:01:00
but when you look back on it,
it was very strange.
:01:06
Well, it is ironic...
:01:08
to see how quickly
he has faded from memory...
:01:11
considering what
an astounding record he made.
:01:14
He was,
of course, very amusing...
:01:17
but at the same time
touched a nerve in people...
:01:21
perhaps in a way in which they
would prefer not to be touched.
:01:26
It certainly is
a very bizarre story.
:01:44
The year is 1928.
:01:47
America, enjoying a decade
of unequaled prosperity...
:01:51
has gone wild.
:01:52
The Jazz Age, it is called.
:01:54
The rhythms are syncopated.
The morals are looser.
:01:58
The liquor is cheaper,
when you can get it.
:02:01
It is a time of diverse heroes
and madcap stunts...
:02:06
of speak-easies
and flamboyant parties.
:02:10
One typical party occurs
at the Long lsland estate...
:02:13
of Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Porter Sutton...
:02:16
socialites,
patrons of the arts.
:02:19
Politicians and poets...
:02:21
rub elbows
with the cream of high society.
:02:24
Present at the party
is Scott Fitzgerald...
:02:27
who is to cast perspective
on the twenties...
:02:29
for all future generations.
:02:32
He writes in his notebook...
:02:33
about a curious little man
named Leon Selwyn, or Zelman...
:02:36
who seemed clearly
to be an aristocrat...
:02:39
and extolled the very rich
as he chatted with socialites.
:02:44
He spoke adoringly of Coolidge
and the Republican Party...
:02:47
all in an upper-class
Boston accent.
:02:49
"An hour later,"
writes Fitzgerald...
:02:51
"I was stunned
to see the same man...
:02:54
"speaking with
the kitchen help.
:02:56
"Now he claimed
to be a Democrat...
:02:59
"and his accent seemed coarse,
as if he were one of the crowd."