History Pages
Château de la Garoupe ( recently confiscated by French Gov !)
© lamareecatering . ru
The Murphys were an influential couple and they made two epoch-changing events happen on the Riviera . First , they made sure that the Hôtel du Cap in Antibes , built as a private villa in 1869 by Hippolyte de Villemessant , did not close for the hot summer season . After all , the French Riviera had been a winter destination . For the first time in 35 years , Gerald persuaded the owner to keep the cook , steward and doorman and moved in with his new friends . It was also Gerald Murphy who inspired the pale-faced « Old World » aristocrats to come to the Côte d ’ Azur for sunbathing . Before him , the fabulous « golden sands » of the Riviera barely ever had sunbathers ! Gerald was always on top of the latest art trends and scientific inventions . Back in his first days in Paris , he noticed the paintings of Georges Braque , Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris in La Boétie street windows . Struck by unusual shapes and bold colours , he decided to master painting , created several works that are featured in modern art museums today . His wife Sara kept up by taking lessons from Picasso himself , who happened to be their next-door neighbour .
Dangerous dreams
to stand out in everything that I do … I must assert myself … I can-
« I
have
not live without being loved , act without being praised …» — Fitzgerald confessed in 1935 to his secretary , Laura Guthrie . Ever since his childhood , Mr . Francis Scott Fitzgerald always wanted to become wealthy — very wealthy . All the other matters of this world — war , love , religion , scientific discoveries — were all perceived by him as cheap fiction , melodramatic stories and he wrote quite a lot of those to make money on the side . His difficult childhood largely accounts for his tragic life . As a boy , he was living between two fires : a kind but spineless father , bent under the weight of his debts , and an extravagant , overprotective mother — she would serve the young Francis sandwiches and coffee in bed and could show up in public wearing different-coloured shoes . Francis ’ only legacy was his vanity , multiplied by an amazing ability to notice the subtle details of human character . As a schoolboy he wrote a diary about his classmates . He was also outrageously brave , bordering on outright arrogance . If he were late for a Sunday service , he would shout to the priest : « Don ’ t mind me , carry on preaching !» Literature , for Fitzgerald , became a kind of a special world where all his dreams came true — but reincarnated in different characters , in different lives , sending him back to his Princeton years ( 1913 – 1917 ). His envious heart and overt narcissism repelled the editors of the top American publishing houses : « Our public will be insulted after reading your novel .» Eventually , however , after two years of painstaking work and rewrites , Francis published his first novel , « This Side of Paradise » in April , 1920 . The book brought him instant success , loads of money , and — most importantly — the consent of twenty-year-old Zelda Sayre and her well-to-do family from Alabama to wed the enamoured Fitzgerald .
Born tricksters
Both Francis and Zelda had always been mischievous . Back in grade school , the young Francis , tired of his teachers in the Catholic college , would amuse himself making prank calls . He would call a leg prosthetic firm and choke with laughter while keenly asking whether their products were squeaky or not . The « fidgety » Zelda , as her parents lovingly referred to her , would call the fire department from her room and ask , in mock sobs , to come and remove her brother from the roof as quickly as possible . Once they got together , Francis and Zelda carried on pranks and partying it up in the big city . They would ride on the roofs of taxis in Manhattan and appear stark naked at shows . The young couple ’ s real « feast of life », however , began in 1924 , in France . They first moved to Paris , where they partied with fellow artists like Hemingway , Picasso , Gertrude Stein , and Dalí . Then to the Riviera where they met Gerald and Sara Murphy — the heart and soul of the local « jet set ».
Life imitating art
It was not the Murphy ’ s connection to the art world that drew Fitzgerald ’ s attention ; it was the couple ’ s wealth ( Sara alone inherited $ 7,000 per year ). The heroine of his novel « Tender is the Night » does not buy paint and canvas on the Riviera , but a stunning novelty of the season , an insanely expensive inflatable crocodile . Thence the scene of Nicole Diver ’ s shopping frenzy . The character is a rich girl who succumbs to schizophrenia after accidental sex with her father . Sara Murphy , the prototype of this heroine , unsurprisingly « did not like the novel », to say the least ! In real life , Sara Murphy lived a seemingly normal life from every point of view , whereas Nicole Diver , discharged from a Swiss psychiatric hospital , is clearly inspired by Zelda Fitzgerald . Both their behaviour and medical history are the same . Baby Warren , another « Tender is the Night » heroine , voices the writer ’ s tiredness from helping Nicole ( Zelda ) find a way out from her disturbed mind ’ s quagmire : « How do you know where eccentricity ends and gives way to a mental illness ?»
Spiralling into madness
In August 1924 , Gerald and Sara stayed in Hotel du Cap during the renovation of their Villa America . One of those nights , Francis knocked on their door . He was pale , a candle trembling in his hand ,
86 / Hello Monaco Spring – Summer 2018