45 pages • 1 hour read
City of Girls
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Chapters 6-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary
Vivian arrives dutifully for her appointment with Dr. Kellogg. He strikes her as nondescript: “He was the kind of man whose face you forget even when you are standing right in front of him, looking directly at his face” (75). His pedantic, methodical approach to making love makes it difficult for Vivian to keep from laughing out loud. Afterward, Kellogg insists on giving her money, which she reluctantly takes. When Vivian meets her showgirl friends afterward at a diner, they agree to spend the money on a day trip to Coney Island. The group arrives back at the theater with only minutes to spare before their performance and nobody else the wiser about Vivian’s adventure.
Chapter 7 Summary
Now that Vivian has developed a baseline level of sexual experience, she’s eager to join Celia on her forays into New York’s nightlife. She says, “The two of us went digging for trouble with a shovel and a pickax that summer, and we never had the slightest trouble finding it” (90). They have sex with a variety of men, routinely get drunk, suffer from hangovers the following morning, and are ready to repeat the process the following night. Vivian revels in her newfound freedom to do exactly as she wants, whenever she wants.
Chapter 8 Summary
While Vivian spends the summer of 1940 partying every night, she is oblivious to World War II, raging in Europe. She is also ignorant of the possibility that America may soon be involved and that the young men she dates may well die on a battlefield someday in the near future. Looking back from the perspective of 2010, she says to Angela, “I wish I’d done more of everything with those boys […] so many of whom were soon to be shattered, burned, wounded, doomed. I only wish I had known what was coming, Angela. I truly do” (104).
Chapter 9 Summary
The war hits closer to home with the arrival of British actors, Edna Parker and Arthur Watson. Edna is a famous stage actress in England but less well-known in America. Her husband, Arthur, starred in a popular British war film. The Watson home in England was bombed by the Nazis, so the couple has fled to America. Having nowhere to stay and no employment, they appeal to Peg for help. She offers them a fourth-floor apartment at the Lily to use as long as they like.
Arthur is characterized as a handsome dolt, and petite Edna immediately charms both Celia and Vivian. The girls help her unpack and marvel at her beautiful wardrobe. Edna and Vivian share a sophisticated conversation about fashion. Edna is intrigued by Vivian’s gift for understanding clothing design. She also imparts a valuable observation about theater costumes by saying that costumes need to be built rather than sewn because they are stage props. Vivian is enthralled and says of their late-night chat, “I thought I’d been having adult conversations all summer […] but this was truly an adult conversation. This was a conversation about craftsmanship, and about expertise, and about aesthetics” (128).
Chapter 10 Summary
The following week Peg strikes upon the idea of creating a play especially for Edna, despite Olive’s objections that it might alienate their regular audience. Peg proposes a musical comedy that will showcase Edna’s talents while still catering to the theater’s core audience. The title will be City of Girls. Edna will play the owner of a speakeasy/bordello during Prohibition. Arthur will play the policeman who falls in love with her.
Peg says that her absent husband, Billy, could write a great script, but Olive nixes the idea of bringing Billy in. The company’s regular writer, Mr. Herbert, is called on to create a story, and Benjamin will write the songs. Vivian gets busy as costume designer to build a wardrobe for Edna. She takes the actress to Lowtsky’s Used Fabric Emporium, where they are able to pick out the raw materials that Vivian will rework into something spectacular.
Chapter 11 Summary
Vivian celebrates her 20th birthday on October 7, 1940 by going out for a night of debauchery with Celia. When she wakes the next morning, a man is sitting in a chair in her bedroom. This turns out to be Peg’s missing husband, Billy. He’s just arrived from the west coast for an unannounced visit. When Vivian offers to vacate his room, he says he’s staying at a hotel and never uses his quarters at the Lily.
The two go to the kitchen to get some coffee, where they see Mr. Herbert sitting at the table, suffering from acute writer’s block. Billy offers to take over the script. Olive objects, but Billy says he won’t take any of the profits for the show. Billy succeeds in charming Peg into agreeing to his terms. Peg him, “Do us a favor, Billy? Don’t pretend to care. I love you, but I hate it when you pretend to care.” Billy replies, “I’ll tell you what […] I care a lot more than people think I care” (160).
Chapters 7-11 Analysis
Vivian was always a free spirit to some degree, and losing her virginity unleashes a previously dormant sex drive, and Vivian and Celia cut a swath through the men of Manhattan each night. Vivian hasn’t yet understood her interest in primal sex, but she’s at least begun exploring the territory in these chapters.
Although the reader isn’t yet aware of the context for elderly Vivian’s narrative to Angela, Chapter 8 foreshadows Vivian’s relationship with Frank. Eighty-nine-year-old Vivian expresses regret that her 19-year-old self didn’t know the devastating effect the war would have. She never mentions them by name, but Vivian is obviously thinking of her brother Walter’s death and Frank’s post-traumatic stress disorder, both of which will be addressed directly later in the text.
During her summer of frivolous sex in 1940, Vivian also meets Edna, a character who will have a tremendous impact on her future. Edna isn’t merely a charismatic actress. She teaches Vivian about the nuances of designing theater costumes. The two women share a love for fine clothing that goes beyond mere fashion trends. Edna articulates a philosophy of couture that Vivian drinks in like a woman dying of thirst. Vivian’s own future principles of costume design will be guided by Edna’s knowledge of the subject. The older woman becomes Vivian’s artistic mentor.
The atmosphere at the Lily changes radically, not simply because of the arrival of Edna and Arthur. The charming but irresponsible Billy makes his first appearance in this segment. Billy acts at the creative catalyst around whom the play City of Girls will coalesce. He takes over the scriptwriting duties from the untalented Mr. Herbert. He focuses Benjamin’s songwriting skills. He analyses the best way to exploit Edna’s talent by writing a script that’s tailor-made for her temperament. While he’s performing all these services, of course, he insists that he won’t take a penny. Peg and Olive wisely realize that Billy is charming but untrustworthy. He plays by his own rules which contributes to the novel’s theme that “the world ain’t straight” (428).
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