‘The One about Sitting on His Top Hat and Climbing up His Shirt Front’: Fitzgerald and Musical Theatre

This chapter shows how Fitzgerald drew upon musical comedies of the stage and screen to inform his characterisation, plotting, and integration of song with dramatic action. Using his ‘playlet’, ‘Porcelain and Pink’, as a case study, this chapter shows how Fitzgerald’s use of song underscores themes of concealed identity and satirises the consumption and advertising practices of his era. This chapter argues that the intersection of morality and entertainment, depicted in the iconic flapper figure, characterises much of Fitzgerald’s presentation of popular culture. Though he did not continue his undergraduate occupation of writing libretti for Princeton’s Triangle Club, Fitzgerald continued to allude to songs from musicals throughout his career. This chapter explores how Fitzgerald’s use of the disguise motif, amongst other literary techniques, has analogues in musical comedies, and argues for certain of his stories, like ‘The Captured Shadow’, to be read in the context of the stage and film musicals Fitzgerald enjoyed, such as those featuring Irving Berlin’s work. It is argued that it is Fitzgerald’s fascination with the theatre that fuels his lifelong interest in participative, even immersive, media. This chapter analyses the influence of film musicals on Fitzgerald’s aesthetics, particularly in terms of their lavish visual spectacle.