JAZZ AGE Doll (back)Drama 114 p. (Nicholl semi-finalist script 1997)
A snapshot into the life of one of America’s most famous wives,
Zelda Fitzgerald, who descended into mercurial madness with the help of husband
F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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FADE IN: "JAZZ AGE DOLL"
EXT. MALMAISON SANATORIUM, OUTSIDE PARIS DAY
Glass breaks. A burning suitcase sails out the second floor window of the stately
"Malmaison" mental institution.
TITLE READS: MALMAISON, APRIL 1930
White-clad NURSE and ORDERLY rush up the stone walkway to the front entrance.
ORDERLY
Mon Dieu. L’Americaine encore.
Madame Fitzgerald.
NURSE
La beaute sans vertu est une
fleur sans parfum, non?
DR. OSCAR FOREL, Germanic-looking, a clinical psychiatrist in residence, joins
the two as they make their way inside the heavy doors.
FOREL
In Switzerland, the mad are far less
maddening.
INT. MALMAISON HALLWAY
Thick smoke wafts along the plush walls. Well-dressed array of the UNWELL claw
at each other, disoriented.
A young MAN opens and closes an umbrella in their path as Dr. Forel and the nurses
push past.
EXT. ZELDA’S ROOM
A name card on the door READS: MRS. F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, which has been scratched
over in eyeliner to READ: ZELDA!
Dr. Forel BANGS on the door.
DR. FOREL
Madame Fitzgerald? Open immediately.
BAD SINGING heard in the b.g., Zelda mangles a line from a 20’s pop song
"Powder and Paint".
TWO ORDERLIES smash in her door. Dr. Forel waves away a wall of smoke.
Hysterical LAUGHTER erupts from the bathroom. Obscene eye-pencil drawings
on the walls point toward the lav.
INT. ZELDA’S BATHROOM
ZELDA SAYRE FITZGERALD, 30, blonde hair wrapped in curl papers, presides
over a serious fire in the bathtub. She’s blackened from the ordeal.
All of her clothes and many possessions have gone up in flames. She has a
strong Southern accent, out of place here.
FOREL
Madame Fitzgerald, you have defiled
your room.
ZELDA
Kick me out. All the best hotels do.
FOREL
You are not yourself.
ZELDA
I have nothing suitable to wear for a
place like this. Absolutely nothing.
As Dr. Forel douses the raging fire with the shower head; Zelda SHRIEKS.
ZELDA
SAVE THE LALIQUE! Idiots. It’s Lalique.
She makes a mad grab for a scorched porcelain ballerina with one leg broken
off; it takes all in the room to restrain this superhuman urge to save the
burned figurine.
INT. EGLANTINE WARD
Not plush, a complete departure from the fancy main building. Sterile and
completely secure, white tiles, minimal furniture, equipped like a 30’s hospital.
Zelda is strapped down in a straight jacket on a gurney that is tilted at a
45-degree angle. Her blonde hair in reckless disorder, the curl papers removed.
She is listless and lifeless. Dr. Forel snaps his fingers in front of her eyes.
DR. FOREL
Do you know who you are, Madame?
He watches her for a moment. No response, then motions for a red-haired nurse
MAGDA THIERRY, who is about to administer an injection into Zelda’s exposed neck.
Just as the needle gets close to her jugular, Zelda’s face lights up, a wide,
weird grin. Her tone is uneven, too loud.
ZELDA
Come now, let’s all sing along.
I’ve been dry so long I forgot
how to shimmy. How’s that for the
record books? No wood alcohol today.
DR. FOREL
Do you know why you are here?
Zelda’s constrained body convulses, fights against the restraints.
DR. FOREL
Please, Madame. Do you know why
you are here?
ZELDA
Because I made the pact with a devil.
Who happens to pay your bills.
DR. FOREL
There are no devils here, only Freud.
No evil, only science.
ZELDA
Tell me that after you’ve been
crushed under the heel of art.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is my conjurer.
I am vile. I am sweet. I am Daisy.
Or Gloria. Or any glittering slut to
appear on the page for your amusement.
DR. FOREL
(to nurse)
Delusional.
ZELDA
For days I have had buildings tremble
and collapse around me. Have heard
ghastly things from the curtain rod;
and no one will tell me why I can
no longer play tennis.
DR. FOREL
We are going to induce an insulin coma.
We hope it will bring you out of
this psychosis. You will wake up in
Switzerland. Be yourself again.
ZELDA
Myself? I am the muse who struck back.
Tip of syringe looms large.
ZELDA
(nods toward needle)
Mesdames and Messieurs,
she is fresh out of mythology.
Nurse Thierry plunges the needle into Zelda’s thin neck.
Wild convulsions; froth spews from her mouth. The body shudders violently.
She hangs by a thread to lucidity.
ZELDA
‘Plus petite et moins entendue...’
FADE TO BLACK
EXT. PRANGINS CLINIC, NYON, SWITZERLAND DAY
Swiss Alps can be seen in the distance. This clinic is far less imposing,
gorgeous grounds and view.
An American late model 1920’s Ford, pulls up to the grand entrance. A nervous
woman, ROSALIND SAYRE SMITH, 40s, struggles out of the car in her heavy black
mourning dress.
The driver, her husband, NEWMAN SMITH, late 40s, stays at the wheel.
NEWMAN
Sure you want to go it alone?
ROSALIND
Southern women do everything alone,
dear. You showed me that.
NEWMAN
Don’t take it out on me.
ROSALIND
(smiling)
You go find that drunken bastard
and bring him back here. That’s
your assignment for the day, peach.
NEWMAN
What will you do in there?
ROSALIND
I’ll answer their questions. Flutter
my eyelashes. Get her on the first boat out.
Go. Now. Bring me the head of Fitzgerald.
With the hot spit that’s left in it.
INT. RECEIVING AREA, PRANGINS CLINIC
Rosalind is besieged by grasping hands. Nurse Magda Thierry greets her; does
nothing to stop the curious PATIENTS who touch Rosalind’s dress and hair.
MAGDA
The Visitors are all insane, Madame.
That’s why they are here.
ROSALIND
That’s not why I’m here.
(loud to Patients)
Enough. Hands off.
They continue to paw at her undeterred.
ROSALIND
(slaps at hands on her)
I can do without a welcome wagon.
MAGDA
Most of them do not speak English.
ROSALIND
Why my sister is locked up with a
bunch of real lunatics is beyond my
limited capacity to understand.
MAGDA
You must prepare yourself. She is
one of our most challenging cases.
One day she is perhaps close to
normal; next day, she is chewing
the velvet flowers off her dress --
ROSALIND
I’ll speak to the doctor myself.
Zelda is quite theatrical when
she wants to be. Full of pranks.
A YOUNG GIRL in the hallway collapses in front of them, chokes on her
balled up tongue which cuts off her oxygen.
Magda whisks Rosalind by her. Orderlies descend on the girl.
INT. DOCTOR’S QUARTERS, PRANGINS CLINIC
A sumptuous buffet has been prepared, complete with silverware. No expense
is spared in the number and variety of dishes.
Dr. Forel stares at Rosalind, who is clearly too uncomfortable to eat.
He is flanked by his aging father, gifted science professor AUGUSTE FOREL,
80s, and the red-haired nurse Magda Thierry.
FOREL
Madame, the veal is getting cold.
ROSALIND
At one thousand American dollars a
month per "Guest", I imagine you
have the resources to reheat it.
AUGUSTE
Won’t you enjoy my son’s hospitality?
ROSALIND
I was asked to come here for Zelda.
It’s a little galling to wait until
dessert is served.
FOREL
Pray begin, then. You said there
is no history of mental illness in
your family. Perhaps some event
in Zelda’s youth holds the key --
ROSALIND
(indicates old man)
We’re in mixed company. My sister
was a free spirit, doctor.
AUGUSTE
She was a vixen? Tramp? A whore?
ROSALIND
A libertine. The new American woman.
EXT. SAYRE TOWNHOUSE, MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA NIGHT
A fine Southern brick house with potted plants on the stairs. Zelda,
radiant at 18, is swamped by young SOLDIERS in uniform. Some grab at her
legs and skirt; war’s over and the boys are home.
Victory drum BOOMS in the distance.
ROSALIND (V.O.)
She wasn’t born until she was 18.
Thrown into the post-Great War chaos.
With no training. No manners. Mother
said she was ‘knitting a god, fashioning
a moral universe’ as she went along.
Zelda stands on the top of the stairs, whips her skirt up at the crowd of
WWI SOLDIERS. Garters bared, braless.
Doughboys ARCHIE and TED glom all over each other to get a glimpse of Zelda.
ZELDA
(shouts to cheering crowd)
Good riddance Kaiser Wilhelm!
Zelda does a mock striptease dance on the long flight of stone stairs to
her front door; each step a little racier.
TED
I heard she spreads; I don’t mean rumors.
ARCHIE
You should see how much she can put
away.
TED
I’d like to die between her legs.
ARCHIE
Whither and shrivel?
TED
Watch it, Arch, I still got my
bayonet.
ARCHIE
Even the century turned when
she was born. Her father’s a judge,
I hear. A hanging judge.
TED
This one’s tailor-made for jail.
Another soldier, PRIVATE F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, creeps out of the shadows,
joins them but does not laugh.
FITZGERALD
You have to be under sixteen to
be illegal. This girl is definitely
over the limit.
CLOSE ON: ZELDA
She has made it to the end of the stairs, stops her trance dance right beside
Archie and Ted, ignores Fitzgerald.
The crowd HOOTS; expects a speech. She simply smiles.
ZELDA
(mutters under her breath)
May you all die in a marble ring...
With that, she reaches under her skirt, wiggles out of her panties and throws
them into the crowd.
Fitzgerald, shocked and motionless, is completely smitten.
EXT. ROSALIND’S WINDOW
She stares down at Zelda, who is pawed from all directions but seems to have
control of the situation.
ROSALIND
March the troops on the move, Zelda.
We’re trying to enjoy the Peace.
EXT. MONTGOMERY MAIN DRAG NIGHT
Zelda has been hoisted up on to a half dozen men’s shoulders. Who each strain
for a glimpse under her skirt.
It’s a street adorned for another grueling victory party. World War I is over,
the aristocracy is dead in Europe and America has lost its compass in these heady days.
Fitzgerald follows the boisterous crowd, an outsider though dressed like all
of them. Transfixed with the girl on high.
CUT TO: DINING HALL PRANGINS CLINIC
Dr. Forel taps his fork on his glass.
FOREL
Dessert. We are ready for dessert?
ROSALIND
(taken aback)
You interrupted me, sir.
FOREL
Surely you don’t think the details
of a healthy young girl in bloom
constitute a psychological event.
I hope you are able to comprehend
the gravity of her condition. This
is not a place for "rest cures". We’ve
had to shock her body out of catatonia
three times. She has choked on her
own vomit; hears voices in the walls;
and swallowed a foot of rubber tubing.
Pumped her stomach to prevent a suicide.
This is a very ill woman, Madame.
ROSALIND
She just wants attention.
FOREL
Perhaps we can replace a version of
herself. Give back the ‘true’ Zelda.
ROSALIND
My sister disobeyed every rule known
to man and god. She was a cock tease.
A loose woman. Which still means
something in America, doctor...
EXT. SAYRE ORCHARD NIGHT
Peach grove behind the townhouse. Zelda shines in the moonlight, picks fruit
in the dark; Fitzgerald lays on the ground.
ROSALIND (V.O.)
It was on that Victory night she met
him, the gasoline to her flame...
FITZGERALD
"Dear Lady, had we but world enough
and time."... Blah, blah... your virtue
would undoubtedly be mine. Blah, blah.
ZELDA
F. Scott? What’s the "F." stand for?
FITZGERALD
I was reciting a poem, my dear trollop.
It’s good that you have no shame. Shame
is a crippling disease. Bad for fiction.
(beat)
That was Andrew Marvell, poet. Seducer.
He has done well for me. I get to the
last line: ‘and roll each other up into
a ball, push our way through the gates
of life’... and then I strike.
ZELDA
Why don’t you just take out your claws
and scratch two red vines down my back?
FITZGERALD
Beg pardon?
ZELDA
You haven’t any claws? What a shame.
Six inches of sensitivity, such is man.
FITZGERALD
I refuse to be judged like a show pony.
ZELDA
Modesty doesn’t shine quite as
well in my moonlight, lover. Queen
Victoria has been dust for almost
twenty years. Didn’t you know?
FITZGERALD
You’re no wall flower.
ZELDA
For a man of words, you certainly
do a great impression of an armadillo.
FITZGERALD
You’d let me? Anything? Everything?
Right in back of your own house?