01x05 - The It Girl

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Z: The Beginning of Everything". Aired November 2015 - January 2017.*
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"Z: The Beginning of Everything" is focussed on the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, the "brilliant, beautiful and talented Southern Belle who becomes the original flapper and icon of the wild, flamboyant Jazz Age in the 1920s".
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01x05 - The It Girl

Post by bunniefuu »

♪♪ [theme]

♪♪ [piano]

[crowd chattering]

Thank you.

Man: Mr. Fitzgerald, I'm your very biggest fan America has.

It's such an exciting voice you have.

I read it from cover to cover.

Greatest book I've read in ages.

A masterpiece.

It's as if you're writing about me.

Oh.

No empty glasses [tapping on glass]

No empty glasses. This is from my personal stock.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Harold Ober.

The greatest literary agent an an author could ask for.

It's easy when you represent such remarkable authors.

And on the subject of remarkable, it's quite something when a novel sells its way through a 5,000-copy printing.

Now meet the wonder boy of the year, Mr. F. Scott Fitzgerald, who has sold his way through a whopping 20,000 copies in two weeks.

Man: Bravo.

[applause]

[crowd clamoring]

From H.L. Mencken, who, as is to be expected, says it better than the rest of us, "Just read 'Paradise.' Stop.

"Then best American novel I've seen of late.

"Stop.

"I pity the next book I pick up.

End. Stop."

It's a rare author that debuts to universal praise.

Man: Bravo!

Nearly universal.

Now, now, no more about Heywood Broun.

Nobody reads the "Tribune" anyway.

[applause]

Ober: To Scott Fitzgerald.

To all of you for your infinite good taste.

All: Cheers!

Man: Well done!

Scott, there's someone I want you to meet.

You know Jerry, this is nephew, went to Princeton, class of '16?

Oh, of course... [continues indistinct]

Dutch!

Quite the occasion.

Oh, isn't it?

I'm so happy for Scott, I'm grinning like a possum.

Look at you, Zelda.

You certainly know how to stand out in a room. Don't you think, sister?

Nothing makes me homesick like a well placed ruffle.

We're having tea at the Ritz tomorrow, darling.

Do say you'll come.

Oh.

Vincent!

Man: Miss Millay!

Edna St. Vincent Millay, the poet.

Hello, darling. Who is this?

Zelda Fitzgerald. How do you do?

The wife.

That's right. Mrs. Fitzgerald.

Vincent Millay.

I thought there was an Edna or Saint in there someplace.

Oh, I've never been much of an Edna.

And no one would call me a saint.

Well, I've read all your poetry.

I'm sure I'm one of your biggest fans.

"My candle burns at both ends;

"It will not last the night;

"But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends...

It gives a lovely light!"

Oh, it's just gorgeous.

How lovely, you memorized all four lines.

Well, I've always wanted to meet you, and now I certainly have.

Oh, I don't know what she thought would happen, waltzing around the Algonquin in that f*cking frock.

Girl reeks of antebellum.

Mm-hmm.

Zelda, there you are.

Here I am.

I need more time with you.

We are going to have to make a date to go shopping.

Oh.

That way I get you all to myself.

Yes. Let's do that.

The Bankheads lost their accents.

You'd never know they were from Montgomery.

Tallulah's an actress.

Oh, is she, darling?

[chuckles]

I love your drawl, darling girl.

Don't you ever lose it.

Lose it? I wouldn't know how.

You are a genuine marvel.

Someone should kiss you.

Someone should.

The priority, my dear boy, is your next novel.

The entire country is waiting to see what F. Scott Fitzgerald will think of next.

Absolutely.

You're a fine artist, Fitzgerald.

The literary world awaits.

However, the Biltmore also awaits.

Payment for a certain room?

1815?

So perhaps a story for, say, "Collier's" or "McCall's."

Every magazine is clamoring for your next short story.

It's your bread and butter.

[laughs] Who's bread and butter?

Submit a story that they've already rejected.

See if the name Fitzgerald means something to them now.

And as to the advance, you realize that it's meetings like this that take up all my writing time.

Well, let's not worry, shall we?

The book reading today will benefit all of us.

What book reading.

At the National Arts Club.

I didn't agree to that, did I?

As I recall, a couple Martinis, and you thought it was a marvelous idea.

You can't take my drunken word for it.

What else have we?

It'll be grand. Fans, critics.

H.L. Mencken.

Burton Rascoe. Heywood Broun.

But Broun hates me.

Only until he hears you read.

♪♪ [piano]

Well, they just keep coming and going.

Isn't it wonderful?

Anything you ladies would like to try on, we're at your service.

Zelda?

No, no.

Now, this.

What do you think?

Now, Zelda, where would you wear at thing like that?

Well, that's the fun.

You put the gown on, and then you're practically obligated to find an occasion worthy of the thing.

Shall I try it on?

If you'd like.

I'm just afraid that a dress like that would end up wearing you.

But I would love to see you in a number like this.

Oh, I don't know.

A Jean Patou suit makes you look like you were born in the city.

Of course, it's up to you, dear. Try it on.

All right.

Mm-hmm.

Shall I come with you?

Please do.

Thank you.

Your dear husband is just going to lose his mind when he sees you in your new suit.

Ladies?

Waldorf salad, thank you.

Could the kitchen make me some tomato finger sandwiches?

Of course.

Thank you.

Well, what's thepoint of a dress if it doesn't send a man straight to the asylum?

God bless Scott for knowing something clothing.

I swear, I could wear a burlap sack and Harold wouldn't even blink.

When did you and Scott talk about fashion?

Last night at the party.

Scott told me that you came to town with a trunk full of clothes from Montgomery, that's all.

And when he suggested that you might want to pick up a few new things, I jumped at the chance to take you on your first trip to Ladies Mile.

How sweet of you.

Not half as sweet as Scott.

You should have heard him go on about what styles would suit you best.

He must have said a dozen times the suit had to be a Jen Patou.

If you asked Harold, "What's a Patou?"

He'd probably say, "Gesundheit."

He's just gonna die when he sees you.

What about the part where Amory is trying time kiss Eleanor and he calls her stupid?

Am I the muse?

It's a favorite of mine as well.

It's possibly too callow for this crowd.

You. Callow.

Immature perhaps.

This... This crowd will be filled with high-brow literati.

I have to choose the perfect passage.

I'll ask Zelda. She'll know.

Darling girl, I need your help.

Is that so? I thought it was the other way around.

What does that mean?

I suppose there's some reason you sent that woman to pick out my clothes like I was a child, but I can't for the life of me imagine what it is.

I was trying to help.

I just wanted to make you feel that you belonged here.

The women in this city, they have a uniform.

I don't care what the women wear.

And I have no idea why you're so worried about it.

Zelda, I love you. I just want people to see you the way that I see you.

No one can see you under a thousand ruffles.

I like ruffles. And how is this dress any different than the ones I wore in Montgomery when you were telling me how beautiful I was?

We're not in Montgomery any more.

I'm well aware.

Zelda, this is our time to soar!

We need to put our best foot forward.

You were at the party. You saw how they were dressed.

We need to ma...

That Heywood Broun is right about you.

You're just as phony and juvenile and pretentious as they say.

I know you don't mean that.

Oh, I mean it.

I mean it with all my heart.

You're ashamed of me, Scott Fitzgerald?

Well, I'm ashamed of you.

I thought I married a man.

And here I am standing in front of an insecure little boy.

[sighs]

Darling, can we just talk?

I'm about to leave for the Arts Club.

This is my first reading.

You have to come.

I need you there with me.

I don't care what you wear.

You're always the most beautiful woman in the room.

Please?
[pounds on door]

I was trying to help.

[door opens, closes]

There you are.

I can't do this.

Of course you can.

No.

Harold, I really can't.

You can, Scott, and you will.

Look over my shoulder. There. To the left.

Henry? Might we borrow you?

My dear Fitzgerald, it's a pleasure.

Mr. Mencken, the pleasure is all mine.

I've read nearly every piece that you've ever published.

I'm honored to... to have been included.

The honor's all mine.

It's not every day we find the fresh voice of a new generation.

Hell of a book, Fitzgerald.

Hell of a book!

Zelda: I'd always believed I was a woman of adventure.

Someone ready to experiment and experience all life could offer.

But it seems after all, I may be nothing but an impediment to the man I love.

Fitzgerald, have you met Heywood Broun?

We should probably move along.

Oh, but we've only just met.

Mr. Broun. It's a pleasure.

I read the "Tribune," of course.

And I read your little debut novel, of course It was quite an interesting, let's see, what did I call it?

We all know what you called it, Heywood.

And we all know you were wrong.

But then, you're so often wrong... so difficult to take your words seriously.

Thankfully people read the paper for other reasons.

Door was open.

You're missing the reading.

And so are you.

There'll be others. Drink?

[clears throat]

"Youth is like having a big plate of candy."

"Sentimentalists... [clears throat] ...think that they want to be in the pure, simple state they were in... before they"...

Uh...

"They were in before they ate the candy."

"They don't"...

Man: Could you speak up lease?

Pardon me? What was that?

We can't hear you in the back.

[clears throat] I think it might be best if I started from the beginning.

"Youth is like having a big plate of candy."

"Sentimentalists think they want to be in the pure, simple state they were in before they ate the candy."

I still think it was a cowardly thing to do, If he didn't like the way I dressed, he could have told me.

And how would that have gone exactly?

Couldn't have gone worse.

Give me that bottle.

Zelda, you're not like his other women.

You're a challenge.

You're smart and witty and fearless.

He might not always know how to deal with that.

He'd better learn.

He basically married the heroine of his stories.

This city doesn't make a lick of sense to me.

I don't know what I'm doing here.

No one does.

Somewhere to be?

The Bankheads invited me to tea at the Ritz and I accepted, although I can't, for the life of me, think why.

Because one says "no" to the Bankheads.

I don't want to go.

Then don't.

If I don't go, they'll think I can't keep up.

I have to go.

What?

I don't have anything to wear, Luddy.

Just these Montgomery dresses and that godforsaken suit.

If you wore this... you'd be the snazziest bird at the Ritz.

I wouldn't worry too much.

I know you're an author, not an actor.

Good God, Ober, is that the best you got.

In this case, yes.

It will no doubt be immortalized by...

There's the little prick now.

g*dd*mn bottom feeder.

Fitzgerald, I don't think this is the time.

Mr. Broun.

I think I understand why you became a critic.

You understand everything, I imagine.

I can smell it on your breath.

People like you don't have to sweat and toil to create something for the ages.

Come on, Fitzgerald, let's go.

Yes. Why don't you run along?

No. All you do is you sit around and you wait for a man braver than yourself to attempt greatness, and then you rip him to shreds.

There's no need to take this to a personal place Mr. Fitzgerald.

I reviewed your book, not you.

Lucky for you, I wrote one.

'Cause without it, all you'd do is sit around and fiddle with your d*ck.

Scott!

I can see you're upset, Mr. Fitzgerald.

I'll say adieu.

I have written a great book.

I am a great writer.

A writer that people will remember.

And you know what they will remember you for?

Nothing.

So off you go, Mr. Heywood Broun.

Off into the great abyss of the forgotten.

That's exactly why I didn't like your writing.

You have such a gift for cliché.

Good afternoon.

♪♪ [piano]

Hello, madam.

Hello. I'm meeting the Bankheads.

They're in the back.

Oh, thank you.

Of course.

Will you look at that?

Gorgeous.

Darling.

I love your suit.

Je l'aime bien!

I'm shocked she got out of bed this morning.

I would have slept till I was dead.

What are you two going on about?

Her man's got another girl. Everyone knew. Now she does too.

Vincent, you showed.

Sometimes I do.

Oh, look at you in your Patou.

My darling.

You heard.

I imagine you have.

Well, of course, we hate her.

We've always hated her.

I'm sure there are women who can wear lipstick and rouge without looking like a jezebel, but Eleanor Boardman is not one of them.

Her hemlines don't help.

The real crime is her hair. Who let her cut it all off?

She says she did it to be "modern."

I heard it was a nasty case of ringworm.

Tallulah: She rarely bathes.

Eugenia: Is that why she's been wearing a turban?

Vincent: A happy accident.

At least the turban gives her a look.

[chuckling]

Mrs. Fitzgerald, do you have a thought?

Surely we have better things to do than tear a woman to pieces over a matter of fashion.

Well, darling, it's not like the lady is here.

And it's not like the lady's a lady.

Maybe she is dreadful. I don't know.

I'm sorry she stole your beau, Vincent.

You seem terribly broken up over it.

If you'll excuse me, I'm finding it hard to breathe.

Miss! No! Your hair!

What are you doing?

Is there a barber in the hotel?

Zelda?

I haven't been married in months.

I feel like the whole thing's over and done with.

Marriage is a wonderful institution, my boy.

But as I always say, who wants to live in an institution?

That's the truth.

It's all I speak.

The trouble is, I do.

I want to be in that institution if she's there, too.

That is a problem.

Man: Yes, ma'am.

Don't I know it.

Zelda?

Good God.

[chuckles]

You look incredible.

I'm sorry that I was so thoughtless.

I tried the group out.

I really did, but...

I just can't be like everybody else.

Well, thank God.

'Cause you are the only one that I want.

Mr. Fitzgerald.

[camera flash pops]

Man: Who's the lady?

Man 2: What's your name, honey?

What's your name?

Gentlemen, may I introduce...

Mrs. Scott Fitzgerald?

You can call me Zelda.

Zelda! - Zelda!

Right here!

♪ Ain't she sweet? ♪
♪ See her coming down the street ♪
♪ Now I ask you very confidentially ♪
♪ Ain't she sweet? ♪
♪ Ain't she nice? ♪
♪ Look her over once or twice ♪
♪ Now I ask you very confidentially ♪
♪ Ain't she nice? ♪
♪ Just cast an eye in her direction ♪
♪ Oh me, oh my ♪
♪ Ain't that perfection? ♪
♪ I repeat ♪
♪ Don't you think that's kind of neat? ♪
♪ And I ask you very confidentially ♪
♪ Ain't she sweet? ♪
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