He was the “King of Greenwich Village,” a Jazz Age poet as famous for his scandalous life as his brilliant verse. So how did he end up shot to death on the floor of a squalid New York City rooming house?
This documentary unravels the tragic and shocking story of Maxwell Bodenheim, a literary icon who soared to the heights of 1920s fame before plunging into a life of poverty, alcoholism, and violence. We explore his meteoric rise in the bohemian art scene, his racy novels like “Replenishing Jessica” that led to a landmark obscenity trial, and the carefully crafted persona that captivated a generation.
But behind the fame was a life of chaos. Delve into Bodenheim’s notorious womanizing, the dark tragedies that saw two of his young lovers commit suicide, and the downward spiral that left him a panhandling ghost on the same streets where he was once celebrated. Discover the story of his final wife, Ruth Fagin, who joined him in his last desperate years, only to meet the same brutal end.
Finally, we piece together the final 24 hours of their lives and the investigation into their shocking double murder at the hands of Harold Weinberg, a disturbed young man whose obsession turned fatal. This is the definitive story of the King in Rags—a cautionary tale of genius, self-destruction, and the high price of fame.
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