Middle West Girl More at Home in Kitchen than in Ballroom,
Says F. Scott Fitzgerald
Novelist Says Southern Type Of Flapper Best
Most Attractive. Says Writer. Who Wedded One; Midwest Girls Have Only Health.
Lacking In Social Grace
New York, April 14.—“And as for the girl of the middle west—”
F. Scott Fitzgerald inhaled deeply and paused before he released a cloud of cigarette smoke and a shower of burning adjectives.
“She is unattractive, selfish, snobbish, egotistical, utterly graceless, talks with an ugly accent and in her heart knows that she would feel more at home in a kitchen than in a ballroom.”
The author who has been hailed as the interpreter of American youth halted for a moment. Fitzgerald, frankly good looking, the hero of half a hundred proms, the realistic reporter of parlor fights and petting parties, plunged ahead into his analysis of the great American flapper.
Making Ears Burn!
“There is much of the uncouthness of the pioneer left in the middle western flapper,” continued Fitzgerald. “She lacks the social grace of entertaining men. Her idea is to get everything and give nothing.
“There is in her a respect for the primitive feminine talents; she would really make a good cook but her family has made money in the old generation and there is no excuse for her to go into the kitchen. She doesn't know what she wants to do.”
Fitzgerald should know. He was born in St. Paul. Furthermore, his judgment carries authority. Foe critics agree the author of “This Side of Paradise” and “The Beautiful and Dammed” understands women—flappers, at least.
Lauds Southerners.
“The southern girl is easily the most attractive type in America,” continued Fitzgerald, with a wave of his cigarette. “Next the girl from the East. At the bottom of the list the middle-western flapper.”
“Hasn't she any good points?” I asked rather hopefully.
“Yes. She has her health,” he admitted.
“Now for the southern girl,” Here is of all remember that I married a southern girl. A characteristic is that she retains and develops her ability to entertain men. The middle-western girl lacks this utterly. With the sophisticated eastern girl, it is a give-and-take proposition.
“No matter how poor a southerner girl may be, and many of them are very poor, she keeps up her social activities”.
Published in unlocated newspaper (1923).