Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. He dropped out to join the army and to start writing more. At 21 he submitted his first novel, "The Romantic Egoist", which was rejected. He decided to rewrite it and resubmitted it only to get it rejected a second time. While in the army he met Zelda Sayre. She was not impressed with his income and would not marry him. His novel finally got accepted and they married a week after the publication. Fitzgerald wrote his second novel "The Beautiful and the Damned".
a year after they were married. Three years later, they had a child, Scottie, and he wrote "The Great Gatsby".
Near the end of his life Fitzgerald won a contract in 1937 to write for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Hollywood . He suffered a heart attack and died in 1940 at the age of 44. Fitzgerald's work did not earn the credibility and recognition it holds today until years after his death.
The US emerged from the Great War as a rich and powerful nation. American life changed dramatically in the 1920's, which saw the first trans-Atlantic phone call, the first movie with sound, first enclosed car, and the discovery of Penicilin. Prohibition was a part of the 20's. It made the consumption and even the possession of alcohol illegal. It was intended to lower crime and improve the general status of life. Women won the right to vote. They took the same jobs as men and fought for laws against inequality, Women wanted comfortable clothes, a freedom to do as men did--- smoking, free love, equality of opportunity and freedom of attire. Many women felt that to be as successful as a man they must appear to be un-feminine. Throughout the 1920s women hid the attributes given to them by nature: breasts, sloping shoulders, small waist, hips, and flowing hair. .
Everyone had a radio in the 20's. By the late 20's there were 100's of broadcasting stations and nearly 10 million privately owned radio sets.
