May 8, 2023, 3:33pm
Probably not, but it seems likely that he said it. That’s according to an unpublished letter, sent by Fitzgerald to a long-lost cousin back in the spring of 1924, which is going under the hammer this week.
In the handwritten note, which Fitzgerald wrote on the eve of a trip to Europe with Zelda and their daughter, the by-then extremely famous novelist denies “all complicity in that ‘all women over 35–’ article [which] was written by a lady interviewer and titled by a silly editor.”
A lady interviewer, no less.
This denial was in reference to article published by B. F. Wilson in Metropolitan Magazine, which quoted Fitzgerald’s less-than-flattering remarks about flappers as well as his thoughts on “the superiority of men over women.” The article also quoted Zelda Fitzgerald (a woman not known to mince words) on her husband’s views of the fairer sex:
“[Scott’s] just a crank on the subject of women. He says that all women over thirty-five should be murdered.”
For the low low price of $15,000, you can own this odd literary artifact, which would make a perfect gift for the aging lady interviewer in your life.