LoginOctober 2023 Notable Maryland Author - F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald
Author: F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald
Genre: Fiction
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
(Written by Christopher T. George) He was an imaginative and ambitious Midwest writer kid from St. Paul, Minnesota born to an established Rockville, Maryland family. She was a Southern belle from Montgomery, Alabama, the daughter of a judge. Artistic like Scott, she had aspirations to become a ballerina, painter, and even a professional novelist like her husband. They met when he was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army in World War I, sent to a training camp in Alabama but destined never to be sent overseas to see action in a war zone. They would marry and have one child, a girl named Scottie. In a brilliant if erratic trajectory like a skyrocket, he shot to fame as a novelist and short story writer. He became the great chronicler of the Jazz Age, writing such classics as The Great Gatsby and The Beautiful and the Damned. Both Fitzgeralds had a special fascination with the rich such as the fictional shady Jay Gatsby and Tom and Daisy Buchanan.
Born on September 24, 1896 to a middle-class Catholic family, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was named after his distant cousin, Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics for the song that in 1931 became our national anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner" about the September 1814 British bombardment of Fort McHenry, Baltimore which Key witnessed from a ship in the Patapsco River. Rampant alcoholism would impair Scott’s career while Zelda wrestled with mental difficulties—although in 1932 she succeeded in publishing a novel of her own, Save Me the Waltz.
Fitzgerald described the Jazz Age as racing "along under its own power, served by great filling stations full of money." In his view, the era represented a morally permissive time when Americans became disillusioned with prevailing social norms and became obsessed with self-gratification. Given what was going on around them in Manhattan, alcohol fueled the Fitzgeralds’ life as they consumed gin and fruit cocktails. Privately it led to bitter quarrels.
By the 1930s, Zelda had been in and out of psychiatric facilities, and her husband was stalled writing his next work; he had not produced a novel since Gatsby (1925). After an episode of hysteria, Zelda was admitted on February 12, 1932 to Phipps Clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore. As part of her recovery, she spent at least two hours a day writing. When she was institutionalized at Shepherd Pratt Hospital in Towson, he rented “La Paix,” a country house owned by the Turnbull family which stood where the power plant for St. Joseph’s Hospital on Osler Drive now stands. At this time, Scott wrote magazine stories to pay for Zelda’s psychiatric treatment. Later they moved to 1307 Park Avenue in Bolton Hill, Baltimore. During his time there, in 1934, Fitzgerald completed Tender Is the Night.
Scott predeceased her, passing away on December 21, 1940 at age 44, struggling to make it as a scriptwriter in Hollywood. While he was able to write about Hollywood (cf., his last, incomplete novel The Last Tycoon), he wasn’t adept at producing the nifty scripts directors wanted. Just over eight years later, Zelda died tragically in a fire at an Asheville, North Carolina mental asylum on March 10, 1948 aged 47 years.
The couple’s final resting place is in Old Saint Mary's Catholic Church Cemetery, Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland. For more information, go to https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/344/f-scott-fitzgerald.
Genre: Fiction – Fiction refers to a story that comes from a writer’s imagination, as opposed to one based strictly on fact or a true story. In the literary world, a work of fiction can refer to a short story, novella, and novel, which is the longest form of literary prose. Every work of fiction falls into a sub-genre, each with its own style, tone, elements, and storytelling devices.
Sample Reading List: The Great Gatsby; The Beautiful and the Damned; Save Me the Waltz; Tender Is the Night; The Last Tycoon.
Fun With Words - Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) invites you to have fun being a writer reveling in the Jazz age like F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Using up to 100 words, set two characters, in the Jazz Age, who are morally permissive and obsessed with self-gratification. Title your work and submit to: https://marylandwriters.org/Notable_Maryland_Authors by the 22nd of the month to receive an MWA Fun With Words submission certificate. Selected responses will be published with next months article and on the MWA Website.
Last month we asked writers to have fun being a biased historian like John Thomas Scharf. We asked them, using up to 100 words, to pick an American historical event or time-period and use newspaper sources to describe the event while inadvertently letting your bias about the event show. Their responses are posted on the MWA Website as comments to the John Thomas Scharf article. The MWA is a 31-year-old state-wide association (501c3) dedicated to encouraging and mentoring Maryland writers, poets, playwrights, and authors. Go to www.MarylandWriters.org for more info.
Lori Joseph
Jan. 22, 2024Uninhibited - Like a Peacock,/ he strutted through the lobby corridor/ towards the beauty/ offering to ignite her/ cigarette held in ebony./// They marveled at the abstract paintings on display/ while Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five/ filled the air with Jazz./// Smooth and confident/ he leaned in to kiss her neck / adorned with diamonds and pearls,/ just as she turned to speak,/ their lips met./// Expressionism willed them to the dance floor,/ to where the world vanished.///
Ken Stepanuk
Nov. 3, 2023Roaring Ponzi Patsies - Lilith and Edward Balfort, roaring twenties divas, traveled weekends as first class steamship guests to the Chesapeake Beach Maryland resort. The rest of the week they were dead broke. The 1920s were times of haves and have nots. Eddie wanted to be a have, and everyone was looking for the next get rich quick scheme. Eddie was a natural schemer. Dressed in latest fashion they played their onboard roles flawlessly. Speaking, within earshot of affluent looking couples, they discussed their newfound wealth never divulging its source, but collected eagerly offered investment money; cautioning past performance does not guarantee future returns.
Beth Smith
Nov. 3, 2023Fountain Play - Sally’s wet dress clung to her body. She was cold. Jumping into the plaza fountain was Blake’s idea and sounded grand after sitting in the sun and toasting each other with a magnum of champagne. Now Blake, all dry and very drunk, laughed at her from the fountain’s edge. A crowd gathered. “Come out, darling,” he slurred. “Let’s shop for diamonds.” Sally loved diamonds. She struggled in the water. “Wait,” yelled Blake. “I’m coming to save you.” He leaned down to untie his expensive two-toned Oxfords and toppled into the fountain. The crowd laughed. The approaching gendarme was not amused.
Viola Robinson-Boone
Nov. 3, 2023A Jazzy Life - “You’re not gonna find a husband stuck in the house all the time?” “I want a church-going man. Not somebody from that club you work in.” “Shame on you, Velma. South Street Jazz is the best club in Philly. I make enough to support Mable.” “My brother, a pastor, drinking, smoking, and singing that filthy jazz. It’s sinful.” “Pastoring ain’t bringing in too much money. I turned to what I do best, singing.” “You lied to momma before she died!” “You’re not in backwoods Suffolk anymore. It’s 1923. How do you think I met Mable? The club is our life.”
Kathleen Mikos
Nov. 3, 2023Ain’t We Got Fun - Irene giggles as the champagne sloshes over the rim of her glass. She spins and twirls on one red T-strapped shoe while the band blares a syncopated rhythm. Ned shouts, “Whoa, Nene, you’ve had too much! “Too much? Not enough! Too this, too that, too, too, tootsie, goodbye. Toot, toot, Tootsie, don’t cry.” Ned grabs her silken waist and hitches her over his right hip, then up and over his left. Black beads slap her thighs. Pomade drips down Ned’s neck. Toes in, toes out, high kick, touch the floor. “You’re the Cat’s Pajamas!” “And you’re the Bees Knees, Nene!”
Lawrence McGuire
Nov. 3, 2023PULL AND PUSH - Devlin Picaro rushed from the New Year's Eve party in the hothouse ballroom of the SS Desiree in search of the blonde angel in a silver gown. He found his angel staring over the aft rail at three sharks following the Baltimore liner's moon-silvered wake. Her name, she said, was Rue Malian. She asked if he believed such an omen predicted a passenger's death. He sensed her game. He wanted to play. She spidered her fingers up his shirt. "Let's find someone in that ballroom who--" "Won't be missed," Devlin said. Together, they stalked toward ballroom doors thumping with jazz.
Penny Knobel-Besa
Nov. 3, 2023All That Jazz - Joplin’s incredible Maple Leaf Rag enflamed her; it was impossible not to move. She had heard enough of the wife at the next table complaining. She grabbed the suitcoat of the gent who looked startled at first, “Wanna dance?” she slurred. He broke into a grin when he saw her flapper’s dress. She stopped for a moment pushing her husband over to the wife saying “Try your luck over there dear. I’ll see you in the morning.” Off they danced glowing from the slow gin fizz until she led him out to the darken lounge to snuggle.
Jon Hillbilly Anthology Ketzner
Nov. 3, 2023Sharman and Billy - “ Billy, that was too much fun!” Sharman sprawled across the expansive counterpane. Sly, swell-dressed boulevardiers, including Billy, had flask-spiked the Owl Bar punch. Sharman had sipped and sipped. “Time for a bubble-bath. Join me. Bring champagne.” Sharman disappeared, a swirl of gossamerated chiffon. Rowe collected flutes and champagne he’d ordered to abate Sharman’s melancholy, alcoholic palliatives only permitted under Prohibition. The Belvedere obliged discreetly. Stepping into the bathing salon, Billy found Sharman serene and supine as bubbles engulfed her loveliness. He smiled. “I’m no expert but I believe most folks undress before bubble-bathing.” “Oh, Billy, I can’t think of everything.”
Cindy Herndon
Nov. 3, 2023No Tinted Windows in the 20s - “Let’s go for a drive, doll. I got a fine car with a backseat. We could watch the moonrise. What do ya say?” Anna smiled. They took his Model A and headed to a park. “Which way will the moon rise?” “To your left…where the trees are.” “Then move the car so I can see it.” “We have time to kill before it comes up. Come closer, doll.” “Move the car first.” With the car 50 feet into the middle of a field, he started kissing her. Suddenly, a policeman tapped the window with his flashlight. “Not on my beat!”
Jim Coleman
Nov. 3, 2023Be Careful What You Wish For - 1928 - five more years until prohibition would be repealed as a miserable failure, so here he sat in a dingy speakeasy guzzling bathtub gin from a teacup, chatting up a leggy blonde, and listening to Duke Ellington on the radio. The blonde leaned in, her boozy breath hot on his neck. "Got a car, honey?" "Only a new Packard Twin Six" "Well, let's go", she purred. He had once joked to a friend that he'd like to live to 100, then be shot by a jealous husband. This night would see him achieve one of those goals.
Doris Brady
Nov. 3, 2023Dance Lessons - It was another night out for Maizie and her beau, Jeffrey. They could hardly hear each other talk with Duke Ellington’s band blasting away at the Cotton Club. They headed for their table where Maizie lit a cigarette. “My father would be quite scandalized!” she yelled above the din. “And my dress cost a small fortune.” Jeffrey winked at her. “You look great in it, honey. My kinda gal!” “Thanks, sweetie. Now get me another gin & tonic, pretty please.” “After one more dance!” It was 1924. Another five years would see the demise of the Jazz Age.
Steve Baker
Nov. 3, 2023ANYTHING WENT - The 1800s were yesterday's news! Crazy stuff was happening! Machines were flying! People were talking through wires! Candlemakers were out of work! It was time for men to crank up their horseless carriages! It was time for gals to hike up their skirts and show the world some ankle! It was time for a hip-cat, blues musician named "Notorious D.O.A." to meet a righteous-sister, ragtime-doll named Diana Moss. These two combined their melodies and ushered in the Jazz Age with a new group called "Jefferson Steam-Train." Their goal: Have more fun than a barrel full of flappers before the fulfilled prophesy of Yanni and Enya ushered in the age of Mazak