-read your books
- By Dolores Hylkema on 01-24-19
-
The Social Graces
- By: Renée Rosen
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber, Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1876. In the glittering world of Manhattan's upper crust, women are valued by their pedigree, dowry, and, most importantly, connections. They have few rights and even less independence - what they do have is society. The more celebrated the hostess, the more powerful the woman. And none is more powerful than Caroline Astor - the Mrs. Astor.
-
-
Disappointing Effort
- By HistoryNerd on 05-11-21
By: Renée Rosen
-
The Summer Queen
- Eleanor of Aquitaine Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Elizabeth Chadwick
- Narrated by: Katie Scarfe
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleanor of Aquitaine's story is legendary. She is an icon who has fascinated readers for over 800 years. But the real Eleanor remains elusive - until now. Based on the most up-to-date research, best-selling novelist Elizabeth Chadwick brings Eleanor's magnificent story to life, as never before. Young, vibrant, privileged, Eleanor's future is golden as the heiress to wealthy Aquitaine. But when her beloved father dies suddenly in the summer of 1137, her childhood ends abruptly.
-
-
The Romance Runs Strong in This One
- By Sara on 10-04-14
Critic reviews
"An enjoyable and informative read." (Publishers Weekly)
"Reading Meade's book is like looking at a photo album while listening to a witty insider reminisce about the images. Her writing is bright, her language charged with gritty details....Instead of portraying them as austere literary figures, Meade makes the women seem like part of the family." (San Francisco Chronicle)
What listeners say about Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Ryver C.
- 08-21-07
Fantastic
I love books like this. Getting behind the scenes of a crazy time. The tone of the book pulled me in right away. Highly Recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- OK Amy
- 07-07-17
Fascinating story difficult to follow
I chose this book as a followup to the Amazon series Z. It follows the story of each individual woman, year by year throughout the twenties. With the exception of the Fitzgeralds, I had little, to no knowledge of the other writers. Initially, each story was difficult to follow, but as the characters became more familiar, the book moved along very nicely. It was a lovely introduction to the wit of Dorothy Parker.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott
- 05-20-21
Fun Story and Cautionary Tale
For those who like the 1920's, this book was a fun ride with the major figures of the literati. It is also a tale of excess that becomes clear in the last chapters. A good read for fans of these authors.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- White Rabbit
- 11-22-21
Interesting read I recommend it
I recommend this for anyone interested in Scott or Zelda Fitzgerald (the most interesting), Edna Furber, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Milay. All part of American history each with their own worthwhile story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jessica
- 04-22-25
Absolutely frivolous fun!!
Witty, entertaining fun! The jazz age and world of American literature brought to life by the wonderful writing of Ms. Meade & deliciously narrated with humor and the most perfect inflection by the wonderful voice of Ms. Lorna Raver. Absolutely delightful!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Celia
- 07-29-05
A lot of fun!
This book was a romp through the 20's with some of it's more interesting characters. It's fascinating to find out how very human and fragile legends really are. This group lived on the edge but they had the problems of ordinary people too. What makes it so much fun is to see it all through their creative and usually very humorous points of view!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- E. Standard
- 04-27-22
Brilliant!
I couldn’t stop listening to this, hugely entertaining as well as informative and very well written.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Lucca ate your Lunch!
- 02-02-11
Ended up enjoying it
It took me a little while to adjust to this book partially, I think, because it reads more like fiction than a non-fiction. Also, there are so many people that someone of a newer generation may not recognize names like Edna Ferber, etc. But once I got started, I enjoyed this book very much... especially the parts about Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. There were so parts that are just too funny... like about F. Scott Fitzgerald being chronically obsessed with his small ****. I thought this was a splendid book and well-narrated.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Parisa Hervani
- 01-12-16
What a creative mind!
Love how this book was written. It was so fun getting to know these infamous writers. Great narration too, added 1920's spunk to it. I was thoroughly entertained by this light and amusing read, and I got to see one of my favorite poets, Edna St. Vincent Millay, in a biographic way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alex Gunter
- 11-22-23
Fascinating Intertwined Lives
What a romp! A delightfully informative four part Biography that clips right along as fast as Gatsby’s yellow car. Worth the time in every way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!