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
Content: 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. ″We paint an image of Rip as a wonderful guy, but that’s a terrible image,″ Press says. ″He abandoned his wife and kids. The ogre of the story is Dame Van Winkle, the shrew who died of a heart attack. Dame van Winkle was no ogre. She deserves to be pretty damn angry at this guy.″
While Rip inherited a fortune, Rip Jr. inherited his father’s drunken ways.