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F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum
The Fitzgerald Museum is a
marvelous museum that is devoted to celebrating the life and works
of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and their daughter, Scottie, who
lived in this wonderful house during the years of 1931 and 1932. The
house was going to be destroyed by demolition in 1986, but it was
saved to become the only residential home to the great writer and
his family left in the country today. It is also the only museum
that is devoted to Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. It was in October of
1931, that the Montgomery Advertiser produced a stunning headline
for the small city; "Scott Fitzgeralds to Spend Winter Here Writing
Books". Montgomery had been the birthplace of Zelda Sayre
Fitzgerald, whose father, Judge A. D. Sayre lived here, and it was
upon their return for a long tour of Europe. The Jazz age couple
spent two years traveling the continent getting "color" for their
books or writings and the newspaper was decent enough not to mention
Zelda's stay at the Prangins Clinic in Switzerland for a long
treatment of her first breakdown. The world renowned writers leased
a home near Zelda's parents house and within a month, Scott was off
to Hollywood, leaving Zelda here to take care of her 10 year old
daughter Scottie. The same month, Zelda's father died, a well known
and major player in the state's politics, but she managed to somehow
plan for her husband's return at Christmas. She wrote to her husband
every day, and spoke of the poetic qualities of the house and the
Alabama autumn; "the weather here is a continual circus day...smoky
with the sun like a red balloon and soft and romantic and sensual."
While she was there, she began an outline of her book about a
marriage that was in the midst of a breakdown; "Save Me the Waltz"
which was about a heroine named Alabama. Scott was also working on a
book, his novel was about a disastrous marriage in European settings
called; "Tender is the Night". The strained emotional competition
that arose between the two writers were the subject of Tennessee
William's last play; "Clothes for a Summer Hotel". However, while
the couple lived at the house in Montgomery, Zelda's feelings for
her husband were always true to their famous love affair. She wrote
to Scott in December, saying; "Scottie is so sweet and darling and
the house is so pleasant and I have everything in the world except
you. This house has become the magnificent museum that contain many
of the works of this exceptional romantic couple, including some of
Zelda's paintings which are truly spectacular. It is obvious all
over the city that this woman left a memorable imprint, like the
memories of her in the old Cloverdale neighborhood where she grew up
and the marble steps of the Alabama Capitol in downtown Montgomery,
where she and childhood friend, Tallulah Bankhead would stage dramas
that ranged from political satires to cartwheels that had always
been well accepted and enjoyed by the old southern politicians.
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