F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography - A&E - Edit

Summary

F. Scott Fitzgerald, once hailed as the supreme symbol of the Jazz Age, led a life characterized by early success and later decline. Born in 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was a bright young talent with aspirations to be a great writer. He married the exuberant Zelda Sayre, and together they became the face of the Roaring Twenties. Despite initial literary success with 'This Side of Paradise' and 'The Great Gatsby', his later years were fraught with personal and professional failures, exacerbated by Zelda's mental health struggles. Fitzgerald's life ended tragically at 44, but his literary legacy has endured, securing his place among America's great writers.

Highlights

• Fitzgerald became an icon of the Jazz Age, celebrated for his vibrant lifestyle and literary talent. 🕺
• His marriage to Zelda Sayre was both a grande romance and a source of immense personal turmoil. 💃
• 'The Great Gatsby' is now regarded as a literary masterpiece, though it was modestly received in its time. 🌟
• Though out of print at his death, Fitzgerald's works have gained tremendous posthumous recognition. 🏛️
• His life story is a quintessential tale of the American Dream, ambition, and the cost of success. 🇺🇸

Key Takeaways

• Fitzgerald embodied both the glamour and despair of the Jazz Age. 🎺
• He transformed his personal experiences, successes, and failures into timeless literature. 📚
• Fitzgerald and Zelda's lives were a compelling blend of love, ambition, and tragedy. 💔
• Despite falling out of favor in his later years, Fitzgerald's work is celebrated today, with 'The Great Gatsby' being a mainstay in academia. 📖
• His struggle with alcoholism and Zelda's mental illness heavily influenced his life and work. 🍸

Overview

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre were the dazzling couple of the Roaring Twenties, embodying the era's spirit of adventure and jazz-infused vibrancy. Their wild escapades and Fitzgerald's writing crowned them royalty of their time, even as their lives were marred by increasing personal difficulties.

Initially skyrocketing to fame with novels like 'This Side of Paradise', Fitzgerald's life was a rollercoaster of public adoration and private challenges. He and Zelda struggled with the pressures of their turbulent lifestyle, leading to much-publicized issues with alcohol and Zelda's mental health.

Despite being forgotten at his death, Fitzgerald's work, particularly 'The Great Gatsby', has since been recognized as quintessential American literature, reflecting themes of love, loss, and the pursuit of dreams. His legacy lives on, celebrated by writers and readers who find resonance in his poignant explorations of the human condition.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Scott and Zelda: Icons of the Roaring Twenties This chapter explores the lives of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, emblematic figures of the Roaring Twenties. Known for their extravagant lifestyle, they were celebrated as the king and queen of the Jazz Age. However, the chapter also delves into the decline they faced; by the age of 40, Fitzgerald was struggling with alcoholism, his literary success diminished, while Zelda faced mental health issues, being confined to an asylum.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Fitzgerald's Early Life and Aspirations The chapter titled 'Fitzgerald's Early Life and Aspirations' discusses the dramatic rise and fall of Fitzgerald, a story he himself would likely describe as a tragedy. This chapter reflects on his life as a representation of the American Dreamer, capturing the essence of his journey from ambitious beginnings to the stark realities of his later years.
• 01:30 - 04:00: Fitzgerald's School Years and Writing Talent The chapter titled 'Fitzgerald's School Years and Writing Talent' discusses the early 20th-century context that shaped the aspirations of individuals like Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. As America transitioned from the Industrial Revolution into a more modern era characterized by advancements in transportation and communication, Fitzgerald, like many others of his time, harbored dreams of achieving fame and wealth as a distinguished writer.
• 04:00 - 07:00: Fitzgerald's College Experience and Romance with Geneva King The chapter opens by introducing the protagonist's origins, specifically focusing on his birth on September 24, 1896, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His full name is revealed to be inspired by a distant relation, Francis Scott Key, famed for penning The Star-Spangled Banner. This highlights his Irish Catholic background and hints at a family legacy connected to notable American history figures.
• 07:00 - 10:00: Military Service and Meeting Zelda Sayre The chapter discusses the life of a man named Edward, who despite his gentlemanly appearance and fancy clothes, was not successful in business. In 1908, he lost a sales job and returned home defeated. His lack of success left a significant impression on his son, Scott, who vowed never to experience such failure. Meanwhile, Scott's mother, Molly Fitzgerald, hailed from a wealthy family in Saint Paul.
• 10:00 - 13:00: Fitzgerald's Struggles and Breakthrough with 'This Side of Paradise' The chapter discusses F. Scott Fitzgerald's early life and financial difficulties faced by his family. Despite the struggles, Fitzgerald's mother borrowed money to ensure he attended prestigious prep schools. However, as a less affluent student among wealthy peers, Fitzgerald often felt like an outsider. His struggles with feeling out of place led to a breakthrough when he discovered his talent for writing poetry, stories, and plays, which helped him to fit in and find his place among his classmates.
• 13:00 - 16:00: Marriage to Zelda and Life in the Jazz Age The chapter discusses Fitzgerald's early realization of his writing talent, which he used to gain acceptance and attention during his time in prep schools. He often wrote plays, staged productions, and took on starring roles, surrounding himself with friends and peers through his creative endeavors.
• 16:00 - 22:00: The Great Gatsby and European Years Fitzgerald impressed his peers with his ability to captivate an audience, a skill he honed and which led him to pursue a career in writing.
• 22:00 - 26:00: Financial Struggles and Zelda's Health Decline The chapter titled 'Financial Struggles and Zelda's Health Decline' opens with Scott's aspirations as he arrives at Princeton. He envisions himself becoming a prominent campus figure, admired by fellow students. Despite his ambition, his physical stature presents a challenge. Scott tries out for the football team, driven by dreams of sporting glory. However, his small build—being under five foot eight inches and weighing only 138 pounds—leads to his immediate cut from the team on the very first day of practice. The narrative captures Scott's early struggles in pursuit of his aspirations, setting the stage for the exploration of financial strains and health issues impacting Zelda.
• 26:00 - 35:00: Fitzgerald's Time in Hollywood and Final Years In this chapter, Fitzgerald's time at Princeton University is explored. He utilized his writing skills to contribute to the university's literary magazines and became a part of the Triangle Club, a top theatrical group. Demonstrating his talents, Fitzgerald wrote lyrics for musicals and took on leading roles, including female parts, as was customary at the all-male school.
• 35:00 - 42:00: Legacy and Posthumous Fame The chapter titled 'Legacy and Posthumous Fame' discusses F. Scott Fitzgerald's experiences during his college years. Despite his talent and enjoyment of writing musicals and socializing, Fitzgerald began to exhibit early signs of a drinking problem, as noted in his diary. A particular publicity photo of him in drag became quite popular around campus, indicating his flair for drama and attention. However, his focus on writing plays overshadowed other activities, hinting at his future dedication to his craft despite personal struggles.

F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography - A&E - Edit Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald the famous writer of the pretty southern belle glittering icons of the Roaring Twenties they lived their lives with wild abandon and were hailed as king and queen of the Jazz Age but the good times didn't last by 40 Fitzgerald was washed up an alcoholic his books no longer in print his name forgotten and his glamorous wife locked away in an insane asylum
• 00:30 - 01:00 Fitzgerald's rise and fall was dramatic even shocking but as he once wrote give me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy it was the story of his life the story of a great American Dreamer [Music]
• 01:00 - 01:30 the start of the 20th century was an exciting time in America as the Industrial Revolution gave way to a more modern era the country was alive with new forms of transportation and communication and A New Hope for the future [Music] like many Americans born near the turn of the century Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald had Great Hopes and aspirations he wanted to be a rich and famous writer admired the world over
• 01:30 - 02:00 this was a big goal for a little Irish Catholic boy who was born on September 24 1896 in the small Midwestern town of Saint Paul Minnesota named after Francis Scott Key a distant relation who wrote The Star-Spangled Banner young Scott was his parents pride and joy [Music] his father Edward Fitzgerald doted on his young son teaching him all the finer
• 02:00 - 02:30 points of acting and dressing like a gentleman but Edward for all his fancy clothes was not much of a businessman in 1908 he was fired from a sales job he came home a completely broken man said Scott and he was a failure the rest of his days this experience left a deep impression on young Scott who resolved that he would never be a failure like his father [Music] fortunately his mother Molly Fitzgerald came from an affluent Saint Paul family
• 02:30 - 03:00 so the fitzgeralds were never quite destitute Molly would borrow money from her relatives to send Scott to All the Right prep schools but as a poor boy amongst a lot of Rich classmates young Scott always felt like an outsider until eventually he discovered that he had a special gift that would help him fit in he found it was easy for him to write poems and stories and plays where it was not easy for others even very bright young children
• 03:00 - 03:30 he was aware of this gift early on and then he used it to win acceptance all through prep schools got relished the attention he got from his classmates when his stories like this murder mystery appeared in the school paper he also wrote plays and staged big Productions he took the starring role and surrounded himself with people whom he wanted to be friends with so in the simplest and most direct way he found that he could write
• 03:30 - 04:00 the lines and all of these people he knew would follow his script it was like magic young Francis Scott Fitzgerald had found a way to impress people and win social acceptance from then on there was no question he would be a writer [Music] in 1913 Fitzgerald was accepted at Princeton an Ivy League college with a beautiful campus in New Jersey
• 04:00 - 04:30 before he had even arrived Scott worked out an elaborate fantasy he would be a big man on campus admired by all his classmates [Music] blinded by visions of Glory as soon as he got to Princeton Scott tried out for the football team but at just under five eight and 138 pounds he was far too small and was cut the very first day of practice [Music] headers got decided to stick with what
• 04:30 - 05:00 he did best so he wrote for the University's literary magazines and joined the Triangle Club Princeton's most prestigious theatrical group just as he had as a boy Fitzgerald used his writing skills to impress his peers he wrote lyrics for the group's musical comedies and cast himself as the star since Princeton was an all-male school it was expected that men play the female roles
• 05:00 - 05:30 but few looked as good dressed in drag as Scott did in this publicity photo which caused quite a sensation when it appeared around campus [Music] Fitzgerald was having a wonderful time writing musicals and partying with friends but even in college Scott showed early signs of a drinking problem his diary includes notes about getting so drunk he passed out at dinner he spent more time writing plays than
• 05:30 - 06:00 studying and was eventually placed on academic probation but rather than buckle down and study Scott went to a dance his sophomore year where he spotted a beautiful 16 year old debutante chennebra King was the top girl she was the one all the boys wanted to dance to the Stag line when she came by would sway in anticipation and one boy braver than the rest would go out and cut in Fitzgerald was Brave
• 06:00 - 06:30 and he set his cap for her Scott and Geneva dated for a time and exchanged love letters but Scott was supposedly told by Geneva's father that poor boys don't marry rich girls and she broke off the relationship she went on to someone more suitable to her social standing but the story which I think is probably true is that till the day he died he kept all the letters that she wrote to him wrapped up in a
• 06:30 - 07:00 little package with a ribbon tied around it to Fitzgerald Geneva would always represent the kind of golden girl who appeared later in his novels she was the one all the boys wanted but could never fully possess by junior year Scott was failing so many classes he decided to withdraw from Princeton as he wrote there were to be no Badges of pride no medals after all the young man who wanted so much to succeed had flunked out of school and failed at love he was feeling pretty
• 07:00 - 07:30 discouraged in 1917 when suddenly United States entered World War One and Fitzgerald happily headed off to boot camp and another chance at glory in June 1918 as the war to end all wars raged in Europe second Lieutenant F Scott Fitzgerald reported to Camp Sheridan in Montgomery Alabama just as in college he had dreamed of
• 07:30 - 08:00 being a big man Scott now imagined himself a war hero as he waited to be sent overseas God attended to dance at a local Country Club where he saw a young girl who as he said made everything inside him melt he was looking at 17 year old Zelda Sayer the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court Judge who often had that effect on men I don't think pictures of Zelda do her
• 08:00 - 08:30 justice I think she had an aura about her I mean that there was something about the way she dressed something right about the way she presented herself the people who knew her all say that she was just a beautiful woman that's something made Zelda one of the most sought after bells in the South as one rival recalled when Zelda Sayer came to dances the Birmingham girls just went on home but though Zelda came from a prominent
• 08:30 - 09:00 family she was not your typical Southern Belle for as everyone in Montgomery knew Zelda was wild when she was 10 she telephoned the fire department to say a child was stranded on the Sayer's roof then she climbed up there and waited to be saved at 17 she was already smoking drinking and driving men to distraction when Zelda was a young girl she loved diving off high platforms into the water she used to Delight in an outraging the the
• 09:00 - 09:30 expectations of of their Elders chaperones and dances he'd go buy him a flippered back skirts at him and then she was that kind of girl she knew how to have fun and she knew how she was that kind of girl she knew how to have fun and she knew how to flout convention Scott had found his Golden Girl the one all the other men wanted I fell in love he said with her courage her sincerity and her flaming self-respect
• 09:30 - 10:00 Zelda in turn enjoyed the attentions of this Dashing Young lieutenant in the uniform he bought at Brooks Brothers November 11 1918. Fitzgerald's regiment was about to leave for France when the Armistice was declared ending the war once again Scott had missed his chance at glory he would always consider his lack of combat experience one of the greatest regrets of his life
• 10:00 - 10:30 the moment Scott was discharged from the Army he proposed to Zelda and was thrilled when she accepted but before they could make it official Scott needed to get a job so he moved to New York City where he used his writing talent to get a job at an advertising agency writing copy for 35 a week Fitzgerald hated the work nevertheless he sent Zelda an exuberant Telegram [Music] darling heart ambition enthusiasm and confidence I declare everything glorious
• 10:30 - 11:00 I am in the land of ambition and success and my only hope is that you will be with me soon but Zelda was already having second thoughts thirty five dollars a week could hardly support the kind of Lifestyle she wanted so in June 1919 she broke off the engagement foreign Fitzgerald was so devastated he went on a three-week drinking binge until finally in a last-ditch effort to win back Zelda he returned to his
• 11:00 - 11:30 parents home in Saint Paul and began working on a book he'd begun drafting in college he moved into the third floor spare bedroom of his parents Row House on Summit Avenue he lived on nothing he had no money he borrowed a little here and there to buy cigarettes and he pinned the chapters of his novel to the curtains of the bedroom and he rewrote it in Great burst suit 16-hour days with his whole future riding on it Scott
• 11:30 - 12:00 sent the book off to a New York publisher and waited anxiously for a reply the postman rang the doorbell and he got the news that it had been accepted for publication and he ran out into the street and he stopped everyone he knew to tell them that the young man who had promised great things in the past had now delivered Scott's novel which he called this side of paradise was a highly romanticized
• 12:00 - 12:30 account of his college days in his beautifully lyrical style he captured the hopes and fears of his post-war generation here was a new generation shouting the old cries learning the old Creeds a generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success grown up to find all God's Dead all wars fought all faiths in man shaken
• 12:30 - 13:00 this side of paradise was released on March 26 1920 and by the end of the day it was completely sold out one of the reasons it was a big success is was considered very risque I mean people actually were saying here's a novel that exposes what our young people are doing today they're actually kissing and going to petting parties and of course he dared to write about that so there was a certain Sensational angle to it
• 13:00 - 13:30 the book was a runaway success and at 23 Scott was an instant celebrity at last he had achieved the kind of Fame he always dreamed of and best of all he could now marry Zelda for as he had hoped she changed her mind when she learned of his success April 3rd 1920 a week after this side of paradise was published Scott and Zelda were married in the rectory of Saint
• 13:30 - 14:00 Patrick's Cathedral in New York City they made a lovely couple the promising Young author and his beautiful bride they were happy and carefree eager to Take On The World America was riding high and so were the fitzgeralds it was a time of extravagance and self-indulgence Scott called it the Jazz Age and was hailed as its king and Zelda was crowned queen of
• 14:00 - 14:30 the flappers [Music] they were the toast of the town no party was complete without this glamorous pair supremely confident and often inebriated their crazy exploits are legendary like the time they rode on top of a taxi down Fifth Avenue and danced on the tables of the Waldorf Hotel the Fitzgerald's egged each other on they were both creative and daring and they knew very well what they were
• 14:30 - 15:00 doing they were creating a myth a myth that has continued to grow in ways that probably they couldn't have anticipated [Music] the fitzgeralds briefly interrupted their revelries in February 1921 when Zelda discovered she was pregnant [Music] their baby girl Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born on October 26 1921. as an only child Scotty as she was
• 15:00 - 15:30 called was showered with love my mother felt that she had a golden childhood some people felt sorry for him because she had a nanny but nannies were normal then so she was sheltered from some of the Antics and drinking and her father was imaginative about the things he did with her so I believe she probably did have a wonderful first 10 years but even Parenthood couldn't slow the fitzgeralds down they kept moving around never living in one place for more than
• 15:30 - 16:00 a year at a time to pay for their increasingly extravagant lifestyle Scott had to keep turning out work he wrote dozens of short stories for mass-market magazines like the Saturday evening post Esquire and red book which all paid him top dollar Fitzgerald saw it as easy money but he hated taking time away from what he considered his real work writing novels in March 1922 he published his second
• 16:00 - 16:30 novel The Beautiful and Damned the book which sold well charted the decline of a happy couple who drank and fought and finally self-destructed as Scott wrote things had been slipping perceptively there was the money question increasingly annoying increasingly ominous there was the realization that liquor had become a practical necessity to their amusement many of their friends thought the book reflected the downward drift of Scott and Zelda's own marriage
• 16:30 - 17:00 for by now they were living in Great Neck Long Island where they threw drunken parties that went on for days by 1924 their lives had become as Zelda described it very alcoholic and very chaotic they looked for a way out and finally in the spring of 1924 the fitzgeralds decided to move to Europe where Scott could concentrate on a new novel he had begun a book he was convinced would be his greatest Masterpiece he would call it the Great Gatsby
• 17:00 - 17:30 the French Riviera in the 1920s was home to a glittering crowd of artists and writers a Lost Generation of American expatriates escaping prohibition enjoying a place where the dollar was strong and life was easy [Music] Scott and Zelda seen here on the Riviera were soon caught up in a new Social Scene two of their closest friends were Gerald
• 17:30 - 18:00 and Sarah Murphy a fashionable American couple who knew everyone from Pablo Picasso to Cole Porter the Murphy's daughter hanoria was eight when she first met Zelda and Scott forward to the coming for dinner because I couldn't wait to see what Zelda would be wearing she was always very cheerful and gay she she might get up on a table and start
• 18:00 - 18:30 dancing apparently she did in a nightclub she got carried away the fitzgeralds often got carried away like the time Scott got drunk at a party at the Murphys and began tossing their highly prized crystal glasses Over the Garden Wall mother was quite upset and my father said this won't go or this will not do you may leave Scott and not come back for three weeks but my
• 18:30 - 19:00 mother and father never really got Furious you know they just got exasperated and they would worry about his drinking of course because they were so fond of them in July 1924 Fitzgerald finally settled down and began working in Earnest on The Great Gatsby it was a time-consuming process for whenever Scott worked on a novel he wrote many drafts of each chapter Cheryl's writing you get the sense that
• 19:00 - 19:30 he wrote in the same way that the birds sing that it came to him very naturally and that's not true that the birds sing that it came to him very naturally and that's not true his first drafts are often undistinguished and it was only through that laborious revision and the testing of the prose again and again against that marvelous ear that he had that he was able to achieve the beautiful effects that we so much admire him for
• 19:30 - 20:00 foreign busy scribbling away Zelda grew Restless she began spending long afternoons at the beach where she met a handsome French Aviator named eduard Jose in her four years of marriage Zelda had flirted with other men but he was the first she is said to have slept with Scott was terribly upset when he found out and though Zelda immediately ended the affair he never forgave her betrayal
• 20:00 - 20:30 he seems to have felt that he and Zelda had a contract somehow or an understanding that though she might be attractive to other men that she would never allow herself actually to become involved with one but this had happened and it created a sort of sadness in Fitzgerald that he never really recovered from still reeling from the joseon affair the fitzgeralds went to Paris in the spring of 1925 for the publication of The Great
• 20:30 - 21:00 Gatsby a book that was later made into a big multi-million dollar movie [Music] the story was set in Long Island at the height of the Roaring Twenties Jay Gatsby the hero was a man trying to recapture his past and win the love of wealthy beautiful Daisy Buchanan the Golden Girl of his dreams as with so many of his Works Fitzgerald Incorporated his own yearnings and lost
• 21:00 - 21:30 hopes Into The Great Gatsby why didn't you wait for me because rich girls don't marry poor boys dick Gatsby word it was don't marry Poor Boys Fitzgerald had such high hopes for his new novel he was deeply disappointed when it failed to sell as well as his
• 21:30 - 22:00 first two novels I Gatsby when it came out did not get great reviews uh it got some good reviews but it was a slightly different story I mean there were deaths there was a murder these were not the things that Scott Fitzgerald was supposed to write about just two weeks after The Great Gatsby was published Scott was sitting in a bar in Paris when he met another up-and-coming American writer named Ernest Hemingway almost immediately the two men became drinking buddies though there was always an edge to their friendship Hemingway
• 22:00 - 22:30 was a far more commercially successful writer in the 20s and 30s than Fitzgerald was on the other hand Hemingway I think envied Fitzgerald's style so they both envied in the other what they didn't have in themselves their rivalry was intense and Hemingway on more than one occasion would try to promote himself at Fitzgerald's expense like the time Hemingway at lunch with his editor and another writer named Mary Cullum started talking about his
• 22:30 - 23:00 fascination with rich people he said the rich are different from you and me and maricolam said Whitley yes they have more money and everyone laughed at this put down Hemingway then turned this entirely around had Fitzgerald say the first line and then had himself Hemingway say the good line yes they have more money
• 23:00 - 23:30 and made it into a sort of flag that was attached to Fitzgerald's shoe and that he never was able to get rid of this Canard that he was a kind of suck up to the rich October 29 1929 the U.S stock market crashed bringing an end to the high flying 20s Scott's Jazz Age was finished as he and
• 23:30 - 24:00 Zelda entered the worst phase of their lives for Scott the next few years were like a horrible nightmare as he watched Zelda gradually lose her mind the trouble began when she decided at 28 she wanted to be a professional ballet dancer she practiced for hours on end until finally she was hospitalized for nervous exhaustion after her release Zelda's mental state continued to deteriorate
• 24:00 - 24:30 her behavior became increasingly irrational reaching a crisis one day when she grabbed the wheel when Scott was driving and tried to steer them over a cliff this time doctors diagnosed her as schizophrenic over the next six years Scott would take his wife to a series of clinics desperately searching for a cure initially he probably didn't know how to react he didn't know what to do during the first period of her troubles we see
• 24:30 - 25:00 them groping around trying to find the best treatment for her but as the years went on I think he came to understand that she would never entirely be well or whole again some people later claimed that Zelda was merely eccentric not so said Scotty who visited her mother in the sanitariums my mother said it's the first day of visiting Zelda would be lucid and fun and Zelda would be and then within a day or two Zelda would get
• 25:00 - 25:30 vague and a kind of veil would come between them and my mother witnessed firsthand that Zelda was truly schizophrenic they're revisionists now who'd like to think that Zelda was misdiagnosed but my mother said but she was crazy throughout this difficult time Scott had been struggling with his fourth novel Tender Is the Night a book he spent nine years writing and revised 17 times the final version was made into a movie in 1962.
• 25:30 - 26:00 the story was about a psychiatrist named Dick Diver who marries one of his patients the very wealthy but mentally Disturbed Nicole the Brilliance the versatility of Madness Scott wrote is akin to the resourcefulness of water seeping over and around a dike it requires the united front of many people to work against it once again Fitzgerald had drawn on his own life for material
• 26:00 - 26:30 he was counting on tender as the night to restore his reputation and his bank account but the book released in April 1934 didn't sell it was the 1930s and the Depression had hit people weren't interested so much in hearing about people having parties and going to the Riviera because most of them couldn't even get a square meal and so in many ways the the subject matter was a little outdated [Music]
• 26:30 - 27:00 the failure of his latest novel was a tremendous setback for Fitzgerald who was trying to support his wife at expensive sanitariums this would have been difficult enough but Scott was now drinking more than ever it said he regularly consumed as much as 30 bottles of beer or a quart of gin a day he was an alcoholic who would go for long periods drinking very carefully would go for long dry periods
• 27:00 - 27:30 and then was capable of binges of drinking that he was helpless to bring to an end drinking that is that continued until the man had to be taken to a hospital and he was no longer sensate even at this low Point Fitzgerald used his pain as inspiration and continued to reflect his own life in his work in 1936 he wrote the crack up a
• 27:30 - 28:00 startling three-part series that ran in Esquire magazine in which he announced to the world that he was emotionally bankrupt my life looked like a hopeless mess there for a while Scott wrote and the point was I didn't want it to be better I had completely ceased to give a good God damn this public confession hurts Scott's reputation but the final blow came on his 40th birthday September 24 1936 when the New
• 28:00 - 28:30 York Post published a front page profile that depicted him as a pathetic has been who had squandered his talent [Music] but just when he hit rock bottom Fitzgerald got an offer from Metro Goldwyn Mayer to work as a screenwriter with renewed hope he left for the West Coast in the summer of 1937. ready to take on Hollywood [Music]
• 28:30 - 29:00 in the summer of 1937 when Scott arrived in Hollywood Shirley Temple was the top box office draw in the world and the movie industry was ruled by the big Stoops office draw in the world and the movie industry was ruled by the big studios which were turning out films in Greater quantities than ever to keep churning out movies the studios would assign different writers to work on the same script all of them competing for that most important measure of success a screen
• 29:00 - 29:30 credit Scott joined that assembly line when he was asked to rewrite a yank at Oxford a comedy about an American Road scholar and his adventures in England well I'm restraining myself as best I can but like so many films Fitzgerald would work on the script went through endless revisions and he did not end up with a screen credit on first arriving in Hollywood Scott
• 29:30 - 30:00 made an effort to curb his drinking when he did attend parties he would sit quietly in a corner drinking soda that's where Sheila Graham A young Hollywood gossip columnist first saw him my mother saw this ghostly looking man he was absolutely pale to sitting in under lamp smoking a cigarette and he was the palest shade of white she had ever seen but but rather fascinating looking there was something about about this man that really struck Her Imagination
• 30:00 - 30:30 Scott was also quite taken with Sheila who had beautiful green eyes and a lovely smile he asked her out on a date and though Scott was an older married man she couldn't resist his charm women loved him he was a very very Charming Man to women but men didn't like him actually I mean he was not a man's man in the way like you think of Ernest Hemingway he was not a man of business not he was not a man of the world in that kind of sense but but women found him very Charming
• 30:30 - 31:00 Scott and Sheila became a steady couple however Fitzgerald was Frank about the arrangement he was a married man and had no plans of divorcing Zelda the fact that he was having an affair with Sheila was another part of his lie but had nothing to do with his loyalty and Devotion to Zelda they had a communication that was rare among couples
• 31:00 - 31:30 of his love for Zelda Scott wrote it was one in a century life ended for me when Zelda and I crashed if she would get well I would be happy again and my soul would be released but Zelda now in a hospital in North Carolina showed no signs of getting better when her old friend Sarah and hanoria Murphy stopped in for a visit they found her in a sad state she had a very severe haircut and she had a black suit and a white blouse
• 31:30 - 32:00 and uh she had to make conversation and it was so sad to see my mother and her making conversation my mother would say do you remember the Hemingways and oh I think I do they were he was very nice or something she didn't really remember them and she was just out of it it was very sad to see in the fall of 1937 Fitzgerald was assigned to work on a film called three
• 32:00 - 32:30 comrades the movie was about three German officers who compete for the love of one week to what upon its release three comrades was hailed as one of the best films of 1938. great but Fitzgerald hated it he felt his script had been ruined by Joseph mankowitz the film's producer who rewrote much of the dialogue in a now famous letter Fitzgerald protested the changes for 19 years I've written best-selling entertainment and my
• 32:30 - 33:00 dialogue is supposedly right up at the top but I learned from the script that you've suddenly decided it isn't good oh Joe can't producers ever be wrong I'm a good writer honest three comrades was the first and last time Fitzgerald got a screen credit in December 1938 MGM did not renew his contract and he had to scramble for freelance work at one point he was brought in to polish
• 33:00 - 33:30 the dialogue of Gone With the Wind but David Selznick replaced him after just two weeks as he grew more frustrated Fitzgerald began to revert to his old pattern of drinking gin all day Sheila Graham who did not drink was appalled by his drunken Behavior my mother often described him as Dr chocolate Mr Hyde you know one minute here's This Charming Man uh quite fastidious about his his appearance as soon as he started drinking there'd be a
• 33:30 - 34:00 total change in personality Scott's drinking led to some terrible fights with Sheila fights that were depicted in a movie based on Sheila's autobiography starring Gregory Peck and Deborah Carr yeah they wrestled over a loaded gun screaming at each other horrible things finally she just had enough she actually
• 34:00 - 34:30 threw the gun across the room and said rather dramatically Fitzgerald was always so remorseful after these fights that Sheila forgave him [Music] but he was getting a bad reputation in Hollywood by 1939 he was lucky to get a job collaborating on a script with Bud schulberg a young writer who was
• 34:30 - 35:00 thrilled to be working with one of his idols I was enormously in awe of him I couldn't imagine that I'd be in the same room with Scott Fitzgerald much less being a paired with him as a fellow writer and I looked at him and my first impression of him was almost closely everything about him looked pale and Faded he seemed old seemed tired really Scott and Bud had been hired to write a
• 35:00 - 35:30 film about Dartmouth College's annual Winter Carnival on a fact-finding trip to the school schulberg was asked by the movie's director to watch Scott make sure he didn't drink we got in the winter carnival special I thought I was watching him but by this time Scott was really getting seriously smashed and he had with him a little bottle of gin I don't know where he found it but I was with him I thought we were practically in bed together I know where we found that damn gym eventually schulberg gave up and joined
• 35:30 - 36:00 Scott on his binge the film's director arrived to find his two Riders weaving their way through campus we were like two drunken falling down bums and he said I don't know what the next train out of here is but you two are going to be honored after getting fired no one wanted to hire Fitzgerald so in the fall of 1939 he went back to writing novels drawing on his latest experiences in Hollywood he began a book called The Last Tycoon
• 36:00 - 36:30 and though alcoholism had begun to take its toll on Scott's Health he was excited about his new project you read his letters to Zelda and to Scotty telling them how he's taken up with this book how it's like the old days again how every day he looks forward to sitting down and working on the Last Tycoon it breaks your heart to realize that this man only
• 36:30 - 37:00 has a few more months to live by October 1939 Fitzgerald was deeply engrossed in writing The Last Tycoon after his experience in Hollywood he was happy to be writing novels again but at 44 Scott was not in good health for years he had been abusing his body and in November he suffered a mild heart attack that frightened him so much he stopped drinking altogether
• 37:00 - 37:30 from that point on Scott seemed almost in a race to finish his novel December 21st 1940. Scott and Sheila Graham were enjoying a quiet afternoon together listening to classical music he suddenly stood up from the chair and grabbed the mantle piece and collapsed on the floor and my mother just rushed to him and thought that he had fainted
• 37:30 - 38:00 but the problem was far more serious Scott had suffered a massive heart attack the door was open and there he was frawed on the floor I didn't know what happened thought he had fainted moved closer and realized he was dead and it was an absolute shock F Scott Fitzgerald the man who came to symbolize the Jazz Age with its celebration of Youth was dead at the very young age of 44. his death came as
• 38:00 - 38:30 a terrible blow to his friends and family they're called because she wanted to talk to somebody who had been there so that she could believe that he was dead and that was terribly sad December 27 1940. F Scott Fitzgerald was buried in Union cemetery in Rockville Maryland where his father's family had lived few people came to his funeral not even Zelda who was too ill to travel
• 38:30 - 39:00 she would spend the next eight years in to travel she would spend the next eight years in and out of Mental Hospitals in March 1948 she was staying in the Highland Hospital in Asheville North Carolina when a fire broke out trapping nine female patients including Zelda all nine women perished in that midnight fire which was said to have been caused by faulty electrical wiring
• 39:00 - 39:30 it was a terrible end for Zelda who was only 48. she is now buried besides God in Rockville Maryland it's only fitting that this couple who went through so much together in life should rest in peace side by side the story of their marriage is one of the great love stories of our times I mean we should all be so lucky as to stay so in love through so many tragedies the tragedies were there but the love
• 39:30 - 40:00 survived it just before his death F Scott Fitzgerald wrote a letter to an aspiring writer warning the young man that the price for doing professional work was extremely high you've got to sell your heart your strongest reactions all his life it's Gerald had been doing just that using his life as material for his fiction after giving so much of himself it was hard for Scott to reach the end only to find his books no longer in
• 40:00 - 40:30 print and his name forgotten it wasn't until the 1950s that readers rediscovered his books and critics began to rank Fitzgerald among the best writers of his generation his books now sell hundreds of thousands of copies a year I think Gatsby alone sells over 300 000 copies a year it's probably among the most popular if you go by sales of any American novel over the years Fitzgerald's reputation
• 40:30 - 41:00 has continued to grow today his place among America's literary Legends is secure and he is widely admired by many modern writers I've been interested in Fitzgerald ever since I was a teenager and read his novel a Great Gatsby it taught me a lot and it fortified my own ambition to become a writer of affection it also taught me not to try to become a writer affection like Fitzgerald because he has a connection with the English language
• 41:00 - 41:30 which I knew even then I would not possess in my mind he stands out because he is not like Hemingway mailer some of the Bigfoot male authors that were his contemporaries he's got a different sensibility he's more interested in Love and Desire and domestic life and so for women writers he's an accessible male writer
• 41:30 - 42:00 as part of the continuing Rehabilitation of F Scott Fitzgerald's reputation in 1996 the country celebrated his 100th birthday commemorative stamps in his hometown of Saint Paul he was honored with a commemorative stamp along with F Scott Fitzgerald and hundreds of people turned out on a cold September day to see the unveiling of a life-size statue of their favorite son Scott Fitzgerald a man who wanted so
• 42:00 - 42:30 much to be a success is more famous today than he possibly could have dreamed and he was one of America's greatest dreamers he did not live to see himself immortalized but there are some who say he knew all along that he had left a lasting Legacy he knew at some very important place in his heart that this would happen someday he had he knew he was good he knew how good his books were he knew in a way as if they had been
• 42:30 - 43:00 written by somebody else he was a very cool assessor of his own work he did not believe that his bad work was good but he knew his good work was really good it was this tremendous faith in his own talent that enabled F Scott Fitzgerald to keep writing no matter how many personal tragedies he suffered I think there's a certain heroic quality of Scott Fitzgerald at the end that he really uh you know conquered his demons in many ways he really reached a you
• 43:00 - 43:30 know a hard-won maturity he redeemed himself the only way a writer can and that is through his own work at the end of his life he was fully and deeply engaged in the writing of a novel to which he was passionately committed and so he died in saddle with his boots on very much looking looking forward to uh
• 43:30 - 44:00 the future foreign [Music]
• 44:00 - 44:30 [Music] foreign