Early Life in Montgomery (1900-1918)
Zelda Sayre was born in Montgomery, Alabama on July 24, 1900 at 5:40am to Judge Anthony Sayre and his wife Minevra "Minnie" Sayre, Zelda's named was chosen after her mother read the novels, "Zelda: A Tale of the Massachusetts Colony" and "Zelda's Fortune", in which the character "Zelda" is a gypsy, in both stories.
Zelda was the sixith (two died in infancy) and youngest child of Judge Sayre and Minnie, she was spoiled and doted upon by her mother, yet her father - Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama and one of Alabama's leading jurists- was stern, remote and strict man.
As child, Zelda was extremely outgoing and active, even tomboyish. She took dancing lessions with ballet, which would go on into her adult life and would later become her tragic obsession. In 1914, Zelda started attending Sidney Lainer High School. Although highly intellegent, Zelda had no interest in schoolwork and was more interested in socializing. Developing a repution, Zelda drank, smoked and dated many boys, spending time alone with them also. Her saving grace was her last name and her father's respect around town.
In an interview Zelda had with the local newpaper she was quoted as to only care for "boys and swimming". Having an appetite for attention, actively seeking to flout convention—whether by learning the African-American dance known as the "Charleston", or by wearing a tight, flesh-colored bathing suit to fuel rumors that she swam nude. To sum it up, Zelda was shocking to those around her. Her only competition was her friend and future Hollywood scarlet, Tallulah Bunkhead.
Zelda graduated High School in May/June of 1918, her ethos was encapsulated beneath her High School graduation photo: "Why should all life be work, when we all can borrow. Let's think only of today, and not worry about tomorrow."
Meeting, Courtship and Engagment to F. Scott Fitzgerald (1918-1920)
Shortly after graduation in July of 1918, just prior to her 18th birthday, Zelda Sayre would meet the man she would forever in history be tied with: F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald on September 24, 1896 at 3:31pm in St.Paul, Minnesota. He was named after his second cousin twice removed, Francis Scott Key, but was always called "Scott" by his family and friends. In 1917, he sold his first poem and dropping out of Princeton, where he known as a terrible student.
He enlisted to join in WWI, but the war shortly ended after he joined. He was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the army and was sent to Camp Sheridan in Montgomery, Alabama in June of 1918.
While performing "The Dance of the Hours" the soon-to-be 18 year old Zelda Sayre caught the attention of the 21 year old, army Lieutenant F. Scott Fitzgerald. She too was enchanted by him, saying later: "There seemed to be some heavenly support beneath his shoulder blades that lifted his feet from the ground in ecstatic suspension, as if he secretly enjoyed the ability to fly but was walking as a compromise to convention".
Scott would call her daily and would visit Zelda on his days off. He was so infatuated with Zelda, he would tell her of his dreams of being famous and even allowed the 18 year old to read bits of his upcoming story. His character Rosalind Connage, is modeled after Zelda, as many more would be. He told Zelda that "the heroine does resemble you in more ways than four". Zelda was more than his muse—after showing Scott her personal diary, he used verbatim excerpts in his novel, some of which is taken directly from her journals.
Much to his dismay, Fitzgerald was not the only man courting Zelda Sayre. And this competition for Zelda's affections, only drove Scott to want her more. In his ledger that he maintained throughout his life, he noted on September 7, 1918 that he had fallen passionately in love with her. For Zelda, she wasn't in love yet. But with time she too would be in love with him. A biographer of couple stated "Scott had appealed to something in Zelda which no one before him had perceived: a romantic sense of self-importance which was kindred to his own".
Their romance was interrupted in October 1918, Scott was send North, believing to be on his way to France, was instead assigned to Camp Mills, Long Island. By December 1918, he was sent back to Montgomery. From then on Zelda and Scott were passionately inseparable; Scott would later describe their behavior as "sexual recklessness". By Valentine's day in 1919, Scott was discharged from the Army and left for New York City, in hopes to be published.
They wrote each other frequently and by March 1919, Scott sent Zelda his mother's ring and the two became engaged. However Zelda's family and close friends disliked Scott. What they disliked was his drinking problem and the fact he was Catholic; they were Episcopalian. Despite being "engaged", Zelda still flirted with other men. And even went as far to accept a romantic gesture, a pin from a man at Georgia Tech.
When Zelda would returned the pin to the man at Georgia Tech, she claims she accidently mailed to Scott instead. They fought over the pin. Scott pleaded with her to marry him, Zelda refused and broke up with him. She returned to her normal life in Montgomery and Scott worked on his novel and looking for a publisher.
Marriage, Fame and Baby Make Three (1920-1923)
By September 1919, Scott completed his novel, which he entitled "This Side of Paradise". It was accepted quickly with publication by Scribner and Sons. Learning of his novel's publication, Scott stated to Editor Maxwell Perkins "I have so many things dependent on its success, including of course a girl".
In November 1919, he returned to Montgomery, Alabama in hopes of marrying Zelda Sayre.
For her part, Zelda, who probably did not believe him, agreed to marry him once the novel was published. He, in return, promised to bring her to New York with "all the iridescence of the beginning of the world".
And so on March 26, 1920 "This Side of Paradise" was released to the public. As promised of its publication, Zelda arrived in New York on March 30. And on April 3, 1920, before a small wedding party in St.Patrick's Cathedral, they were finally married. Zelda was now Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald.
"This Side of Paradise" was huge hit, and they quickly became celebrities of New York, as much for their wild behavior as for the success of Scott's novel. They were ordered to leave both the Biltmore Hotel and the Commodore Hotel for their drunkenness; Zelda and Scott once jumped into the fountain at Union Square; when friend Dorothy Parker first met them, Zelda and Scott were sitting atop a taxi. Parker said, "They did both look as though they had just stepped out of the sun; their youth was striking. Everyone wanted to meet him".
Sadly, their social life was fueled with alcohol; publicly this meant little more than napping when they arrived at parties, but privately it increasingly led to bitter fights. However to their delight, in the pages of the New York newspapers Zelda and Scott had become icons of youth and success— America's Darlings of the Jazz Age.
Although she loved Scott and was proud of his success, Zelda did not want to known simply as "Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald". But the strain of being Scott’s muse and the model for a new generation of women put tension on Zelda early in their relationship. Zelda was not content to be idolized simply because she was F.Scott Fitzgerald's wife. She wanted to express herself and be admired through her own merits. She would spend the rest of her life trying to get out of Scott’s shadow.
By mid-Feburary 1921, Scott completed his second novel "The Beautiful and Damned" and for her part, Zelda learned she was pregnant. The couple agreed to have their baby in St.Paul, Minnesota, Scott's place of birth. On October 26,1921, the couple's only child and daughter was born.
As she came to from the anesthesia, Scott recorded Zelda saying, "Oh, God, goofo I'm drunk. Mark Twain? Isn't she smart—Ha ha, she has the hiccups. I hope it's beautiful and a fool—a beautiful little fool." Later in the novel "The Great Gatsby", the character Daisy Buchanan expresses the same hope for her daughter. Many of Zelda's words and experiences found their way into her husbands stories.
Zelda wanted to name her newborn daughter, Patricia Sayre Fitzgerald. Scott wanted to name his newborn daughter after himself, Frances Scott Fitzgerald. Scott's name won. Although she was called "Scottie", Zelda would spend the first 5 years of her daughter's life calling her "Pat".
Now as a mother, Zelda never exactly settled into that role. Instead she hired a nanny, cook and laundress to care for their and Scottie's needs. When Harper & Brothers asked her to contribute to Favorite Recipes of Famous Women, she replied: "See if there is any bacon, and if there is, ask the cook which pan to fry it in. Then ask if there are any eggs, and if so try and persuade the cook to poach two of them. It is better not to attempt toast, as it burns very easily. Also, in the case of bacon do not turn the fire too high, or you will have to get out of the house for a week. Serve preferably on china plates, though gold or wood will do if handy."
In early 1922 Zelda learned she was pregnant again. Her thoughts on her second pregnancy are unknown, but in the first draft of "The Beautiful and Damned", the novel Scott wrote a scene in which the main female character Gloria believes she is pregnant and Anthony suggests she "talk to some woman and find out what's best to be done. Most of them fix it some way".
Cause, Zelda sought out an abortion, this act would cause a strain between her and her husband. Scott wrote in his ledger "Zelda and her abortionist" and "My only son was flushed down the toliet.". Also during this time Zelda's behaviour began to change, but if anyone noticed this, they never said a word until it was to late.
In 1923, as "The Beautiful and Damned" neared publication, Burton Rascoe, editor of the New York Tribune, approached Zelda for an review of Scott's latest work. In her review, she made joking reference to the use of her diaries in Scott's work, but the lifted material became a genuine source of resentment.
Zelda wrote:
"To begin with, every one must buy this book for the following aesthetic reasons: First, because I know where there is the cutest cloth of gold dress for only $300 in a store on Forty-second Street, and also if enough people buy it where there is a platinum ring with a complete circlet, and also if loads of people buy it my husband needs a new winter overcoat, although the one he has has done well enough for the last three years ... It seems to me that on one page I recognized a portion of an old diary of mine which mysteriously disappeared shortly after my marriage, and also scraps of letters which, though considerably edited, sound to me vaguely familiar. In fact, Mr. Fitzgerald—I believe that is how he spells his name—seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home."
This piece led her to get offers from other magazines. In June, a piece by Zelda called "Eulogy on the Flapper", was published in Metropolitan Magazine. Though ostensibly a piece about the decline of the Flapper lifestyle.
Zelda wrote:
"The Flapper awoke from her lethargy of sub-deb-ism, bobbed her hair, put on her choicest pair of earrings and a great deal of audacity and rouge and went into the battle. She flirted because it was fun to flirt and wore a one-piece bathing suit because she had a good figure ... she was conscious that the things she did were the things she had always wanted to do. Mothers disapproved of their sons taking the Flapper to dances, to teas, to swim and most of all to heart."
Zelda continued to write short stories and articles. She helped Scott write the play "The Vegetable", but when it flopped the Fitzgeralds found themselves in debt. Scott wrote short stories furiously to pay the bills, but became burned out and depressed.
By April 1924, the Fitzgerald left for Paris. And their lives would forever change dramatically.
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