You don’t meet many girls named Lucretia these days.

Bottom portion from a larger ad for Lucretia Vanderbilt, circa 1929.
Bottom portion from a larger ad for Lucretia Vanderbilt, circa 1929.

Strange story, this Lucretia Vanderbilt.

It’s got everything!

Astrology!
Italian cheeses!
Alter egos!
Guitars!
Human hair fraud!
Bootleg liquor!
Pre-arrest suicide!
Belgian war heroes!
And butterflies!

Stefon would be jealous.

Check out the history of Lucretia Vanderbilt here, along with its rather wonderful first paragraph that sets the tone beautifully.

In Alan Jenkins’ very readable ‘The Twenties’, his second chapter is titled ‘Let’s Do It!’. “Do what?” he asked, well… “Practically anything you can get away with. Dance. Make love. Sing. Laugh. Make money. Lose money. Drink. Fly. Smash something.”, he wrote.

Leave a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.