AMERICAN MASTERS: F. SCOTT FITZGERALD: WINTER DREAMS (TV)
Summary
One in this series that explores the lives and achievements of America's most celebrated artists and performers. This program profiles the life and career of American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940).
This documentary chronicles Fitzgerald's contributions to American literature and attempts to define his place in its history. The program includes interviews with Fitzgerald's friends, colleagues, and family.
The program opens with a reading of Fitzgerald's "The Romantic Egotist." Writer A. Scott Berg discusses Fitzgerald's middle-class childhood in St. Paul, Minnesota. Then, Richard Lehan and Ann Douglas talk about Fitzgerald's own personal definition of the "American Dream."
Next, Amy Irving reads excerpts from Fitzgerald's "Winter Dreams" and "This Side of Paradise." James L. W. West discusses Fitzgerald's year at Princeton. Irving then reads an excerpt from Fitzgerald's future wife Zelda's "Save Me the Waltz." Joseph Winter Thorington details Zelda's childhood in Montgomery, Alabama, while friend Grace Gunter Lane recalls several humorous anecdotes about Zelda.
Berg comments on Fitzgerald's desperate need to get published at an early age, before the novelist's early letters to Charles Scribner & Sons are read. Fitzgerald's success upon the publication of his first novel are detailed, as well as his friendship with fellow novelist Ernest Hemingway.
Clips from Francis Ford Coppola's film version of "The Great Gatsby" introduce a section on Fitzgerald's creation of the work. Eleanor Turnbull Pope details Zelda Fitzgerald's eventually descent into insanity and F. Scott's behavior during the years she spent in a sanitarium. E.L. Doctorow discusses Fitzgerald's turn to alcohol.
The program ends with Budd Schulberg detailing Fitzgerald's final years as a Hollywood screenwriter, before his death at the age of forty-four. This program is closed-captioned.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Marc Haas Foundation, 2002/2003.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: October 14, 2001 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:30:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:70739
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Authors - Biography; American literature - 20th century
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1986-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Susan Lacy … Executive Producer
- Catherine Brown Collins … Producer
- DeWitt Sage … Producer, Director, Writer
- Prudence Glass … Series Producer
- Thomas Wagner … Music by
- Campbell Scott … Voice, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Amy Irving … Voice, The Novels
- Laura Linney … Voice, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald
- William Sadler … Voice, Ernest Hemingway
- A. Scott Berg
- Francis Ford Coppola
- E. L. Doctorow
- Ann Douglas
- Grace Gunter Lane
- Richard Lehan
- Eleanor Turnbull Pope
- Budd Schulberg
- Charles Scribner
- Joseph Winter Thorington
- James L.W. West