Title: The 20-Year Lost Weekend: Rip Van Winkle Was a Drunk
Headings: The 20-Year Lost Weekend: Rip Van Winkle Was a Drunk
The 20-Year Lost Weekend: Rip Van Winkle Was a Drunk
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At 16, Rip’s father died, leaving the boy a fortune in land and cash. The carousing Rip went on a 24-year binge and drank up his inheritance. In the meantime, he married Dame Van Winkle - the she-devil of Irving’s story - and fathered two children, Judith and Rip Jr.
Dame Van Winkle’s efforts to reform Rip failed. One day, Rip wandered off - and here’s where Press’ version differs with Irving’s story. Irving had Rip wander into the mystical Catskills, where the ghost of explorer Henry Hudson casts him into a 20-year sleep. According to Press, Rip fled home in 1767 and headed south on the Hudson River to New York City. There, amid the Dutch taverns, Rip lived off bar owners and patrons who came to hear his tavern songs and stories. His long, lost weekend had begun. ″No one goes to sleep for 20 years,″ Press says. ″But we certainly consider alcoholic stupor a sleep we could survive for 20 years.″
After 20 years, Rip’s daughter found him performing in a stage show billed as ″The Old Dutcher.″ She took him home, and Rip concocted the story of his long sleep to conceal his 20-year drunk from neighbors.