HEMINGWAY EXPELLED FROM SCHOOL! (Well, almost)

By Craig Mindrum

In 1917, while a senior at Oak Park High School, Hemingway got into some trouble. He and some buddies got together and published an underground magazine called “Jazz Journal.” In the 1910s, “jazz” was by itself a suggestive word, carrying modern, even scandalous connotations (nightlife, sexual looseness).

One of the magazine co-conspirators, Ray Ohlsen, described the incident:

“We had a paper called the ‘Jazz Journal.’ There was only one copy—about five of us edited it. What we did was put in a lot of dirty jokes and attributed them to some of our teachers. It just happened that while I was practicing for the class play somebody stole the copy I had in my English book. Ernie called me up that night and wanted to know where it was. I told him I had it. He said I'd better look and check and sure enough I couldn't find it. Well, the principal Mr. McDaniel had it and we were in on the carpet.”

Threat of expulsion

The magazine raised enough concern from school authorities and from parents that there was talk of suspension or expulsion. Hemingway and the others involved were summoned to the principal’s office. The magazine was brought out as proof of indecency. There was pressure to punish the boys harshly.

Saved by the play

Hemingway was saved, however, because of an otherwise unrelated fact: He had tried out for the Senior play (“Beau Brimmel”) and got a role. (This had been a dream of his since the time he started school.)

The play was to open the week right after the boys got into trouble. Fortunately for them all, a school teacher and director of the play, Fannie Biggs, interceded for the boys and prevented them from more drastic action.

Hemingway’s buddy Ohlsen continues the story: “We would have all gotten expelled if it weren't for our English teacher Miss Biggs who we thought must have lied and told the principal that we had come to her for advice and that we had promised her we would discontinue the magazine. If it wasn't for her we would have been expelled.”

Ongoing repercussions

Hemingway narrowly avoided trouble, and the play went on as scheduled but repercussions continued in the Hemingway family. Ernest resented the lack of support shown by his parents about the incident. He had a grudge; he felt betrayed by his parents (especially his mother). To him, other boys had more support from their parents than he. For example, one of his classmates got in trouble and his father came to school standing up for him stoutly and saying the school was being too severe. Hemingway blurted out in a group, “Neither of my parents would come to school for me no matter how right I was. I just have to take it.”

Hemingway biographer Carlos Baker treats Hemingway’s high-school skirmishes as early indicators of his lifelong pattern of testing authority and experiencing family conflict over his behavior and writing.

Other biographies agree that this was not mere adolescent mischief. It was a symbolic first instance of literary boundary-testing. 

Source: Buske, Morris R. Hemingway's Education, a Re-Examination: Oak Park High School and the Legacy of Principal Hanna, 2007. Reference Book Collection. Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park Archives, Oak Park Public Library Special Collections, Oak Park, IL.