Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, the woman that is known by only her first name and her reputation as the life of the party. Like many of the ladies we talk about each week on La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway there was much more to her than just the image that remains.
Zelda was born in Montgomery Alabama on January 24, 1900, the youngest child of Minnie and Anthony who served on the supreme court of Alabama. A conservation family that was not for the strong willed Zelda.
Studying ballet from an early age it was the only thing she did that pleased her parents. She later decided she was more interested in spending her days drinking, smoking and being adored by all the boys. Always pushing her boundaries she would swim in a skin tight nude colored swimsuit causing the town to think she was skinny dipping. Girls were to be quiet and pretty and Zelda wanted none of that.
In July 1918 at a country club dance she met F. Scott Fitzgerald who was stationed at Camp Sheridan outside of Montgomery. He was instantly attracted to her and would visit her as soon as he had a day off. With dreams of becoming a famous author, F. Scott would use Zelda as his inspiration for his main character in This Side of Paradise.
However, F. Scott wouldn’t stop there with his “inspiration”. Zelda was a beautiful writer and sent him letters filled with flowery descriptions. F. Scott would pull entire pieces of her letters and diary and use them in his book. It was something he never stopped doing.
F. Scott wanted to marry her, but she wouldn’t until he became a published author. With This Side of Paradise with his editor, he pleaded with him to publish it as fast as possible. On March 26, 1920 it was published and four days later Zelda was on a train to New York and they married on April 3, 1920.
The toast of the town, they were at every party in New York and held endless parties in their suite at the Biltmore Hotel until they were kicked out. The party just moved to the Commodore Hotel until they also were tired of their extravagant ways. The parties ended in February 1921 when Zelda discovered she was pregnant and they returned to St Paul Minnesota to be closer to his family. Francis “Scottie” Fitzgerald was born on October 26, 1921 and a few years later they set off for Europe. Arriving in Paris they quickly moved down to Antibes where F. Scott worked on The Great Gatsby. While Zelda practiced her ballet and spent days on the beach and met a handsome pilot Edouard Julan. She was tired of being ignored by F. Scott and asked him for a divorce, he answered by locking her in a room until she got over it.
In April 1930 Zelda was diagnosed with schizophrenia and would spend over a year in a Swiss hospital. Returning to Alabama to see her ailing father she would remain with her daughter while F. Scott left for Hollywood.
F. Scott would die on December 21, 1940 and neither Zelda or Scottie would attend. Her last years were spent in and out of psychiatric hospitals and on March 10, 1948 she died in a fire locked in her room before she was to have electroshock therapy. Few cared at the time she and F. Scott died, but today their lives are those of legends.
F. Scott and Zelda, just their names paint a picture of life in the 1920’s with plenty of champagne straight from the pages of his most famous book, The Great Gatsby. However their marriage was far from it. F. Scott took her writing as his own in every book he wrote but would later blame her for ruining him and cheating him of his dream. I don’t think we ever would have a F. Scott Fitzgerald without a Zelda, a fact that is quickly overlooked.
Listen to her full story on our newest episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway
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