History Pages his eyes looked wild : « I think my Zelda is ill . Not deliberately ill , she cannot do anything about it .» They ran into her room and saw an empty jar of sleeping pills . The dose was considerable , but not deadly . Not to let Zelda lose herself in a lethal slumber , they walked her up and down the stairs all night . The « distracted farniente » that the Fitz geralds saught on the French Riviera proved anything but . A year after downing the sleeping pills and jealous of Francis ’ attention to famed dancer Isadora Duncan , Zelda threw herself headfirst down a staircase . She survived by a miracle . In 1930 , after a long struggle in the best Swiss and American clinics , Zelda Fitzgerald finally went mad . Her diagnosis was schizophrenia . The curly haired « fidgety » girl , a talented artist and writer , the muse of one of America ’ s greatest novelists lost her balance on the diamond-lined path of luxury . While hospitalized , she wrote novels with fictional , but quite recognizable characters . Her first opus , « Save Me the Waltz » dwells on love , family and creativity . Zelda ’ s revelations , snatched from Francis ’ own notes , show Fitzgerald feeling cornered . He left Zelda to work on a screenplay in Hollywood , where he died suddenly from a heart attack at age 44 . Zelda never finished her second novel . In 1948 , she died in a fire at Highland Hospital , outliving her husband by eight years .
Just picture you upon my knee Just tea for two and two for tea And me for you and you for me …. ( F . S . Fitzgerald « Tender is the night », part 2 , chapter XII ).
The great influencers
And what about Gerald and Sara Murphy ? In 1934 , during the height of the Great Depression , Gerald heavy heartedly took over his father ’ s company in America . He was relieved of this burden in 1956 , to his greatest relief . He died in 1964 in New York . In his memoirs , he mainly mentions friends , art and relationships from the 1920s and 30s , or the « jazz era » as the Fitz geralds used to call it . Not a word about mo ney , inflatable crocodiles or golden sands . Sara Murphy was a great influence to the Riviera art scene . Friends with Picasso , she is featured in five of his paintings . In the 1930s , she settled in New York to care for her children , losing two of the three to childhood illness . She died in West Virginia in 1974 . Their beloved Villa America changed hands a few times after the Murphys departed for the United States . After being sold in 1950 for a mere $ 27,000 , it was acquired by the Swiss watch manufacturer , Tissot . They destroyed the home to build a new , modern property , which was then gifted to a Russian owner . Unfortunately , no effort was made to retain the illustrious past of this historic villa or its exotic gardens . Château de la Garoupe , the home of Gerald Murphy ’ s good friend Cole Porter , was where the Murphys were first hosted on the Côte d ’ Azur and led to their infatuation with the region . This villa was purchased in 1996 by Boris Berezovsky , a Russian oligarch and friend to Boris Yeltzin . In 2013 , Mr Berezovsky died of an apparent suicide in the UK , though it was ruled as an open case . In 2017 , the French government seized the property over a case of fraud and money laundering . The Murphys inspired many literary characters of the time , including the couple in Hemingway ’ s « Garden of Eden », and the 2007 play « Villa America » by Chrispin Whittell . Two biographies of the couple were written , « Living Well is the Best Revenge » by Calvin Tomkins and « Everybody was So Young » by Amanda Vail . In 1982 , their only surviving child , Honoria Murphy , wrote :
The Mad Beach Party , La Garoupe Beach 1923
Sara Murphy with her children : sons Baoth , Patrick and daughter Honoria
How do you know where eccentricity ends and gives way to a mental illness ?
« Sara & Gerald : Villa America and After .» Ge rald and Sara Murphy certainly left their mark on the Côte d ’ Azur . From the tragedies of the real life characters , it is perhaps better to stick with Fitzgerald ’ s novel , which is not nearly as sad as his own biography . « Tender is the Night » describes a Riviera bursting with joy , art , enjoyment , azure waters , and is fabulously tender — like a Mediterranean night .
© arjay . typepad . com
© 4 . bp . blogspot . com rus
ГДЕ СУТЬ
Hôtel du Cap , Antibes — always arrive in style !
Джеральд Мерфи , прототип доктора Ричарда Дайвера в романе Ф . С . Фицджеральда « Ночь нежна », в интервью газете « Нью-Йоркер » от 28 июля 1962 года вспоминает свои первые впечатления от этой книги и сравнивает их с ощущениями в преклонном возрасте ( Джеральд на двадцать четыре года пережил Фрэнсиса , скончавшегося от сердечного приступа в Голливуде в 1940 году в возрасте 44 лет ): « Нам с Сарой ( жена Джеральда — прим . ред .) было странно читать этот роман . Сара невзлюбила его тогда и не смогла смириться с ним сейчас . Недавно я перечитал его — впервые с тех
Hello Monaco Spring – Summer 2018 / 87