When it comes to the height of style in 1920's America, F. Scott Fitzgerald was the man. His writing, his relationships, his dress, and his lifestyle were all at the forefront of what the Jazz Age had to offer. Both observer and participant in the roaring days of the 1920's, Fitzgerald literally defined the times:
Early Years
Named Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald after Francis Scott, the author of the Star-Spangled Banner (and a second cousin thrice removed), he was born in 1896 to a Catholic family in St. Paul, Minnesota. That boy from an upper Midwest town would eventually come to coin the term "Jazz Age" - a time that today is looked upon as flamboyant, carefree, high-flying and bursting with style and energy.
Fitzgerald served in the army, studied at Princeton (though he didn't earn a degree), and got his start writing for the Saturday Evening Post and Vanity Fair. Writing stories for these publications wasn't his first love (that was novels), but they paid for at least some (he was deep in debt) of his lavish lifestyle.
Living Well
Living in homes from Long Island to the French Riviera, Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, led the way as Jazz Age trendsetters. They appeared much as the characters depicted in Fitzgerald's novels, from his first, This Side of Paradise, to his most heralded, The Great Gatsby. Indulgence and irreverance were the attitudes in his life and writing during what Fitzgerald called "a new generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken".
Fitzgerald ran with contemporaries who were the elite of the day. He was particularly dazzled by the wealthy American couple Gerald and Sara Murphy, so much so that they inspired the characters Dick and Nicole Diver in Tender Is The Night. They were the ultimate socialites and known for living and entertaining well.
The Party Goes On
After a lifelong battle with alcoholism and splitting from Zelda, who had long suffered from schizophrenia, Fitzgerald died in Hollywood in 1940 of a heart attack. It was only posthumously that his novel The Great Gatsby was recognized as the defining literary work of its time.
Fitzgerald's style, no matter how decadent beyond his reach, still reverberates today. He's celebrated as an American style icon who not only set the bar, but experienced it firsthand, observed it in others, and defined it for an era.
Other American Style Icons:
• Benjamin Franklin
• Mark Twain
• Ernest Hemingway
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
• Elizabeth Taylor
Images: Time Life Pictures/PBS, Aled Lewis, Estate of Honoria Murphy Donnelly/NY Mag, University of South Carolina, St. Paul Public Library, ,Encore Editions, Coralie Bickford-Smith, Ten East Read, Maison Kitsuné, Paramount/Everett/Rex Features via Brandish
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Comments (16)
While there are pics of Fitzgerald-related things, the article was not about design. It was a short biography of an American author.
I was disappointed and would really have liked a focus on design elements of the age (perhaps something I've never heard or something put in an interesting context).
Tell me something I don't know.
And why not mention his actual residences; for example the home on Summit Ave in St. Paul that is on the National Register?
@ronsmom All "Style Icon" posts are written like this. That's how they work. If you're looking for more than that, check out the "Gatsby bathroom" post from last year:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/black-and-white-and-read-in-the-loo-111024
Or pick up a copy of something Fitzgerald wrote. That's the idea.
I love that F. Scott Fitzgerald is getting attention here. He surely left his mark on my home town of St. Paul, Minnesota. As a child, he moved every couple of years around in the same neighborhood, and there are walking tours of the area that go past where he lived. It's pretty fascinating seeing the design of the places he grew up echoed in books like "The Great Gatsby."
An interesting place for Fitzgerald enthusiasts is the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald House in Montgomery, Ala. They lived there for a time, and the house (on Felder Ave) is a museum. It's in Cloverdale, one of the oldest neighborhoods; the house is huge, wood-shingled, and painted brown. I never went, but loved the house from the street. It's also across from a huge brick apartment building from the early 20th century that has, among other things, turrets. A fountain across the street from the home (walking toward Cloverdale Park, which is magnificent) is dedicated to Zelda.
Zelda was a writer in her own right, and died in an asylum in Asheville, NC. The Fitzgeralds lived there, also.
If you're looking for the I WANT TO F. SCOTT FITZGERALD shirt, you can find it at http://teneastread.com :)
Interesting post. I just saw Midnight in Paris and although I expected something more out of it, I found this relevant and interesting.
Great post
thanks Lerche! that was my favorite part of this post.
Loved it, almost as much as Fitzgerald himself :]
I love that book cover! Where can I find that exact book with that cover?
The Long Island house said to be the inspiration for Gatsby's house has been demolished.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/04/last-gasp-of-the-gatsby-house.html
Zelda and Francis are depicted quite nicely in Woody Allen's latest film Midnight in Paris along with some other icons of the 20s. Kathy Bates does a good job playing Gertrude Stein too!
If you want to read a great biography about the Fitzgeralds, pick up "Zelda" by Nancy Mitford. Scott and Zelda were very tragic characters. By the time he died in North Hollywood, he could no longer find his own books in print. "Beloved Infidel: The Education of a Woman" is a good book about Scott's later life in Hollywood, written by his girlfriend, gossip columnist, Sheila Graham.
I think Scott would have greatly appreciated the typo "FIZGERALD" and articles about style icons are always appropriate here.
Can't wait to see "Midnight in Paris", jroo and thanks for the book recommendations "LA Margarita".
In fact, I think "FIZGERALD" would make a great name for a cocktail.
@brittjfox
I think you can find a few of those books in the picture on amazon..
I searched bickford smith to find the right covers :)