The Baby Party

Last updated

"The Baby Party" is a short story published by F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hearst's International Cosmopolitan (February 1925).

Contents

Plot

The story centers on a young couple, John and Edith Andros. They are the parents of Ede, their two-and-half-year-old daughter. Although the prospect of having a child to continue his name and livelihood appeals to the father, the day-to-day realities soon irritate him. Early on it is apparent this creates discord among the couple.

The daughter is invited to a party, which John begrudgingly attends. After Ede injures one of the other children, he ends up in a fistfight with another father. At the close of the story, he insists his wife apologize for the mess, and he holds his daughter while she falls asleep in his arms.

In the story the children have characteristics of adults while the adults act like children. [1]

History

"The Baby Party" was written while Fitzgerald was in his infamous period of financial hardship. He was completing the final proof stage for The Great Gatsby and needed to support himself financially. It was later collected in All the Sad Young Men .

Related Research Articles

Zelda Fitzgerald American novelist (1900–1948)

Zelda Fitzgerald was an American socialite, novelist, and painter.

Frances Scott Fitzgerald American journalist (1921–1986)

Frances Scott "Scottie" Fitzgerald was an American writer and journalist and the only child of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. She worked for The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Northern Virginia Sun, and others, and was a prominent member of the Democratic Party. She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1992.

<i>The Last Tycoon</i> 1941 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Last Tycoon is an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1941, it was published posthumously under this title, as prepared by his friend Edmund Wilson, a critic and writer. According to Publishers Weekly, the novel is "[g]enerally considered a roman a clef," with its lead character, Monroe Stahr, modeled after film producer Irving Thalberg. The story follows Stahr's rise to power in Hollywood, and his conflicts with rival Pat Brady, a character based on MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer.

<i>This Side of Paradise</i> 1920 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This Side of Paradise is the debut novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1920. The book examines the lives and morality of carefree American youth at the dawn of the Jazz Age. Its protagonist Amory Blaine is an attractive middle-class student at Princeton University who dabbles in literature and engages in a series of romances with flappers. The novel explores the theme of love warped by greed and status seeking, and takes its title from a line of Rupert Brooke's poem Tiare Tahiti.

<i>Tender Is the Night</i> 1934 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tender Is the Night is the fourth and final novel completed by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in French Riviera during the twilight of the Jazz Age, the 1934 novel chronicles the rise and fall of Dick Diver, a promising young psychiatrist, and his wife, Nicole, who is one of his patients. The story mirrors events in the lives of the author and his wife Zelda Fitzgerald as Dick starts his descent into alcoholism and Nicole descends into mental illness.

Gerald and Sara Murphy

Gerald Clery Murphy and Sara Sherman Wiborg were wealthy, expatriate Americans who moved to the French Riviera in the early 20th century and who, with their generous hospitality and flair for parties, created a vibrant social circle, particularly in the 1920s, that included a great number of artists and writers of the Lost Generation. Gerald had a brief but significant career as a painter.

<i>The Twenty-One Balloons</i>

The Twenty-One Balloons is a novel by William Pène du Bois, published in 1947 by the Viking Press and awarded the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1948. The story is about a retired schoolteacher whose ill-fated balloon trip leads him to discover Krakatoa, an island full of great wealth and fantastic inventions. The events and ideas are based both on scientific fact and imagination, and the descriptions are accompanied by illustrations by du Bois.

<i>The Beautiful and Damned</i> 1922 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Beautiful and Damned is a 1922 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in New York City, the novel's plot follows a young artist Anthony Patch and his flapper wife Gloria Gilbert who become "wrecked on the shoals of dissipation" while excessively partying at the dawn of the hedonistic Jazz Age. As Fitzgerald's second novel, the work focuses upon the swinish behavior and glittering excesses of the American social elite in the heyday of New York's café society.

Winter Dreams Short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Winter Dreams" is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that was first published in Metropolitan magazine in December 1922 and later collected in All the Sad Young Men in 1926. The plot concerns the attempts by a young man to win the affections of an upper-class woman. The story, frequently anthologized, is regarded as one of Fitzgerald's finest works "for poignantly portraying the loss of youthful illusions."

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (short story) Short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was first published in Collier's Magazine on May 27, 1922, with the cover and illustrations by James Montgomery Flagg. It was subsequently anthologized in Fitzgerald's 1922 book Tales of the Jazz Age, which is occasionally published as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories.

Sheilah Graham American gossip columnist

Sheilah Graham was a British-born, nationally syndicated American gossip columnist during Hollywood's "Golden Age". In her youth, she had been a showgirl and a freelance writer for Fleet Street in London. These early experiences would converge in her career in Hollywood, which spanned nearly four decades, as a successful columnist and author.

The Baby Train, or simply Baby Train, is an urban legend told in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. The legend first appeared in Christopher Morley's 1939 novel Kitty Foyle. According to the legend, a certain small town had an unusually high birth rate. This was allegedly caused by a freight train passing through the town and blowing its whistle, waking up all the residents. Since it was too late to go back to sleep and too early to get up, couples would have sex. This resulted in a mini-baby boom.

F. Scott Fitzgerald American novelist and screenwriter (1896–1940)

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American novelist, essayist, short story writer and screenwriter. He was best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularized. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.

<i>Baby Blues</i> (American TV series) American adult animated television series

Baby Blues is an American adult animated sitcom, based on the comic strip of the same name by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, produced by Warner Bros. The first eight episodes of Baby Blues originally aired in the United States on The WB between July 28 and August 24, 2000, before being canceled. The five remaining episodes from the first season eventually aired on Adult Swim in 2002. A second season, consisting of 13 episodes, was produced but never aired.

Ginevra King American socialite and heiress (1898–1980)

Ginevra King Pirie was an American socialite and heiress. She was the inspiration for many characters in the novels and stories of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald; in particular, the character of Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby. King and Fitzgerald shared a passionate romance from 1915 to 1917, but their relationship stagnated after King's family intervened, and her father warned the young writer that "poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls".

<i>All the Sad Young Men</i> 1926 story collection by F. Scott Fitzgerald

All the Sad Young Men is the third collection of short stories written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published by Scribners in February 1926.

Daughters, also known as Our Mother's Murder is a 1997 made-for-TV drama film directed by Bill L. Norton, and stars Holly Marie Combs and Sarah Chalke who play Alex and Annie, the two eldest daughters of the main character Anne.

<i>November Christmas</i>

November Christmas is a 2010 American made-for-television Christmas drama film based on a short story written by Greg Coppa. The film depicts a young couple struggling with the illness of their daughter, and the effect their family had on the small, rural community they have become a part of. The film was shot in Nova Scotia. It was presented through Hallmark Hall of Fame, and premiered on CBS on November 28, 2010.

"Babylon Revisited" is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, written in 1930 and first published on February 21, 1931 in the Saturday Evening Post and free inside The Telegraph, the following Saturday.

"The Adjuster" is a short story written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story appears in Fitzgerald's third collection of short stories All the Sad Young Men, published by Scribners in February 1926. The story depicts the troubled relationship of married couple Luella and Charles Hemple, living in New York City in 1925.

References

  1. The Portable F. Scott Fitzgerald, D Parker, 1949, The Viking Press