The Legend of Zelda, Part 2

Life in France and Obsession(1924-1929)

After arriving in France in the Spring of 1924, the Fitzgeralds settled on the French Rivera for their new home. While Scott starting work on the "The Great Gatsby", Zelda started up an affair. The man was named Edouard Jozan, who was a pilot.

Zelda was in love with Jozan. She would spend almost all her time with him. Weither she was swimming in the river or dancing at casinos. Zelda was with him. If this bother Scott, it did not happen right away. But when it must have when Zelda demand a divorce.

About six or seven weeks into their affair Zelda knew she had married the wrong man and demanded a divorce from Scott. For his part, Scott wanted to confront Jozan, but decide instead to lock Zelda in their house instead.

Its reported that Jozan had no idea that Zelda asked for a divorce and left France. Zelda abandoned her request for divorce. The Fitzgeralds never spoke of or saw Jozan again. After the affair the Fitzgeralds kept up appearances with their friends, as a happy couple.

The happiness was only a front for Zelda, who would overdose on sleeping pills in September 1924. After getting Zelda medical attention, Scott never asked if it was a suicide attempt. And if anyone knew it, it was only Zelda, herself.

By the end of 1924, Scott returned working on "The Great Gatsby", completing it. During this time, Zelda spent most of her time with Scottie and her nanny. Scott fretted over the name of his new novel. He wanted to call it "The High-bouncing Lover". It was actually Zelda who suggested "The Great Gatsby".

They agreed they need time to celebrated and went to Rome. There, the Fitzgeralds, appeared unhappy and unhealthy. Friends were worried. Scott became ill with colitis. During this stay is when Zelda started to paint again.

In April 1925 Scott met upcoming author Ernest Hemingway and the two hit off. Zelda and Hemingway deeply loathed one and other from the moment they met. Zelda would often call him "The Bogus" and would say "He's a phoney as a rubber cheek.".

Zelda felt Hemingway's macho persona was fake and Hemingway told Scott, Zelda was a complete nut job and that he should divorce her. However it was through Ernest Hemingway that they met people such as Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Robert McAlmon and many others.

In early 1926, Zelda found condoms, Scott had hid and a bitter fight ensued. Scott stopped sleeping with Zelda when she accused him of having an affair with Hemingway. She told everyone that Scott was a fairy. Their is no proof of Zelda's words ever being true.

Shortly after their fight, that Scott slept with a prostitute. Zelda, who had a deep and passionate love affair with Jozan, became deeply jealous. She would make scenes when Scott woud leave on his own business. During a party she caught Scott talking to famous dancer, Isadora Duncan. Zelda became so jealous and upset Scott wasn't pay any attention to her, she threw herself down a flight of marbel stairs.

Scott used a lot of Zelda's words and writings in his own work, whenever she would try and get his attetion while working they would have blow out fights. Their marriage was sad to watch. Scott was starting to become severe alcoholic, Zelda's behavior was becoming noticably erratic and strange. Once during a fit of hysteria, Zelda had to be given morphine to settle down.

In 1927, Zelda decided to take up ballet again. She so badly want to be known for something she did herself and nothing to do with her name as "Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald". Her talents varied from friend to friend. But all could agree that Zelda did have some talent. Scott considered her ballet interest as a complete waste of time.

Although she had a few classes with Madame Egorova, director for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes. Zelda would practise when she did not have classes with Egorova. So much that Scott changed studies due to Zelda's obsessive dancing. Zelda would get up at 5am, have a small breakfest and dance non-stop until dinnertime. Sometimes she would not eat at all and only dance until midnight.

Egorova felt that a dancer at Zelda's age was to old to be a first-rate dancer. Zelda once described her obsession as an effort to “drive the devils that had driven her…in proving herself she would achieve that peace which she imagined went only in surety of one’s self.”.

By 1929, Zelda was invited to join the ballet school of the San Carlo Opera Ballet Company in Naples, but close as this was to the success she desired, she declined, thinking she would be recongized as great ballerina. Scott told her it was all in her head.

Her marriage to Scott was strained more then ever during this time and were often fighting and unable to stand one and other. Friends were not inviting them to parties anymore and when they would, the Fitzgerald would be a complete embarassment with their antics. Scott and Zelda were falling apart.

Save Me the Waltz
(1930-1932)

As 1930 started, Zelda's behavour was bizarre and odd. By Spring she begun to believe people were going to harm her if she was alone in the streets and would have Scottie's nanny or the maid go with her shopping.

By April, she thought she could hear flowers talking to her. One afternoon, while having tea with friends, Zelda became so upset stating she was late for a ballet class with Egorova. Worried, Scott had a friend go with her. Zelda jumped out the taxi, she and the friend took, she was hysterical running down the streets screaming. The friend called Scott, who called a Doctor.

Zelda, who again was given morphine, was admitted to a local sanatorium for hysteria. While being treated there, Scott paid for the best medical care for her. After months of interviewing Zelda, her two psychiatrist could agree on what was wrong with her. Zelda had schizophrenia.

She was finally released from Pragins, in September 1931. During this time Judge Sayre was ill and dying. So the Fitzgeralds returned to Montgomery, Alabama. Shortly after arriving Judge Sayre passed away. While she was griving her fathers loss, Scott announced that he was leaving for Hollywood to do some work. Zelda's health deteriorated.

In Feburary 1932, Zelda returned to living in a psychiatric clinic. While being treated there, Zelda had a burst of creativy. Told she could no longer dance, put enegry into something else. The first six weeks of being in the hospital, Zelda wrote a novel. She had it sent to Scott's publisher, Maxwell Perkins.

Perkins, sent the novel to Scott, who was livid with Zelda. The book was a semi-autobiographical account of Zelda's life and of course, the Fitzgeralds marriage. Scott berated her writing skills as amaturstic, "A third-rate writer". Scott was writing another novel and wanted to use some material for his story. Zelda, had more right using her life story then her husband. Scott forgot this.

After revising the novel and settling on a name for it. "Save Me the Waltz" was released in early October 1932. The story was about Alabama Beggs, who falls in love with a painter named David Knight. They gain fame, crashed and burn, much like the Fitzgeralds. Zelda the writer, had her own unique style, which many would praise her for.

However in 1932, the Great Depression was strong and "Save Me the Waltz" sold only 1,392 copies, for which she earned $120.73. Scott went as far as to call his wife's work as "plagiaristic" and told Zelda, she had no talent as a writer. Overall Zelda never completed another novel again.

I Am A Salamander(1933-1940)

Zelda's life after the failure of her only novel, she spent most of the mid-1930's in and out of hospitals. She gained little fame when her artwork was exhibited in 1934. Her artwork was of mostly of dancers, who appeared with swollen joints, deformed legs and distorted bodies that they lacked gender.

People took to Zelda's art like they took to "Save Me the Waltz". Zelda was again, crushed. By 1935, she was becoming violent and reclusive. Scott had her place in Highland Hospital in early 1936. Scott returned to Hollywood with a $1,000 deal with MGM.

By 1937, Zelda was still in a psychiatric hospital and Scott was having an affair with movie columnist, Sheliah Graham. Scott, still loved and took care of Zelda's medical care, making sure she got the best and most modern treatment known at that time for her disorder.

In 1938, Scottie, who was now 16 and a half, was thrown out of her boarding school. Scott blamed Zelda. He blamed Zelda for nearly everything; she had ruined him, she made him exhaust his talents (actually it was his own demons that did this). Overall he believed had been cheated of his dream by Zelda. As for Scottie, she was quickly accepted in to Vassar College.

Later that year Scott and Sheliah had a bitter and blow out fight. Scott returned to North Carolina. The Fitzgerald's agreed to go Cuba. The trip was a complete disater. Scott was beaten up when he tried to stop a cockfight. When they returned to the US, he was so intoxicated and exhausted that he was hospitalized. This was the last time they would ever see each other again.

Zelda was deeply concerned for Scott, but nonetheless she return to the hospital. Scott spend his time in Hollywood and with Graham. Zelda was never aware of the affair, but did suspect something was wrong. In early 1940, after 4 years in the hospital, Zelda was deemed recovered and released. 1940 would be hard year for both Scott and Zelda.

Scott was told he had tuberculosis, he spent most of 1940 resting and drunk. Zelda spent most of the year alone and wanting to be with Scott who didn't want her in California due to his affair with Graham, but did miss her. Zelda and Scott wrote each other daily.

In mid-December, Scott had a serious dizzy spell after seeing a movie and commented "They think I'm drunk, don't they?". The next day on Decemeber 21, Scott had a serious heart attack and shortly afterward, he died. Scott was only 44 years old. Zelda, was beside herself with grief, but did not attend the funeral. Scottie, their only child together, did.

Life after Scott and Death(1941-1948)

After Scott's death, Zelda and Scottie were both taken care of by his will. All of Zelda's medical care was taken care of, and Scottie's schooling as well. It is claimed he left nothing to Sheliah Graham, his misteress.

While going through Scott's things, Zelda found the manuscript Scott was working on prior to his death. It was titled "The Love of the Last Tycoon". Zelda sent it to Edmund Wilson to have it published.

After reading the manuscript and sending it off, Zelda decided to start working on a novel, she called it "Caesar's Things". In 1943, Scottie married Samuel Jackson "Jack" Lanahan. Zelda did not help plan her daughter's wedding, nor did she attend the service. Scottie sadden that neither of her parent could attend her wedding, she was happy however that Zelda chose to stay away.

Zelda returned to Highland Hospital in mid-1943, after living with her mother in Montgomery. She would spend the rest of her life in and out of the hosptial. While there she tried to work on her novel. She never would complete it. In 1945, Zelda became a grandmother, when Scottie gave birth to a son, Thomas "Tim" in April. Zelda would be blessed with a granddaughter, Eleanor in Janurary 1948.

At midnight on March 10, 1948 a serious electrical fire broke out in the hospital kitchen. It traveled to the dumbwaiter shaft, spreading to every floor. The fire escape was made of wood and caught fire as well. After the blaze was contanted, 9 woman patients died. Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was one of them. She was only 47 years old.

Zelda was lead to rest with the man who made her a famous icon of the 1920's, F. Scott Fitzgerald on March 16, 1948. Inscribed on their tombstone is the final sentence of The Great Gatsby: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past".


Aftermath: The Legend of Zelda(1949-2010)

After the death of her mother, Scottie had 2 more children; another boy, Micheal born in 1949 and girl, Cecilia in 1951. Her parenting skills were no better then her parents. However Scottie would cook and clean, unlike her mother. Would try to parent her children, but enjoyed working more.

Scottie became a well known writer and journalist. However her marriage ended in divorce when she and Jack were living separate lives and seeing other people. Scottie remarried in the mid-1960's to Grove Smith. That marriage to ended in divorce by 1980.

Sadly, Scottie passed down the mental illness gene from Zelda to her oldest son, Tim. Tim was bright boy, who was deeply troubled. Kicked out of the army in 1975, he later committed suicide that year. He was only 27. Scottie always blamed herself and her mother for this.

On June 16, 1986 at the age of 64, Frances Scott Fitzgerald-Lanahan-Smith aka Scottie died. At the time she was living in her mother's hometown of Montgomery, Alabama. She was a beloved and well-known part of the community. Many there attended her funeral. Her oldest daughter wrote her biography, which was released in 1995 called "Scottie: The Daughter of..."


Zelda became an icon of the feminist movement in the 1970's. She was seen as a woman whose unappreciated potential had been suppressed by male society and by a controlling husband. She was also compared with Sylvia Plath, whose married life to Ted Hughes was somewhat similar to her own.

In the 1980's game creator Shigeru Miyamoto was fascinated by Zelda so much, he chose her name as lead female character and title of his game base in the world of Hyrule. That game would be know as "The Legend of Zelda". Princess Zelda features are based on the real Zelda.

In 1989, the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald museum opened in Montgomery, Alabama. The museum is in a house they briefly lived in 1931 and 1932. The museum is one of the few places where some of Zelda's paintings are kept on display.

A British musical called, The Beautiful and Damned, with a book by Kit Hesketh Harvey and music and lyrics by Les Reed and Roger Cook opened in London in 2004 with Helen Anker as Zelda.

In 2005, composer Frank Wildhorn and lyricist Jack Murphy premiered their musical, "Waiting for the Moon" in Marlton, New Jersey. The musical starred Lauren Kennedy as Zelda. The show mostly centered upon Zelda's point of view, and featured a lot of dancing.

In 2009 a movie was shot about Zelda's life. The flim will be called "The Beautiful and The Damned". It set to be released sometime in late 2010 or early 2011. It will star Keira Knightly as Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald.

Zelda lives on in Scott's brave, heroic lead female characters of Nicole, Gloria, Daisy, and Rosamond. And in her own novel, she lives on in Alabama Beggs-Knight.

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is the one of the most enduring, tragic, and legendary figures of the Jazz Age. As Zelda said to Scott in 1919, before they were married, “Why should graves make people feel in vain? Somehow I can’t find anything hopeless in having lived.”