This chapter focuses on the start of Dorothy's career. The 1920s saw women in the United States going where they had not gone before — into voting booths, for example. The world of Dorothy's early adulthood was very different from the coming-of-age time of her mother or even that of her older sister; American women had new freedoms and were exercising them. To establish herself in songwriting, Dorothy needed not only talent, but also nerve and daring, and the Roaring Twenties fostered those qualities in women far more than previous decades had. Dorothy could look around for encouragement and see flappers of her day trying all sorts of things their mothers had not dared to do. The timing was of great importance, given what lay ahead. Getting a secure foothold in songwriting before the Great Depression hit would be crucial to Dorothy's career.