Maxwell "Bogey" Bodenheim (May 26, 1892 – February 6, 1954) was an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

. A literary figure in Chicago, he later went to New York where he became known as the King of

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

s. His writing brought him international notoriety during the

Jazz Age The Jazz Age was a period from 1920 to the early 1930s in which jazz music and dance styles gained worldwide popularity. The Jazz Age's cultural repercussions were primarily felt in the United States, the birthplace of jazz. Originating in New O ...

of the 1920s.

Early life

Born Maxwell Bodenheimer in Hermanville,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

, he was the son of Jewish parents, Solomon Bodenheimer (born July 1858) and Carrie (born April 1860). His father was born in Germany and his mother in Alsace-Lorraine. Carrie emigrated to the United States in 1881 and Solomon in 1888. In 1900, the family moved from Mississippi to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The Federal census gave their residence as 431 46th Street, Chicago..

Work

The young Bodenheim and the even younger writer

Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplays and play ...

met in Chicago and became literary friends about 1912. (At the time, Bodenheim was nicknamed "Bogey." The nickname was also applied in his later years in Greenwich Village). They co-founded ''The Chicago Literary Times'' (1923–1924). Contributors included

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg w ...

Theodore Dreiser Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (; August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalism (literature), naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despi ...

Edgar Lee Masters Edgar Lee Masters (August 23, 1868 – March 5, 1950) was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of '' Spoon River Anthology'', ''The New Star Chamber and Other Essays'', ''Songs and Satires'', ''The Great V ...

Witter Bynner Harold Witter Bynner (August 10, 1881 – June 1, 1968), also known by the pen name Emanuel Morgan, was an American poet and translator. He was known for his long residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and association with other literary figures ther ...

Arthur Davison Ficke Arthur Davison Ficke (November 10, 1883 – November 30, 1945) was an American poet, playwright, and expert of Japanese art. Ficke had a national reputation as "a poet's poet", and "one of America's most expert sonneteers". Under the alias Anne ...

Floyd Dell Floyd James Dell (June 28, 1887 – July 23, 1969) was an American newspaper and magazine editor, literary critic, novelist, playwright, and poet. Dell has been called "one of the most flamboyant, versatile and influential American Men of Letters ...

Vachel Lindsay Nicholas Vachel Lindsay (; November 10, 1879 – December 5, 1931) was an American poet. He is considered a founder of modern ''singing poetry,'' as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted. Early years Lindsay was born ...

and

Sherwood Anderson Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and ...

. Bodenheim was a co-founder alongside sculptor and dancer Lou Wall Moore, of “The Shop,” a bohemian social club in Chicago. Bodenheim published his earliest verse in the groundbreaking ''

Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

'' magazine in 1914. A poem by Bodenheim was featured in the 1917 ''Others: An Anthology of the New Verse'', which included poems by such future luminaries as

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

Marianne Moore Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American Modernism, modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for its formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit. In 1968 Nobel Prize in Li ...

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. His '' Spring and All'' (1923) was written in the wake of T. S. Eliot's '' The Waste Land'' (1922). ...

, and

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

. While the poet was living in New York City, he became an active member of the Raven Poetry Circle of

."From the Stacks" at New-York Historical Society
/ref> Over the next ten years, he established himself as a leading American author, publishing ten books of verse, which incorporate many techniques of the

imagists Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized literary modernism, modernist literary movement in the English language. Imagism has bee ...

, and 13 novels. His poetry books include ''Minna and Myself'' (

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

), ''Advice'' (

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

), ''Against This Age'' (

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

), ''The King of Spain'' (

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

), ''Bringing Jazz!'' (

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...

) and ''Selected Poems 1914–1944'' (

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

). Bodenheim's novels include ''Blackguard'' (

), ''Replenishing Jessica'' (

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

), ''Ninth Avenue'' (

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

), ''Georgia May'' (

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the BBC, British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, John Reith becomes the first ...

), ''Naked on Roller Skates'' (

) and ''A Virtuous Girl'' (

). His 1933 novel ''New York Madness'' was reissued in 2024 by Tough Poets Press. Critic

John Strausbaugh John Strausbaugh (born 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American author, cultural commentator, and host of ''The New York Times'' ''Weekend Explorer'' video podcast series on New York City. Among other topics, he is an authority on the histo ...

suggests that Bodenheim had "a real talent for scandal, easy enough to generate during Greenwich Village's prolonged drunken orgy in the Prohibition years." Strausbaugh notes that Bodenheim's "haughty, insulting demeanor, and his habit of trying to steal other men's women right under their noses, got him regularly socked on the jaw and thrown out of bars, soirees and the fauxhemian revels at

Webster Hall Webster Hall is a nightclub and concert venue located at 125 East 11th Street, between Third and Fourth avenues, near Astor Place, in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. It is one of New York City's most historically significant ...

." For many years a leading figure of the Bohemian scene in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

's Greenwich Village, Bodenheim deteriorated rapidly after his success in the 1920s and 1930s.

Personal life and death

Marriages

Bodenheim had three wives. His first wife was Minna Schein (married 1918-divorced 1938), with whom he had one son, Solbert, born 1920. His second wife was Grace Finan (married 1939-her death 1950). After becoming a widower, he married Ruth Fagin (married 1952–until their murder in 1954). Before he married his second wife, Grace, he had become a panhandler. They spent part of their marriage in the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

. After she died of cancer in 1950, he was arrested and hospitalized several times for vagrancy and drunkenness . Ruth Fagin, 28 years his junior, shared his derelict lifestyle. They were homeless and slept on park benches. He sometimes panhandled while carrying a sign that read, "I Am Blind," although he had adequate vision. He sometimes composed short poems for money or drinks. Ruth engaged in

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

, which reportedly provoked beatings by her husband. In approximately 1953, Bodenheim and Ruth spent some time (perhaps two months) as guests of the Catholic Worker of

Dorothy Day Dorothy Day, Oblate#Secular oblates, OblSB (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist and Anarchism, anarchist who, after a bohemianism, bohemian youth, became a Catholic Church, Catholic without aba ...

in New York. Day had been a friend of Bodenheim in Greenwich Village in the 1920s. She devoted a chapter to the Bodenheims in her ''Loaves and Fishes'' (1963).

Death

Bodenheim and Ruth were murdered February 6, 1954, at a

flophouse A flophouse (American English) or doss-house (British English) is a place that has very low-cost lodging, providing space to sleep and minimal amenities. Characteristics Historically, flophouses, or British "doss-houses", have been used for ove ...

at 97

Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square ...

in Manhattan, by a 25-year-old dishwasher, Harold "Charlie" Weinberg. They had befriended him on the streets of the Village and he offered to let them spend the night in his room a few blocks from the

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighbourhood, neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row (Manhattan), Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th ...

. Weinberg and Ruth had sex near the cot where the 62-year-old drunken Bodenheim appeared to be sleeping. Bodenheim arose, challenged Weinberg, and they began fighting. Weinberg shot Bodenheim twice in the chest. He beat Ruth and stabbed her four times in the back. Weinberg confessed to the double homicide, but said in his defense, "I ought to get a medal. I killed two

Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

."Burns, Jim
"Maxwell Bodenheim"
''The Penniless Press''. Retrieved 25 Apr. 2009 Weinberg was judged insane (

sociopathic Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity to st ...

) and sent to a mental institution. Hecht offered to pay for Bodenheim's funeral. Bodenheim's ex-wife, Minna Schein, made arrangements to have him buried in her family plot in Cedar Park Cemetery,

Emerson, New Jersey Emerson is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, a suburb in the New York City metropolitan area. Emerson is the most southern municipality in an area of the county known as the Pascack Valley. As of the 2020 United Stat ...

Legacy

*Bodenheim's memoir, ''My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village'', released six months after his death in 1954, was largely ghostwritten by David George Plotkin, a writer employed by the publisher Samuel Roth. Roth had been paying the down-and-out Bodenheim for his biographical stories about Greenwich Village at the time of the writer's murder. *Hecht based his 1958 play ''Winkelberg'' on the life of the bohemian poet. *Three official full biographies have been published on Maxwell Bodenheim: a doctoral dissertation by Edward T. Devoe, ''A Soul in Gaudy Tatters'', University of Pennsylvania (1957); ''Maxwell Bodenheim'' (1970) by Jack B. Moore; and a doctoral dissertation, ''The Necessity of Rebellion: The Novels of Maxwell Bodenheim'' (1975) by Arthur B. Sacks, University of Wisconsin-Madison. *A substantial collection of his journalism was published in 2024 by Tough Poets Press under the title ''Bughouse Dope: Selected Essays & Articles,'' edited and with an introduction by Paul Maher Jr.

Bibliography

Fiction

;Novels * ''Blackguard'', 1923 * ''Crazy Man'', 1924 * ''Replenishing Jessica'', 1925 * ''Ninth Avenue'', 1926 * ''Georgie May'', 1928 * ''Sixty Seconds'', 1929 * ''Naked on Roller Skates'', 1930 * ''A Virtuous Girl'', 1930 * ''Duke Herring'', 1931 * ''Run, Sheep, Run'', 1932 * ''Six A.M.'', 1932 * ''New York Madness'', 1933 * ''Slow Vision'', 1933 ;Novellas *

Poetry

;Collections * ''Minna and Myself'', 1918 * ''Advice'', 1920 * ''Introducing Irony'', 1922 * ''Against This Age'', 1923 * ''The Sardonic Arm'', 1923 * ''Returning to Emotion'', 1927 * ''The King of Spain'', 1928 * ''Bringing Jazz!'', 1930 * ''Lights in the Valley'', 1942 * ''Selected Poems'', 1946

Nonfiction and memoirs

* ''My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village'', 1954 * ''Bughouse Dope: Selected Essays & Articles'', 2024

Essays and reporting

References

External links

* * *
Quoth the Raven Poetry Circle , "From the Stacks" at New-York Historical Society
Extensive collection of Bodenheim's poetry *
memoir of Max Bodenheim by Dorothy DayHervey Allen Papers, 1831-1965, SC.1952.01, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh
Folder 22 contains Allen's correspondence with Bodenheim)
Michael Reid-Maxwell Bodenheim Collection
a
the Newberry Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodenheim, Maxwell 1891 births 1954 deaths People murdered in 1954 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American memoirists 20th-century American novelists American humorous poets American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American people of German-Jewish descent Beggars Burials at Cedar Park Cemetery (Emerson, New Jersey) Deaths by firearm in Manhattan Federal Writers' Project people Jewish American novelists Jewish American poets The New Yorker people Novelists from Mississippi People murdered in New York City American murder victims