I know, I could be one of the great writers of musical lyrics, not that I can write melodies and I try. And then I hear the songs he writes and I realize I’ll never write a great lyric and my real talent lies in drinking.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Sure does.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Greetings and salutations. You’ll forgive me, I’ve been mixing grain and grappa. Now this is a writer, Gil, yes?
Gil
Gil Pender.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Gil Pender.
Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway.
Gil
Hemingway?
Hemingway
You like my book.
Gil
Liked? I loved, all your work.
Hemingway
Yes, it was a good book because it was an honest book, and that’s what war does to men. And there’s nothing fine and noble about dying in the mud unless you die gracefully, and then it’s not only noble but brave.
Did you read my story? What’d you think?
Hemingway
There was some fine writing in it, but it was unfulfilled.
I might have known you’d hate it.
Hemingway
She’ll drive you crazy, this woman.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
She’s exciting and she has talent.
Hemingway
This month it’s writing, last month it was something else. You’re a writer, you need time to write, not all this fooling around. She’s wasting you because she’s really a competitor. Don’t you agree?
Gil
Me?
Hemingway
Speak up for chrissake. I am asking, do you think my friend is making a tragic mistake?
Gil
I actually don’t know the Fitzgeralds that well.
Hemingway
You’re a writer. You make observations. You were with them all night.
Can we not discuss my personal life in public?
Hemingway
She’s jealous of his gift and it’s a fine gift, it’s rare. You like his work? You can speak freely.
