Anything Goes - Chapters 1 to 5

[Ally]

This is the place to discuss chapters 1-5 of...

Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties by Lucy Moore

enjoy!

[Bronwyn]

I'm only in the middle of chapter four but since no one else has posted, I thought I'd still start. :)

I didn't really care for the chapter on Capone. The jazz one was okay. I loved chapter three and what I've read of chapter four so far. I really like all the flapper stuff and early Hollywood stuff. Zelda's fascinating, as is Mary Pickford.

The book's not quite what I thought it was, but it's still an enjoyable read. :)

[Jan C]

I have to question her research on the Hollywood chapter. She kept calling Adolph (Aadolph per imdb) Zukor - Adrian Zukor. He was one of the pioneers of the film industry and died at the age of 102 or some such age.

But that has kind of put me off of the book a bit.

I am enjoying Chapter 5 - all about Warren G. Harding and his scandal-ridden presidency. About half of his cabinet was brilliant the other half pretty much crooks.

I liked the chapter on Capone. I always like to read about him and organized crime. But I am from Chicago so I'm used to it.

[Linda2]

Lousy editing, probably.

[Linda2]

Bronwyn wrote: "Zelda's fascinating, as is Mary Pickford. "
Pickford's small stature and cinema sweetness belied a shrewd businesswoman, forming her own production company. I remember her being interviewed on TV late in her life.

Dorothy Gish was still acting till her death in 1978. Her last film was The Whales of August with Bette Davis, also HER last film. It's quite a good film

If you want more on Zelda, the definitive bio is considered to be Zelda by Nancy Milford (not Mitford.) Of course you can see facets of her in all of Scott's novels and many of his short stories.

[Jan C]

Rochelle wrote: "Bronwyn wrote: "Zelda's fascinating, as is Mary Pickford. "
Pickford's small stature and cinema sweetness belied a shrewd businesswoman, forming her own production company. I remember her being int..."

I read the Milford book a number of years ago. It was excellent.

[Kelley]

I knew nearly nothing about Harding's presidency, so it was nice to learn the about it in a breezy way. For more Zelda you may also enjoy Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties.

[Jan C]

Hemingway has a chapter or so dedictated to Scott and Zelda in A Moveable Feast.

I do have the Bobbed Hair book but haven't really read it yet.

I do have a couple of books about Harding and his presidency - The Harding Affair: Love and Espionage during the Great War, The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country, and Our Man in Washington = this is a historical fiction featuring a young James Cain and H.L. Mencken investigating corrution in the Harding administration. It's fun.

I may have more books - it is a recent kick I've gotten on - but I just can't think of them off the top of my head.

[Kelley]

Thanks Jan! I hardly realized Harding's presidency was so interesting. I remember a little about the Teapot Dome Scandal from school (mostly because I thought it was a funny name) but have long since forgotten whatever I learned.

[Jane]

This is one of those books that is going to have me seeking out others.

Not Capone, though that chapter set the seen nicely, but definitely Zelda, Mary Pickford and pre Hays code Hollywood generally. I must be pull out my copy of Bobbed Hair before too long as well.

I was enthralled by the Harding chapter but I'm not sure I'd make it through a whole book. A book on US presidents along the lines of Antonia fraser's book about English monarchs would be useful. I wonder if there's one out there?

[Linda2]

Did you already try Googling it?

Any one topic in Anything Goes could lead you to a whole collection of books!

[Linda2]

The pre-Hays code films often had racy dialog and wonderful male-female banter. They included great screwball comic actors like Claudette Colbert, Jean Arthur, Myrna Loy, and Carole Lombard. The dialogue is so sophisticated in the best films, more like you'd expect in films of the '60's, when the Hays code dissolved.

[Jan C]

Fleur wrote: "This is one of those books that is going to have me seeking out others.

Not Capone, though that chapter set the seen nicely, but definitely Zelda, Mary Pickford and pre Hays code Hollywood gene..."

Is this the kind of thing you mean? Complete Book of U.S. Presidents

[Jane]

Jan, that's just the sort of book I had in mind. Thank you.

[Jan C]

It was a fairly easy search on Google.

[Bronwyn]

I wouldn't even have known Zuckor's first name (I know so little about early Hollywood other than the big stars), but I've been watching Movie Stars & Moguls on TCM so knew it was Adolph not Adrian.

There were a couple other places where she's made mistakes. I'm not sure who to blame. She's not American, so that's one thing, but editors or even just a quick internet search could solve some other issues. Editors especially should've caught the "2... another... a third" that should've been "a fourth" and the use of too many "he's" leading to confusion about who's being referenced. I'm still enjoying it, but it's not great writing. :/

[Ally]

Its a difficult time of year to find enough time for reading but I'm now halfway through chapter two and I'm really enjoying it so far.

Al Capone is a well known character already but some of the little anecdotes are hilarious (to modern ears...which probably belies the sinister side of the story a little too much!). It amazes me how they could separate their shady 'working' world from their faith and their family lives, be so pious and generous and yet so ruthless. This is, in a way, coming across as an innocent time - in that the media manipulation elements were perhaps in their infancy. Strage to look on the gangster activity with modern eyes.

I'm also finding chapter two fascinating - I'm up to the part that speaks of the high hopes early civil rights leaders felt at the ability of black jazz singers to live alongside whites in a more accepted way - seems a shame that the dream is taking so long to realise!

...well...on with the reading...

Ally