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Bright Young People: The Lost Generation of London's Jazz Age

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Throughout much of the 1920s, Londoners had a front-row seat to the antics of a small group of socialites about town. These young men and women staged lavish parties, disrupted activities with scavenger hunts and other stunts, and provided fodder for gossip columnists and cartoonists. This group, dubbed the "Bright Young People," was fictionalized in novels, recounted in memoirs, and is now the subject of D. J. Taylor's collective history of their group.

An accomplished author, Taylor provides an entertaining account of the group. He describes its members - which included such people as Stephen Tennant, Elizabeth Ponsonby, Brian Howard, Bryan Guinness, and Diana Mitford - and the antics that often attracted so much attention. Yet his scope is also broadened to include people such as Cecil Beaton and Evelyn Waugh, socially on the fringe of the group and yet important figures whose interactions with them prove highly revealing. Through their works and the sometimes obsessive coverage they received on the society pages he reconstructs the relationships and the events that captivated the public's attention.

From all of this emerges a portrait of a phenomenon that was in many ways a unique product of its time. In the aftermath of the demographic devastation of the First World War, the 1920s was a decade that saw the celebration of youth, all of whom grew up in the shadow of a conflict that was the dominant experience of men and women just a few years older than them. The survivors lived in a world where the older generations were discredited and traditional social structures faced increasing economic pressures. In this respect, the Bright Young People represented a garish defiance of the old order and a celebration of life, yet one driven by an undercurrent of sadness and sense of loss.

Taylor's account is infused with both sympathy and insight. At points his narrative degenerates into descriptions of one party after another, when the people threaten to blur into a single generic stereotype, but he succeeds in conveying something of the flavor of the era. From the photos included, the reader can see the fun the young men and women smiling and hamming it up as they pose for the camera, but for what lay behind their expressions readers should turn to this book.

I bought this book with real eagerness and was disappointed with it. The author kept losing focus. He would zero in on a chapter about Evelyn Waugh and Cecil Beaton and it would be a page turner. Then, unfortunately, he would move on to another chapter and lose the thread. He did finally focus on the life of Elizabeth Ponsonby and perhaps that is how he should have dealt with the material which is voluminous. There was just so much ground to cover and I think the author didn't know how to grapple with the material successfully. Having just read some of the diaries of James Lees-Milne and an autobiography by Leolia Ponsonby (who is mentioned in this book) I can see why this writer was attracted to the subject matter, but I think he just never got a real handle on it. I loaned the book to a friend who is an avid reader and this should have been right up his alley but he put it down half way through and returned it. Not a good sign.

Britain's Lost Generation grew up immediately after World War I. Too young to take part in the fighting, their childhoods were scarred by loss and privation. Its small wonder that in the early 1920s these young men and women began to make their marks as brainless partiers intent on having a good time, unchecked by the influence of older brothers (dead on the battle field) or parents (somewhat poorer and definitely out of fashion). D.J. Taylor does an excellent job of chronicling the lives of these men and women through the 1920s and 1930s and then beyond.

Many of the Bright Young People were highly gifted writers, like Evelyn Waugh, Harold Acton, and Nancy Mitford. They began producing novels and thinly disguised memoirs of the Bright Young People while the group was still in its heyday. Others, like Elizabeth Ponsonby and Brian Howard, squandered whatever creative talent they possessed in a fog of booze, drugs, and ceaseless but purposeless activity. I enjoyed reading the many anecdotes with which Taylor enlivens his text, describing elaborate masquerades or complicated and sometimes cruel practical jokes, but it grew wearisome to think that the people participating kept it up unceasingly for more than a decade. Often what seems like a good idea and a lot of fun at 21 begins to seem rather dull and pointless by 25 and unbearable by 30, but that never seemed to dawn on many of the Bright Young People, making that sobriquet seem even sadder and more ironic. Taylor thoughtfully provides us with an afterword in which he summarizes the later careers of the Bright Young People, some brilliant and many more banal.

Bright Young People is an entertaining work which will appeal to social historians and scholars of twentieth century English literature, as well as anyone who enjoys reading about gifted and talented young people and their less brilliant but still amusing hangers-on.

Bright Young People is the story of a particular group of young people who lived in London in the 1920s and `30s. Born at around the turn of the century, they were well connected and, for the most part, wealthy. They were known for the outrageous lifestyles they led, holding themed parties until dawn and performing tricks upon each other. The Bright Young People relied largely on the press to publicize their activities, and they included, among others, Nancy and Diana Mitford, Bryan Guinness, Evelyn Waugh, Brian Howard, Brenda Dean Paul, Cecil Beaton, and Elizabeth Ponsonby.

The book is divided into thirteen chapters, with little interludes focusing on specific people or things (on is on all the books Brian Howard never wrote). The book is a bit disorganized; the chapters don't seem to be arranged in any others, and the interludes, rather than being enlightening, hinder the flow of the book. The book is also a little unfocused; al large part of it is devoted to Elizabeth Ponsonby and her fraught relationship with her parents (chronicled extensively in their diaries). It's almost as though Taylor meant to write a biography of Elizabeth, realized he didn't have enough material to write it, and expanded the book to focus on all the Bright Young Things of the period. There's also a lot about Brenda Dean Paul's drug addiction and weight loss; but in contrast, there's not a whole lot about any of the other people of the "movement--" not even on the Mitfords or Evelyn Waugh. There's also a dearth of information on the Bright Young Things' relationships with each other, which was disappointing to me.

There's also not much on the parties themselves, and the author doesn't convey much of the fun atmosphere that those Bright young Things had; instead, he seems more focused on analyzing the period and its implications ("not seeing the trees for the forest" syndrome). As a result, the tone of the book tends to be a bit stilted and--dare I say it? dull. There are lots of plot summaries of the novels of Bright Young People (if you haven't read Highland Fling, A Dance to the Music of Time, or Vile Bodies, here are the cliff notes), and the author tends to rely on these as sources for this book. On the other hand, the book does an excellent job of highlighting the disparity between the generations: the fluidity of the new generation versus the more stolid, late-Victorian generation of their parents. In addition, the book does inspire me to want to read Vile Bodies and Highland Fling...

This is the story of a group of privileged young people who captivate London press with their antics (read: bad behavior and total willingness to behave like idiots in public) and occasional brushes with the law. No, it's not the story of Lauren and Heidi or Paris and Lindsey. The subjects are upper class twenty-somethings in the 1920s London.

It starts out slow - Taylor actually spends a chapter pondering why they were called the "Bright Young People." Once it kicks into gear, around chapter 4, it's quite enjoyable as tales of people with pretensions to talent, pretensions in general, out-sized egos and a deep interest in clothes go. Evelyn Waugh (a major chronicler of this ilk), Cyril Connolly, and Cecil Beaton key players but the bulk of the story revolves around once revered but now forgotten bubble-heads like Elizabeth Ponsonby, Brian Howard, Brenda Dean Paul and Steven Tennent. Yes, they may not have been complete idiots but who really wants to defend the intellects of people whose major consuming interests were: parties, stunt parties, drinking, treasure hunts, costume parties, and more drinking.

The best parts are the extracts from the diaries and letters of the parents of one of the BYP. The Ponsonbys were horrified by their daughter's activities, her lack of ambition, and her profligate spending and their observations are both acute and frequently hilarious. When Dorothea Ponsonby writes, apropos of one of her daughter's friends "I can't look at him. He is like an obscure footman" she is forging new ground in put downs. In fact, I'm tempted to make this my go-to insult for the next month. Taylor is upfront about the fact that the majority of People in question aren't terribly impressive upon closer inspection. (Except in their networking and literary log-rolling, which is truly notable.) Yet several of them have already been the subject of biographies, (entitled "Portrait of a Failure" and "Serious Pleasures", no less) Taylor is interested in what made these people newsworthy, what inspired them and what impact they have left on society. The fascination with them seems almost perverse. It's not borne of respect or admiration. It's more like straining one's neck to see the remains of the car crash.

There's plenty of metaphorical and literal car crashes on display from Brenda Dean Paul's pioneering turn as a starlet drug addict, Elizabeth Ponsonby - generally and, best of all, the story of Gavin Henderson's wedding to a nice girl mummy approved of and the wedding night that the bride spent alone and he spent with a sailor he picked up. Somehow the marriage doesn't take. They natter on about becoming actresses, writing books or plays, painting pictures, but few of them ever actually create anything more permanent than a particularly inspired party invitation. It's easy to read these stories and snicker at the disproportion between the BYP's pretensions and their accomplishments. The sadder point that Taylor makes is that this really was the very best life they could imagine.

Once past their glory days a surprising number of the BYP move into fascism or communism. There's a joke to be made here about being addicted to parties but I'm going to skip it. Better jokes are made about this by Taylor himself and Cyril Connolly in "Where Engels Fears to Tread", a satire about a BYP who embraces communism and exhorts his fellow BYPs to join him with the words "Morning's at seven, and you've got a new matron."

Back to Heidi and Lauren etc., you could easily substitute their names (or any tabloid darlings de jour) for several characters here, switch "plays" for movies and "singer" for "writer" and you wouldn't notice the difference for several pages. Seeing how far back our fascination with pointless celebrity extends is interesting and thankfully this story is in the hands of writer who is sympathetic but not indulgent.

This is an enjoyable read for any fan of biography or early 20th century European history, and any student of celebrity.

Considering my obsession with this period in history, and some of its tenants, I cannot believe it took me so long to find this book. I have heard, anecdotally, of the Bright Young People but I knew little about their specifics. Even with this marvelous history as a guide, they are still a fluid, amorphous bunch. Which I suppose was the point.
After WWI, the French turned to surrealism. America turned to jazz. The English, it seems, turned to their aristocracy-turned-high society. The inception of exorbitant inheritance taxes burdened the landed gentry -- their parents. Older siblings returned from the war broken and confused. This lost generation needed an outlet, an escape, and above all to be heard. The result was stunning.

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This is a great book, highly readable and informative, very witty and eye-opening. For those of us who think that sensationalized tabloid creatures like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Lady Gaga are possible only during our heated, frivolous times, this book will show that these empty archetypes existed many decades ago, during the 1920s in London. Except back then, the names were Elizabeth Ponsonby and Brenda Dean Paul. Punch magazine created a fictional character called Lady Gaga, who attended the fabulous parties so they could be reported on.

The author gives us amazing detail about the alcohol-driven times, the frenzy-for-fun atmosphere that diverted the readers of the tabloids. There was an endless stream of theme parties that practically shrieked "DECADENCE!" from the rooftops, or at least in the headlines. The adjective "louche" appears with great frequency. How to pay for this nonstop party? Waste Daddy's money; squander your inheritance, even if you're not going to get one. Live on credit and pawn your valuables. And it seems as if most of the men were outrageous homosexuals, each one determined to outflame the next. If you've read the brilliantly witty novels of Evelyn Waugh, you have already met these people. Most of Waugh's characters are thinly-veiled composites of these poor pathetic aethetes and booze-soaked party-girls. But here, you will learn the identity of the mask behind the mask.

This is one of the best social histories I've ever read. It's not all about the shimmering surface glitter; there's the dreadful reality of the Depression and World War II lurking at all time underneath. These people were wearing expensive costumes while dancing on the edge of the smoking volcano, but they thought they were having the most marvelous time. ("Haha-making" shall we camp?) Dozens of minor names flit by like brightly-colored butterflies pursued by the flamethrowers of historical reality. "We're having fun and you're not!" they seem to screech at us. "The piper loves us and will never demand payment!" There are two sections of pictures that celebrate their fabulousness. The price of just one museum-quality costume for just one theme party might very well have exceeded the yearly wages of a middle-class worker. "But who cares? Pictures in tomorrow's papers!"

One of the best aspects of this book is the analysis of various novels (now probably forgotten) written by and/or about these headline grabbers. It has inspired me to draw up a little list of these novels to look for on amazon.com.

One odd note: opera superstar Nellie Melba is referred to both as Nellie and Nelly.

I think this effort by Mr. Taylor about the 1920s-30s goings on in London of a small set of hedonistic upper-crust rebellious youth would have been more successful as an in-depth magazine article as opposed to a full book. There are simply too many sentences that appear to be manufactured to fill space as opposed to convey information.

The uncontrolled and empty life of one Elizabeth Ponsonby is the thin thread running throughout this book, a life seemingly featured by the author due only to his ready access to a pathetic diary kept by Miss Ponsonby's weak father, Arthur.

While a number of interesting literary people pop up in Mr. Taylor's book, I suggest it would be a better use of one's scarce reading time to go to some of the actual books by participants of this age, such as Anthony Powell's very fine memoirs "To Keep the Ball Rolling." Or, better yet for a more complete view of those general hard times in England read "The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell."

This is a wonderful book, but I don't know how accessible it will be to readers not already familiar with the "Bright Young People" and the artists, socialites, and eccentrics connected with this set. References are made to Ronald Firbank, the Sitwells, Lord Berners, Siegfried Sassoon, Lytton Strachey, and Nancy Cunard with the assumption that the reader already knows who these people are. It's also taken for granted that the reader has heard of the major Bright Young Peeps (for example, Brian Howard, Harold Acton, Cecil Beaton, the Guinnesses, the Jungman sisters, and Stephen Tennant) and possesses at least a passing familiarity with the works of Nancy Mitford, Henry Green, Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Powell, and Robert Byron.

However, it is not necessary to be a scholar of 1920s British social and artistic life in order to enjoy this book, and for me one of its chief delights is the way it has inspired me to seek out and read new-to-me works by Bright Young People, their associates, and those who influenced them. I've now compiled a long list of books I want to read: "Highland Fling" (1931), "Christmas Pudding" (1932), and "Pigeon Pie" (1939) by Nancy Mitford; "The Rock Pool" (1936) by Cyril Connolly; "The Flower Beneath the Foot" by Ronald Firbank (1923); "Afternoon Men" (1931) and "What's Become of Waring" (1939) by Anthony Powell; "Crazy Pavements" by Beverley Nichols (1927); "Singing out of Tune (1933) by Bryan Guinness; "The Enigma of Arrival" (1987) by V.S. Naipaul about Stephen Tennant; "The Byzantine Achievement" (1929) by Robert Byron; and "Born Old, Died Young" (1931) by the mysterious Inez Holden;

The author, D.J. Taylor, has a wonderful way with words which adds to the pleasure of this book. For example, while discussing the astonishing insolence of the Bright Young People, he offers up the case of Robert Byron, a "man of extremes" whose career demonstrated "quite how multifarious were the forms that these bad manners could take...The sarcastic backhander, the thinly veiled threat, the outrageous verbal mugging - in all these departments he was the star performer of his day. Given the Bright Young People's almost limitless capacity to cause offense, this mastery is rather intriguing. Where had it come from? How was it nurtured? What was it about Byron that, in the last resort, caused him to bristle up with affronted fury at the sight of dour officialdom or turn uncontrollably farouche at the slightest impediment to his schemes? The request to see tickets, the minor editorial intervention, the club bore - all of these made Byron seethe with fury..." I love it!

This is a beautifully written book, chock-full of interesting life stories, anecdotes, quotes, social/literary analysis, and great photographs from the 1920s.

I have read a lot about the bright young people and their era. But the author here is not in sync with his subject, too grave and exacting. Facts, but no fun.