Blue Ridge Country Jan/Feb 2025 - 28

MOUNT AIN CURIOSITIE S MOUNT AIN CURIOSITIE S
T H E M I X ED B L E S SI N G S OF REM EM B ERI N G F. S C O T T FITZ G ER A L D
Celebrating, '20s Style
For an Asheville native with both six-degree and fandom ties to Scott and Zelda
Fitzgerald, a night of stepping into the flair and feel of 100 years ago provided a
fanciful taste of their life and times.
BY MARLA HARDEE MILLING | PHOTOS COURTESY OMNI GROVE PARK INN
F
amed writer F. Scott
Fitzgerald and his beloved
wife, Zelda, knew how
to embrace the decadent
1920s. They drank and
danced and partied their way across
New York City and beyond to Europe.
They personified the glamour and glitz
of what Fitzerald dubbed " The Jazz
Age, " yet they were wreckless in love and
in life.
R. Clifton Spargo, who authored
" Beautiful Fools, The Last Affair of Zelda
and Scott Fitzgerald, " detailed some
of their shenanigans in a 2013 article
writing, " As a young married couple they
took New York City by storm, stripping
and splashing in the fountain outside the
Plaza Hotel, spinning round and round
in the revolving doors of the Commodore
Hotel until the exasperated management
asked them to leave, and riding
Guests looked like they had just stepped out of a 1920s
fashion magazine. The women wore colorful flapper
dresses embellished with a ton of sequins, beads and fringe
hemlines, fancy headbands, and in some cases, long gloves.
Some of the men wore top hats and spats.
on the hood of moving taxi cabs. "
I've always wondered what it would
be like to attend a party with the flamboyant
Fitzgeralds. Even though their
lives spiraled into depression and madness
and loss, the image of them laughing
and stealing the show during their
heyday in the Roaring '20s has always
had a pull on me.
In many ways, my fascination with the
Fitzgeralds is linked with my interest in
Thomas Wolfe. I grew up hearing stories
about Wolfe from my grandmother, who
grew up knowing Tom and other members
of his family. My great-grandmother,
who died a week before I was born, also
held a close friendship with the Wolfes.
Asheville was a smaller place in those
years and most everyone knew everyone
else, which is why Wolfe's novel, " Look
Homeward, Angel, " brought him death
threats. People recognized the neighbors
he was writing about in his book
and didn't always appreciate his truth.
My grandmother was a personal friend
of Tom, and Tom was a personal friend
of Fitzgerald. I love having a six-degrees
type of connection to these writers.
It's been a long-time bucket list item,
of sorts, to find a portal to the past where
I could " meet " the Fitzgeralds. I recently
found a way to check it off my list, not
by going backwards, but by stepping forward
into a modern rendition of a jazz
evening around 100 years later.
I recently found myself at a Gin
& Jazz weekend at the Omni Grove
Park Inn in Asheville, held in honor of
F. Scott Fitzgerald's birthday. Guests
looked like they had just stepped out of
28 BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
Marla Milling
dressed for the
occasion.
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Blue Ridge Country Jan/Feb 2025

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