ZELDA SAYRE FITZGERALD Other Publications by the same author

Books: KINGSOLVER’S THE POISONWOOD BIBLE (Continuum, UK, 2001) SYLVIA PLATH, A LITERARY LIFE (Macmillan, UK, 1999 and 2003) “FAVORED STRANGERS”: GERTRUDE STEIN AND HER FAMILY (Rutgers UP, 1995) THE MID-CENTURY AMERICAN NOVEL, 1935–1965 (Twayne/Macmillan Novel Series, 1997) WHARTON’S THE AGE OF INNOCENCE: A NOVEL OF IRONIC NOSTALGIA (Twayne, 1996) TELLING WOMEN’S LIVES, THE NEW BIOGRAPHY (Rutgers UP, 1994) PLATH’S THE BELL JAR: A NOVEL OF THE FIFTIES (Twayne/Macmillan, 1992) WHARTON’S THE HOUSE OF MIRTH: A NOVEL OF ADMONITION (Twayne/Macmillan, 1990) THE MODERN AMERICAN NOVEL, 1914–1945 (Twayne/Macmillan Novel Series, 1989) SYLVIA PLATH, A BIOGRAPHY (Simon & Schuster, 1987; Chatto & Windus, 1988; St. Martin’s paperback, 1988; Cardinal pb, 1990; Suhrkamp German translation, 1990 and pb, 1994; Circe Spanish translation, 1989 and pb, 1993; Columna Catalan translation, 1990 ELLEN GLASGOW: BEYOND CONVENTION (U of Texas P, 1982) SONGS FOR ISADORA: POEMS (Salome P, 1981) AMERICAN MODERN, SELECTED ESSAYS IN FICTION AND POETRY (Kennikat, 1980) DOS PASSOS: ARTIST AS AMERICAN (U of Texas P, 1979) WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, A REFERENCE GUIDE (G.K. Hall series, 1978) ERNEST HEMINGWAY, A REFERENCE GUIDE (G.K. Hall series, 1977) HEMINGWAY AND FAULKNER: INVENTORS/MASTERS (Scarecrow P, 1975) PHYLLIS MCGINLEY (Twayne/Macmillan, 1971) THE PROSE OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS (Wesleyan UP, 1970) INTAGLIOS: POEMS (South & West, 1967) DENISE LEVERTOV (Twayne/Macmillan, 1967) THE POEMS OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, A CRITICAL STUDY (Wesleyan UP, 1964) Books Edited: THE OXFORD COMPANION TO WOMEN’S WRITING IN THE UNITED STATES, with Cathy N. Davidson (Oxford UP, 1995). Also, its anthology, THE OXFORD BOOK OF WOMEN’S WRITING IN THE UNITED STATES (1995, paperback, 1999) WILLIAM FAULKNER: SIX DECADES OF CRITICISM (Michigan State UP, 2002) THE PORTABLE EDITH WHARTON (Penguin Putnam, 2003) THE SUN ALSO RISES: A CASEBOOK (Oxford UP, 2002) OVER WEST: FESTSCHRIFT FOR FREDERICK ECKMAN, with David Adams (SAGETRIEB, National Poetry Foundation, 1999) BEDFORD CULTURAL STUDIES EDITION OF GERTRUDE STEIN’S THREE LIVES (Bedford, 2000) A HISTORICAL GUIDE TO ERNEST HEMINGWAY (Oxford UP, 2000) HEMINGWAY: SEVEN DECADES OF CRITICISM (Michigan State UP, 1998) NEW ESSAYS ON FAULKNER’S GO DOWN, MOSES (Cambridge UP, 1996) THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton (Washington Square P, 1995) THE PEARL by John Steinbeck, with introduction (Penguin, 1994) DENISE LEVERTOV: CRITICAL ESSAYS (G.K. Hall, 1991) ANNE SEXTON: CRITICAL ESSAYS (G.K. Hall, 1989) SYLVIA PLATH, THE CRITICAL HERITAGE (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988) NEW ESSAYS ON HEMINGWAY’S THE SUN ALSO RISES (Cambridge UP, 1987) ERNEST HEMINGWAY: SIX DECADES OF CRITICISM (Michigan State UP, 1987) SYLVIA PLATH: CRITICAL ESSAYS (G.K. Hall, 1984) JOYCE CAROL OATES: CRITICAL ESSAYS (G.K. Hall, 1979) DENISE LEVERTOV: IN HER OWN PROVINCE (New Directions P, 1979) ROBERT FROST: THE CRITICAL HERITAGE (Burt Franklin, 1977) “SPEAKING STRAIGHT AHEAD”: INTERVIEWS WITH WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS (New Directions P, 1976) T.S. ELIOT (McGraw-Hill, 1976) ZELDA SAYRE FITZGERALD: AN AMERICAN WOMAN’S LIFE

LINDA W AGNER-MARTIN © Linda Wagner-Martin 2004 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004 978-1-4039-3403-1

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The author has asserted her right to be identifi ed as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published 2004 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world

PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St Martin’s Press LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-51704-6 ISBN 978-0-230-59791-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230597914 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wagner-Martin, Linda. Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald : an American woman’s life / Linda Wagner-Martin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Fitzgerald, Zelda, 1900–1948. 2. Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896–1940––Marriage. 3. Psychiatric hospital patients––United States–– Biography. 4. Mentally ill women––United States––Biography. 5. Authors, American––20th century––Biography. 6. Authors’ spouses––United States–– Biography. 7. Painters––United States––Biography. 8. Women––United States–– Biography. I. Title.

PS3511.I9234Z996 2004 813'.52––dc22 [B] 2004049758

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 For Doug, Tom, and Andrea once again This page intentionally left blank Contents

List of Illustrations ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xiii Short Titles and Abbreviations xiv

1 The Belle 1 2 The Courtship 25 3 Celebrity Couple 41 4 Travels 61 5 Europe Once More 77 6 Hollywood and Ellerslie 95 7 Zelda as Artist: Dancer and Writer 107 8 The Crack-Up, 1930 120 9 On the Way to Being Cured 138 10 The Phipps Clinic and Baltimore 154 11 Zelda as Patient 174 12 The Crack-Up, 1936 187 13 Endings 197

Notes 212 Bibliography 234 Index 244 We all knew about each other in Jeffersonville: how each other swam and danced and what time our parents wanted us to be home at night, and what each one of us liked to eat and drink and talk about . . . Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, “Southern Girl”

From the orchard across the way the smell of ripe pears floats over the child’s bed. A band rehearses waltzes in the distance. White things gleam in the dark—white flowers and paving-stones. The moon on the window panes careens to the garden . . . The world is younger than it is . . . Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, Save Me the Waltz List of Illustrations

1 Zelda Sayre in the yard of her family’s rental home at 6 Pleasant Street, Montgomery, Alabama. Photo courtesy of the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Collection, Manuscripts Division, Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library. 10 2 Photo of Alabama State Capitol building, in Montgomery, where as adolescents Zelda Sayre and Tallulah Bankhead (and sometimes Sara Haardt) danced up and down the marble stairs. Author photo. 13 3 Zelda in a dance costume while she is Montgomery’s young star ballerina. Photo courtesy of the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Collection, Manuscripts Division, Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library. 27 4 Studio photograph of Zelda Sayre at eighteen, during her first engagement to Scott Fitzgerald. She had graduated high school the spring before. Photo courtesy of the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Collection, Manuscripts Divison, Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library. 32 5 Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald in the yard at 6 Pleasant Street, Montgomery, Alabama. Photo courtesy of the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Collection, Manuscripts Divison, Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library. 39 6 Scott and Zelda in the late stage of Zelda’s pregnancy, Minnesota, 1921. Photo courtesy of the F. Scott and Zelda

ix x ZELDA SAYRE FITZGERALD

Fitzgerald Collection, Manuscripts Divison, Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library. 58 7 “Nursing Mother with Blue Blanket,” c. 1932–34, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. Courtesy of Johns Hopkins University. 62 8 Young mother Zelda with Scottie, the daughter she called “AWFULLY cute,” 1922. Photo courtesy of the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Collection, Manuscripts Division, Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library. 69 9 Zelda and Scott in high-fashion outfits. Note Zelda’s bobbed hair. Photo courtesy of the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Collection, Manuscripts Division, Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library. 81 10 Zelda and Scott in 1920s swimming attire. Zelda was the better swimmer and diver. Photo courtesy of the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Collection, Manuscripts Division, Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library. 89 11 Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, with eight other patients, died in the March 11, 1948, fire at Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. Photo courtesy of D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina, Asheville, 28804. 210 Preface

Most biographers conceive of their subjects’ lives as being formed by their origins; biographies often begin at the birth of the subject/protagonist/character. In the case of Zelda Sayre, however, in most of the dozen biographies about her and her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda’s first appearance is at the age of seventeen, when her future spouse sees her at a dance in her hometown of Montgomery, Alabama. Of the early studies, only Nancy Milford’s 1970 biography, Zelda, begins with the Sayre family history, and includes a brief description of the town of Montgomery in 1900, when Zelda was born.1 Milford, like all the early critics who studied the Fitzgeralds and their writing, was not Southern. Scott Fitzgerald, born in St. Paul, Minnesota, living his early life both there and in Buffalo, New York, was also not Southern. His path of social climbing moved him to the East, to the revered Atlantic seaboard, and eventually to Princeton University. Unlike his contemporary Ernest Hemingway, Fitzgerald never expressed interest in going west—to either the mountains or the Pacific coast—or in going to any place exotic: instead of Key West and Cuba, Fitzgerald chose Baltimore. To identify Fitzgerald as a writer innately fascinated with the South is to misrepresent his interests. To identify Zelda Sayre as anyone except a Southerner is to misrepresent her. Until she left Montgomery to travel to New York for her wedding, accompanied then by her older married sister, Zelda had never spent a night away from her parents’ home (except for dances at Southern colleges and cities, where she reigned as a relatively famous “belle”). This book aims to place Zelda within the environs of the turn-of- the-century South, the Deep South of which Montgomery, Alabama

xi xii ZELDA SAYRE FITZGERALD still (in the twenty-first century, more than a century later) remains representative. As the Capitol of the Confederacy, Montgomery still proudly displays a statue of Jefferson Davis, and the house he and his wife Varina occupied—moved to be a part of the cluster of state office buildings and the Alabama Capitol itself—was a house built and designed by Zelda Sayre’s great-uncle. Homes in the Garden District, to either side of Perry Street, are much as they were when Zelda was growing up (1900–18), roller-skating her risky path past the Governor’s house on Perry Street, then reversing and heading to Court Street where cobblestones made her foray even more dangerous. The lush physical beauty of the tree-shadowed streets, like the relentless spring and summer heat, made Zelda an outdoor child, as well as a crack swimmer and diver. Every white Montgomery child had access to pools at the country club, the city park, or the YMCA: when Zelda strutted to the diving board in her form-fitting Annette Kellerman swimsuit, she was being (conventionally) shocking. She was showing off—her small but good figure, her athletic ability, her saucy disregard for the oughts and shoulds of the culture of the Southern lady. Yet, in fact, Zelda Sayre was the quintessential Southern lady. What lay ahead for Zelda in the manic and hard-drinking 1920s, caught between the impersonal urban life of New York and Paris and the less frenetic living in Minneapolis, the south of France, and Baltimore, was so unexpected that it helped to undermine the confidence, the joy, that had characterized her childhood and adolescence. This is that story. Acknowledgments

Once again, I am deeply indebted to the Rockefeller Study and Research Center at Bellagio, Italy, where time for writing is not only available, but inviolate. I also thank the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, for a gift of a Kenan semester free from teaching, and the Institute of Arts and Humanities on the same campus for the good fellowship of other faculty participants during my term there. This study of the Fitzgeralds draws from the knowledge of a number of scholars—among them, Rose Marie Burwell, Jackson Bryer, Scott Donaldson, Kirk Curnutt, and a quantity of other readers of the work of both the Fitzgeralds. At the Princeton Library, I thank Anna Lee Pauls; at Scribner’s, Lydia Zelaya; at Harold Ober Associates, Craig Tenney; at the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery, Robert Delk and Wesley Newton. With special thanks to Eleanor Lanahan. For psychiatric and medical information I thank Dr. Einar Arnason, Dr. Karen E. Lasser, and Dr. Watson A. Bowes, Jr. I am also indebted to research help from Lindsey Smith and Bryan Giemza, doctoral students at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Unpublished materials are published by permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated. Copyright © 2004 by Eleanor Lanahan, Thomas P. Roche and Christopher T. Bryne—Trustees under agreement, dated July 3, 1975, by Frances Scott Fitzgerald Smith. Published materials are published by permission of David Higham Associations and Simon and Schuster for Scribner’s.

xiii Short Titles and Abbreviations

The following short titles and abbreviations are used throughout this book:

CT “Caesar’s Things,” unpublished novel by Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, available at Princeton University Library CU F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Crack-Up, edited by Edmund Wilson (New Directions, 1945) CW The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli (University of Alabama Press, 1997, reissue of 1991); includes Save Me the Waltz (noted separately as SMTW), Scandalabra, and all short fiction and essays DS, DZ Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, edited by Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks (St. Martin’s Press, 2002) Exiles Sara Mayfield’s Exiles from Paradise, Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald (Delacorte, 1971) Fool Scott Donaldson’s Fool for Love: F. Scott Fitzgerald (Congdon & Weed, 1983) Life F. Scott Fitzgerald, A Life in Letters, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli (Scribner’s Sons, 1994) Milford Nancy Milford’s Zelda, A Biography (HarperCollins, 1970) PUL Princeton University Library’s archive of manuscripts, letters, photos, and miscellanea for both Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald S Scottie, The Daughter of . . . by Eleanor Lanahan (HarperCollins, 1995) SMTW Zelda Fitzgerald’s Save Me the Waltz, paged as in Collected Writings

xiv SHORT TITLES AND ABBREVIATIONS xv

SSEG Matthew J. Bruccoli’s biography Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, second revised edition (University of South Carolina Press, 2002) Zelda Zelda: An Illustrated Life, edited by Eleanor Lanahan (Harry N. Abrams, 1996)

The notes also use abbreviations of book titles in the Bibliography.