22. Missed It by That Much!
When Fitzgerald dropped out of Princeton, he enlisted as a 2nd lieutenant in the US army. He was pretty freaked out about the high chances of dying on the battlefield, so he wrote up a storm hoping to secure his legacy in case of his early death. The irony of all of that was that by the time he enlisted, the war was practically over, and the truce was declared just before he was due to be shipped overseas. On the bright side, the writing time wasn’t wasted. He managed to complete a manuscript for an unpublished novel called The Romantic Egoist which he later turned into his hit novel This Side of Paradise.
Z: The Beginning of Everything (2015–2017), Amazon Studios
21. Six Degrees
One of Fitzgerald’s more infamous family connections was his first cousin once removed Mary Surratt. If you’re drawing a blank on why you recognize her name, she was hanged in 1865 for conspiring in Lincoln’s assassination. In the 2010 film The Conspirator, Surratt was played by Robin Wright, who was directed by none other than Robert Redford—who happened to play Jay Gatsby in the 1974 film. That connects F Scott Fitzgerald to Robert Redford, who is connected to… Well you get the idea.
The Conspirator (2010), The American Film Company
20. Wannabe Poet
Before finding his niche as a novelist, Fitzgerald had aspirations of being the next great American poet. He wrote a bunch of poems while he was at Princeton, and continued to write them while waiting to be called into battle. However, the army atmosphere wasn’t inspiring his poetic juices, so he turned to novel-writing instead.
19. Double Unlucky
Four months before dying of heart failure, Fitzgerald received a royalty cheque for the unluckiest amount of money there is: $13.13. If only they could have rounded it up a penny, maybe his luck would have turned for the better!
18. A Different Direction
After the publication of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald turned his attentions to writing a "social novel" (a novel that highlights social problems of the time) with a matricide at the center. Unfortunately, his constant need for money and one of Zelda’s breakdowns prevented him from ever finishing more than four chapters.
Z: The Beginning of Everything (2015–2017), Amazon Studios
17. Meeting His Love
While it’s true that Scott and Zelda had a pretty tricky relationship, Zelda really was his first and one true love. He met her while stationed in Camp Sheridan, Alabama during the war (she was the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court Judge). They fell in love and he proposed, but she broke off the engagement when the war ended, convinced that he wouldn’t be able to properly support her working as a writer.
Z: The Beginning of Everything (2015–2017), Amazon Studios
16. The Lost Generation
In the aftermath of WWI, the young men returning from the war were lost and disillusioned, many losing faith in traditional pre-war values. Gertrude Stein coined the term “The Lost Generation” in reference to a statement she overheard at a garage, referring to a lack of drive and ambition in the 20 and 30 somethings of the day. In literature, the term refers to men and women such as TS Eliot, Fitzgerald, Stein herself and Hemingway, who were all writers of that generation.
15. Americans in Paris
Between the 1920s and 30s, many American writers moved (at least temporarily) to Europe. Fitzgerald was no exception and moved back and forth between the US and Europe several times throughout that time. While in Europe, he happily befriended several other ex-pat authors and famously said “The American in Paris is the best American.” OK, settle down Scott.
14. Famous Cover
The original cover of The Great Gatsby was designed by Francis Cugat, who later ended up designing for Douglas Fairbanks. Fitzgerald was so enamored with the art that he revised portions of the novel to better integrate the artwork.
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13. Female Inspiration
The beautiful and unpredictable flapper girls that Fitzgerald depicted in his novels were essentially modeled on Zelda. She smoked and drank in public, made off-color jokes, and could not only paint, she could also dance and write. Not that Fitzgerald would admit that last one.
Z: The Beginning of Everything (2015–2017), Amazon Studios
12. I Wonder…
Drunk ideas are seldom the best or the smartest ideas, and Fitzgerald was living proof of this. While drunk (because who would come up with this sober), he and a buddy got the brilliant idea to tie a bartender to a chair and see if they could saw him in half. Thankfully, the police arrived in time to save him from a pretty gruesome end.
Z: The Beginning of Everything (2015–2017), Amazon Studios
11. Uses for Turkey
Fitzgerald was big into keeping lists when he wasn’t writing novels and stories, and one of these was an essay detailing thirteen hilarious ways to use leftover turkey. One idea, the turkey cocktail, involved adding a substantial amount of vermouth and bitters to the turkey and making an drink that, if not delicious, would at least allow you to better deal with your relatives!
10. Charting his Life
Many new parents like to keep a baby book of notable firsts such as walking and talking, but Fitzgerald kept a life book, which he detailed in a large, leather-bound business ledger. Most of the book was a record of his published works and income, but another section called “Outline Chart of My Life” is literally a month-by-month account of everything from his first word, to his height at age 13, to when he met and fell in love with Zelda.
9. Parallel Lives
Zelda’s struggles with mental illness are well-documented, and they had a major impact on Fitzgerald’s own mental and emotional state. His channels his experiences with her suicide attempt and battles with schizophrenia through the character of American expat Dick River in his novel Tender is the Night.
8. A Final Affair
Gossip columnist Sheilah Graham rose to fame through her Hollywood gossip column “Hollywood Today,” and she had the power to make and break careers. She was also known for her somewhat scandalous love affair with Fitzgerald. They met in summer of 1937 and she claims to have fallen immediately in love. Despite his still being married to Zelda (she was hospitalized at the time), he shacked up with her in her West Hollywood apartment where they lived for just over three years until his death. Graham wrote the book Beloved Infidel about her time with Fitzgerald, and according to her daughter, Graham never got over him.
Getty Images
7. Willfully Blind
With parents like Scott and Zelda, it’s not hard to believe that their daughter and only child Frances "Scottie" Fitzgerald’ had her own tragic story. Constantly being dragged from place to place when her parents moved, and largely under the care of nannies, Scottie was pretty much ignored by her parents. She also spent most of her life living in denial about her parents’ conditions, deliberately ignoring what she didn’t want to see.
6. Autobiographical Diary
Throughout her life, Scottie Fitzgerald avoided talking about her parents or her childhood (can you blame her?), but shortly before her death she started writing an autobiographical diary to leave to her children. Her daughter Eleanor later took those 74 typed pages along with information gathered from letters, journals, newspaper clippings and friends, and wrote a biography of her mother titled Scottie, the Daughter of...: The Life of Frances Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan Smith (1995).
5. Love Depends on it!
After Zelda broke off their engagement, Fitzgerald returned home to St. Paul Minnesota to rewrite This Side of Paradise—the book that he hoped would tell the story of his generation. When Scribner accepted the book for publication, he asked them to move up the publication date to an earlier day, explaining “I have so many things dependent on its success, including, of course, a girl!”
Z: The Beginning of Everything (2015–2017), Amazon Studios
4. A Match Made in Heaven?
So yes, Zelda Fitzgerald’s marriage to F. Scott was the textbook definition of toxic relationship. They were both alcoholics, they were mutually unfaithful, she accused him of having a gay relationship with Ernest Hemingway, and she had multiple nervous breakdowns, eventually being diagnosed with schizophrenia. All of this only got worse as the years wore on, and they were estranged at the time of his death.
Z: The Beginning of Everything (2015–2017), Amazon Studios
3. Party People
Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald were known for their extreme partying, and while staying at the Hotel de Saint-James at D’Albany Paris, they left quite an impression. Fitzgerald left a pretty strong-smelling goatskin in the room, and Zelda tied the elevator to their floor with her belt so she wouldn’t ever have to wait for it. Needless to say, they got kicked out of the hotel and later complained that they found Paris rather boring because they didn’t know anybody there.
Z: The Beginning of Everything (2015–2017), Amazon Studios
2. Contributions Deleted
During his time as a screenwriter, Fitzgerald actually did some of the rewrites for Gone with the Wind, but was forbidden to use any words that weren’t originally in Margaret Mitchell’s book. That would have been a challenge!
1. Too Little, Too Late
Six months after the publication of The Great Gatsby, the book had only sold a disappointing 20,000 copies. Fitzgerald and his editor Max Perkins had both expected greater sales from the book, and the remaining 75,000 copies were boxed up and stashed in a warehouse. Fitzgerald went to his grave thinking that he was irrelevant and forgotten, but since the 1950s, it has become the publisher’s bestselling title and boasts sales of more than 25 million around the world.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
