Maxwell Bodenheim - Selected works

Writer, born in Hermanville, Mississippi, USA. He lived in Chicago from 1902 and, after being expelled from high school (1908), mixed with the literary figures of Chicago before moving to New York City (1915). He published Minna and Myself (1918), the first of his 11 volumes of poetry; he also published novels, including Replenishing Jessica (1925), which were considered cynical and indecent. As the editor of Others, a poetry magazine, he is credited with discovering Hart Crane. Having lived most of his life as a bohemian and alcoholic, he and his third wife were murdered in Greenwich Village.

Maxwell Bodenheim (May 26, 1891 – February 6, 1954) was an American poet and novelist. Known as the King of Greenwich Village Bohemians, his writing brought him international fame during the Jazz Age of the 1920s.

He was born Maxwell Bodenheimer in Hermanville, Mississippi, the son of Solomon Bodenheimer (born July 1858) and Carrie (born April 1860).

In about 1912 or 1913, Bodenheim and Ben Hecht met in Chicago, and became literary friends. Bodenheim was called "Bodey." Over the next 10 years, he established himself as one of the leading authors in the U.S. He published 10 books of verse, which incorporates many techniques of the imagists, and 13 novels. Among the verse published are Minna and Myself (1918), Advice (1920), Against This Age (1923), The king of Spain (1928), Bringing Jazz! (1930) and Selected Poems 1914–1944 (1946). His novels include Blackguard (1923), Replenishing Jessica (1925), Ninth Avenue (1926), Georgia Man (1927), Naked on Roller Skates (1930) and A Virtuous Girl (1930).

Bodenheim had three wives, Minna Schein (married 1918-divorced 1938), Grace Finan (married 1939-her death 1950), and Ruth Fagin (married 1952-their deaths 1954).

For many years a leading figure of the Bohemian scene in New York's Greenwich Village, Bodenheim deteriorated rapidly after his success in the '20s and '30s.

Bodenheim's memoir, My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village (1954), was partly ghostwritten.

His third wife, Ruth, was 28 years his junior. Ruth slept with other men and Bodenheim seemed not to mind.

Bodenheim and Ruth were murdered by a 25 year old sociopathic dishwasher, Harold "Charlie" Weinberg, whom they befriended on the streets of the Village. He was sexually attracted to Ruth, and the two of them became active on the floor near the cot where the 62 year old drunken Bodenheim was supposedly sleeping. Bodenheim got up and challenged Weinberg. They began fighting, then Weinberg shot Bodenheim twice in the chest.

Ben Hecht said he would pay for the funeral of Bodenheim and his wife. Bodenheim's ex-wife, Minna, made arrangements in a family plot. Maxwell Bodenheim is interred in Cedar Park Cemetery, Emerson, New Jersey.

by Maxwell Bodenheim I shall walk down the road;

Selected works

Minna and Myself, poetry, 1918 Advice, poetry, 1920 Introducing Irony, poetry, 1922 Against This Age, poetry, 1923 Blackguard, novel, 1923 The Sardonic Arm, poetry, 1923 Crazy Man, novel, 1924 Replenishing Jessica, novel, 1925 Ninth Avenue, novel, 1926 Returning to Emotion, poetry, 1927 Georgie May, novel, 1928 The King of Spain, poetry, 1928 Sixty Seconds, novel, 1929 Bringing Jazz!, poetry, 1930 Naked on Roller Skates, novel, 1930 A Virtuous Girl, novel, 1930 Duke Herring, novel, 1931 Run, Sheep, Run, novel, 1932 New York Madness, novel, 1933 Slow Vision, novel, 1933 Lights in the Valley, poetry, 1942 Selected Poems, poetry, 1946 My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village, 1954 Cutie A Warm Mamma (Ben Hecht and Maxwell Bodenheim)