Table of Contents
Introduction ix
1 "Gentleman Jim," Part I, The Good Times Mayor Jimmy Walker 1
2 Prohibition Sherman Billingsley's Stork Club 15
3 The Rise of the Mafia, Part I: The Three "M"s: Morello, Masseria, and Maranzano 31
4 The Rise of the Mafia, Part II Meyer Lansky Lucky Luciano 45
5 America's Most Famous Madam Polly Adler 57
6 Queen of the Nightclubs Texas Guinan 67
7 The Birth of Gossip Journalism Walter Winchell 77
8 America's Conflicted Queen of Vaudeville and Comedy Fanny Brice 91
9 The Rise of Radio David Sarnoff 105
10 Dance: The Charleston, the Black Bottom, and Martha Graham 119
11 High Cs and High Jinks: Classical Music's Biggest Scandal Arturo Toscanini Geraldine Farrar 129
12 Literature of the 1920s, Part I F. Scott Fitzgerald 139
13 Litebature of the 1920s, Part II Edith Wharton Anita Loos Eugene O'Neill 153
14 The Round Table Alexander Woollcott Robert Benchley Robert Sherwood Franklin P. Adams Marc Connelly Harold Ross Dorothy Parker 165
15 The Witty Critic Dorothy Parker 179
16 The Magazines Henry Luce Briton Hadden and Time, Harold Ross and the New Yorker 189
17 New York's Lesbian Subculture: Interior Design Pioneer Elsie de Wolfe 203
18 The Harlem Renaissance: The Cotton Club, Bessie Smith,and the Harlem Renaissance 217
19 Sports Bill Tilden Babe Ruth 235
20 The Ticker-Tape Parade Grover T. Whalen 249
21 "Gentleman Jim," Part II, the Party's Over Mayor Jimmy Walker 259
Epilogue: The Crash and the Sign of a Better Tomorrow: The Chrysler Building and Architect William Van Alen 273
Acknowledgments 278
Bibliography 279
Index 283
About the Author 290