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F. Scott Fitzgerald
Program Video Clip List
Clip # Start Time End Time Description
1 01:16.0 01:45.0 Visuals of F. Scott Fitzgerald
2 02:22.7 02:52.5 Fitzgerald wrote about the American dream and is author of the Great American novel, The Great Gatsby.
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3 02:52.8 03:32.9 Life in the 1920s; the Jazz Age; a time of great advances in the arts
4 03:46.3 04:17.9 Fitzgerald's relationship to St. Paul, Minnesota
5 04:18.0 04:38.0 The name F. Scott Fitzgerald; comes from a remote relative, Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star- Spangled Banner"
6 04:38.1 05:37.8 The early life of Fitzgerald; sometimes regarded as the quintessential American writer of the 20th century even though he more accurately echoed the voice of the 19th century
7 06:06.7 06:21.3 Fitzgerald began writing when he was 9 or 10 years old; tried to write a history of America
8 06:22.1 08:05.3 The factors in Fitzgerald's life that shaped his writings; was the first author to write about the effects of money on human character; the Catholic Church and his love of history also influenced his writing
9 08:05.7 09:40.2 Summit Avenue and the Cathedral as it pertained to his writing; he grew up on Summit Avenue and mentions it and the Cathedral in some of his writing; differing opinions on the role of religion in Fitzgerald's life
10 09:40.5 11:03.4 Synopsis of The Great Gatsby; how Jay Gatsby is betrayed by the American Dream
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11 11:06.8 12:32.7 The Beautiful and Damned and its forward-thinking commentary on social mores and relationships between men and women
12 12:32.8 14:00.2 Fitzgerald's relationship with his parents; he was embarrassed by them; he blamed his mother for his subsequent social problems
13 14:03.8 15:47.0 How Fitzgerald would react to globalization and the chastising from other nations for our materialistic ways; he was very patriotic
14 15:47.0 16:18.1 Fitzgerald wrote 4 novels in his lifetime and wrote about 160 essays and short stories; very accomplished writer for having such a short life
15 16:22.1 17:34.4 Views on what the name "Gatsby" meant; either a pun on the word for gun, "gat", or a slang version of "God's boy"
16 17:47.0 20:04.6 Fitzgerald's love/hate relationship with the rich as seen in his real life and its influence in his writings; this dichotomy speaks to the complexity of Fitzgerald's personality and character.
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17 20:04.7 21:04.7 Fitzgerald's education at Princeton; it was considered a "gentleman's school"; he never graduated from Princeton due to failed courses
18 21:04.7 21:43.4 Fitzgerald met his wife, Zelda, during WWI; Zelda was said to be attracted by his ability to dance
19 21:55.4 23:45.5 The use of Nick Carroway as a partially involved narrator in The Great Gatsby; the novel works because Carroway does the narrating, nobody would care if Gatsby narrated; the use of a hue character as the narrator has been imitated by other authors post-1925
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20 23:47.6 24:44.0 The University Club played a big role in the life of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald; tour of the inside of the present-day University Club
21 24:44.0 25:39.5 "The author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward"; Fitzgerald wrote this as somewhat of a joke but ended up accomplishing his own goal
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22 25:43.4 26:14.3 The reviews of The Great Gatsby were rather favorable but the sales were not quite as good when the novel first came out.
23 26:14.4 26:47.6 Fitzgerald would write short stories and move around quite frequently to save money to write his next novel.
24 26:47.7 32:55.4 A discussion with Eleanor Lanahan, granddaughter of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald via telephone; people relate to Fitzgerald as a modern character, partially because he died so young; Eleanor's mother had a positive childhood, although not an easy one; the relationship between Scott and Zelda, they were very much in love
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25 33:05.5 34:01.6 Why it is so difficult to make The Great Gatsby into a good film; it is the writing that is capturing the audience, not necessarily the action
26 34:19.2 36:37.0 The influence of Ginevra King and Lois Moran in Fitzgerald's writings; King was his first love and he wrote voluminously about her and parts of her show up in a lot of his writings; he had a brief affair with Lois Moran and stirred up Zelda's jealousy
27 36:37.1 38:47.9 Scott's daughter died in the late 1980s and was the keeper of most of Scott's papers and works; Fitzgerald was buried in Rockville, MD along with much of the other family and his ancestors; Zelda is buried next to him and their daughter, Scottie, at their feet
28 38:51.8 40:18.1 Places to visit in St. Paul relating to Fitzgerald; the influence of the Catholic Church on Fitzgerald's life and works; he helped authors like Hemingway get his start
29 40:18.4 40:42.3 The relevance of Fitzgerald and his writings today; Jay Gatsby described as a man of our times
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30 40:43.0 41:39.6 "So we beat on, boats against the current, born ceaselessly into the past"; quote from The Great Gatsby and enscribed on his tombstone; means that we cannot escape history and we are a product of it; visuals of Fitzgerald's gravesite
31 42:13.1 45:16.8 Author and actor George Plimpton discusses why so many writers went overseas during the 1920s, especially to Paris; the role of alcohol in the lives of Fitzgerald and Hemmingway
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32 45:19.4 47:20.3 Defense of Fitzgerald and his drinking habit; he did not drink any more than the average writer during his time and he never wrote while he was drunk; he was "not a good drunk" because he had a low tolerance for alcohol
33 47:44.7 50:38.1 Fitzgerald's reputation in Minnesota, both before and after his death; many people didn't like Zelda and many did not like him; Fitzgerald was baptized as a Catholic; did not have a strict Catholic upbringing but it was average
34 50:41.5 51:41.3 "There are no second acts in American lives." What did Fitzgerald mean by that?
35 51:31.5 53:36.3 Fitzgerald issued a parody newspaper, a prank typical of Fitzgerald; only 5 copies remain and we take a look at one of them
36 53:39.3 54:35.1 Are there any current novels that compare to the Great American novel The Great Gatsby? Possibly Joseph Heller's Catch-22 or maybe J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye
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37 54:44.3 56:10.5 The Fitzgerald Collection is housed at the University of South Carolina; it is the most comprehensive collection about Fitzgerald anywhere; pieces from that collection
38 56:15.3 57:13.7 Discussion about the character of Tom Buchanan; might be an embodiment of Ginevra King's father
39 57:35.5 58:41.0 "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was an example of Fitzgerald's fantasy writing; story about a man growing up backwards
40 01:00:00 01:01:17 The setting of The Great Gatsby is based loosely based on the North Shore of Long Island, although he did not work close to his sources
41 01:01:18 01:02:51 A memento from the Fitzgerald Collection of a flask given to him by Zelda and his other friends
42 01:02:55 01:04:34 Fitzgerald was an unsuccessful screenwriter; seen as a great irony because he wrote an extremely insightful book about Hollywood based on his observations, an unfinished work called The Last Tycoon
43 01:04:35 01:06:01 A briefcase of Fitzgerald's bearing the address of his publisher, which speaks to his nomadic nature of moving from place to place all the time
44 01:06:37 01:07:18 The skyline and geography of St. Paul
45 01:07:20 01:08:42 Fitzgerald's favorite poet was Jon Keats; other literary influences in his life
46 01:08:55 01:09:54 The house where Fitzgerald was born
47 01:09:55 01:11:26 The similarites between Jay Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald; both were from Minnesota and had a great capacity of sensitivity for others
48 01:11:26 01:12:45 The Great Gatsby as an accurate reflection of the 1920s; Fitzgerald was completely unaware of the Harlem Renaissance as it was going on
49 01:12:48 01:14:20 The movie Beloved Infidel with Sheilah Graham; his relationship with Graham
50 01:14:20 01:17:31 What led to the troubles in the marriage of Fitzgerald and Zelda later in life? Contrast to their early romance
51 01:17:40 01:20:50 What made Fitzgerald a great writer; not his prose but his ability to bring alive the zest in life; disrespectful to say that Zelda was crazy; comparison of Fitzgerald to Gatsby as a loner and one who accomplished the American Dream; disagreement about whether Fitzgerald's mother died in an asylum or not
52
53 01:20:54 01:22:26 Hemingway's portrayal of Fitzgerald in "A Movable Feast"; should be read as "a brilliant nasty piece of fiction"
54 01:22:32 01:24:52 Prohibition in the 1920s; there was an alcohol problem but Prohibition was not the way to solve it; the University Club was probably a place where alcohol flowed during Prohibition
55 01:25:00 01:26:20 The relationship between Nathaniel West and Fitzgerald; comparing their two books about Hollywood
56 01:26:33 01:28:31 Fitzgerald lived in New Orleans during the years of 1919-1920; his relationship with Ring Lardner; he turns up twice in Scott's literary works
57 01:28:31 01:29:16 Fitzgerald listed himself as a socialist and a liberal, but was largely apolitical.
58 01:29:24 01:31:34 Caller who spent time with Ernest Hemingway and discussed Fitzgerald with him
59 01:31:44 01:33:12 Reputations with Fitzgerald and Hemingway fluctuate very much as noted by booksales of the two.
60 01:33:21 01:34:25 "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz" is an allegory about the effects of money; expresses disgust about the effects of wealth on character
61 01:34:26 01:35:46 Etchings of Ivy League schools in the bar of the University Club; how do the Ivy League schools play into the 1920s?
62 01:36:20 01:38:59 Resurrection of Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsbyoccurring presently; the revival took place in the 1950s; Fitzgerald is one of the big three American writers of the 20th century along with Faulkner and Hemingway
63 01:38:59 01:39:43 There is only one recording of Fitzgerald's voice where he is reciting poetry
64 01:39:46 01:40:44 His life at Princeton; he wrote shows for the Triangle Club and acted for them as well; he did not study very hard
65 01:40:56 01:43:02 The relationship between Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe; visuals of Fitzgerald landmarks in St. Paul;
66 01:43:18 01:43:59 James J. Hill and Fitzgerald; he put Hill in some of his works; can see his house in St. Paul
67 01:46:59 01:47:31 Fitzgerald Conference in St. Paul in September;
68 01:47:32 01:48:15 Many of Fitzgerald's friends were fellow writers
69 01:48:49 01:49:27 The Fitzgerald Collection at the University of South Carolina; acquistions made annually
70 01:49:27 01:50:45 Gertrude Stein referred to the 1920s as "the lost generation"; Hemingway used the quote as an epigraph in his novel The Sun Also Rises but it was intended to be sarcastic
71 01:52:33 01:53:43 Probably won't have another trio of authors like in the 1920s due to the nature of the publishing industry
72 01:54:11 01:55:43 Fitzgerald's "Winter Dreams"; it is a preview of The Great Gatsby; the Fitzgerald Collection is a resource for students and teachers to use and they are invited to do so.
73 01:55:41 01:57:14 Fitzgerald always wanted to be a writer and if not then a playwright, but he proved himself to be a very bad playwright; his life in the Midwest as it influenced his writings
74 01:57:14 01:58:12 Father Fay was a great influence in Fitzgerald's early life; his first novel has Fay as a character and is dedicated to him.
75 01:58:13 01:59:18 He wrote 5 novels and 160 short stories collected in 4 volumes of books; discussion of his other works
76 01:59:19 02:00:03 Things to emphasize when talking about Fitzgerald; the influence of St. Paul and his upbringing
77 02:00:07 02:00:37 Of all who wrote prose, only Fitzgerald knew how to put the words together.

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