Big Bosses

November 1, 2016
In her remarkable memoir, originally written under the pseudonym A Private Secretary, Altemus recounts the wildest indiscretions of her employers between 1918 and 1925. After her death, Altemus' grandsons discovered her typed manuscript, with illustrations by Phineas Paist, and donated it to the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in 2012. Altemus recounts days-long, star-studded parties at the Florida estate of a manufacturing company's president. She takes a job investigating a Chicago businessman for his suspicious wife and launches a campaign to befriend his secretary in order to gain access to his office. She goes to underground poker games, sells jewels on her boss' behalf, and raises both her son and a friend's daughter as a single mother. She references gang violence in Chicago and vaguely hints at the existence of prostitution and brothels in New York. Altemus' stories expose the challenges for young working women in the 1920s, when employers could fire secretaries for being married, a mother, or blonde. The annotations and afterword by historian Bachin provide context that enriches and clarifies the narrative.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)