F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Pat Hobby Stories. Scribner’s, 1962.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s reputation grows out of his stories of the 1920’s “Jazz Age,” especially the upper classes, or as some like to say, the rich and the rotten. That is true of all his completed novels and most of his better known short stories like “The Rich Boy” or “Winter Dreams.” They all seem to have a Gatsby, Daisy, or Tom type character somewhere in the tale. The Pat Hobby short stories are quite different. Except for the fact that they still have allusions and deliberate name choices, they hardly seem to be products of the same person who wrote The Beautiful and Damned.
Part of that, no doubt, reflects the changes in Fitzgerald’s own life. His first three novels—This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, and The Great Gatsby—all reflect something of his background at the time: a preppie, an Ivy Leaguer, and an army officer observing the upper classes. In the mid 1920s he spent a lot of time in Europe, hanging out with other American ex-pats like Hemingway. That would be reflected in Tender is the Night, whose ex-pat main character travels around the continent. While Fitzgerald did spend a year in Hollywood in the twenties, he returned there to write screenplays in 1937. His last writings, then, tell of a Hollywood screenwriter of questionable skill and character.
The introduction to the published collection of stories is quite helpful. It is written by Arnold Gingrich, who was Fitzgerald’s editor at Esquire magazine during the last two years of Fitzgerald’s life. FSF died in December 1940, so five of the stories were published posthumously in the magazine’s January through May issues.
It is simple enough to sum up Pat Hobby—an over-the-hill Hollywood screenwriter who is hard up for money and addicted to the bottle and the horse races. He apparently had a few successful screenplays during the silent era, but has never really made the grade since the advent of talkies. He manages to barely hang on by getting a few jobs that last a few weeks and also by cadging money off people he knows.
At one point, he comes up with a great line in a script with a doctor trying to save a life: “Boil Some Water—Lots of It,” which is, by the way, the title of the story. Back in the twenties that would have been a title card for five or ten minutes of action, but now it is just one line. It might be a good line, but the story needs a lot more dialogue. The writer’s work clearly was simpler back in the day.
Nearly every tale reminds us that Hobby is forty-nine years old. He has worked with some well-known actors. A few, like Ronald Colman, remember him, though most do not. He names Colman and Claudette Colbert in his speech and memories more than anyone else. Colman actually appears in one of the stories. Colbert does not. (For what it is worth, back in the 1920s in their wilder days, FSF and Zelda played a prank on Colman, but Colman apparently took it in good humor.)
The stories are quite short, no more than ten pages or so. While nothing like what Fitzgerald is known for, they do entertain us, especially those who enjoy ironic humor. It seems like Pat Hobby is always trying to get something for nothing. Yes, that is why he gambles, but also why at best he is a Hollywood hanger-on.
Some of Hobby’s experiences are likely based on things that Fitzgerald himself may have witnessed while a screenwriter in Hollywood. (For what it is worth, FSF only received screen credit for two films, neither of which made much of an impression on either the box office or the critics.) Gingrich’s introduction makes us believe that Fitzgerald himself was hard up during the time he was writing these stories as he always asked that his payment be wired to his bank account rather than having a check mailed.
Some situations themselves are funny. People on the lot get excited when Orson Welles comes to town. All Hobby can think is what’s the big deal? Another story has a surprise when Hobby learns that one of his ex-wives married a rich potentate from India. The son of his ex and himself has been raised in luxury. Since the boy has been adopted by her new husband, the family wants to give a small allowance to Hobby. Finally! He can survive without working or having to pretend to work. Of course, there is one condition to the terms of the contract…
The backdrop to all this is the war in Europe, which began in September 1939. A few of the stories have actors and actresses who are refugees. But most of the characters are the “little people” at the studio: the writers, the secretaries, the callboys, the security guards, and the bookie. Lou the bookie manages to hang on at the studio as well. Maybe Pat Hobby has yet to learn from gambling that the house always comes out ahead.