Program Notes

Malibu: Confession Scene by Franz Waxman

Franz Waxman could not have known his regular lunches in 1938 with F. Scott Fitzgerald at the writer’s table of the MGM Commissary would later prove so fortuitous. Both were under contract at the studio, working on the same picture Three Comrades, and both lived for a time at the Garden of Allah, a well-known residence hotel in Hollywood. But it would be 20 years before Waxman would be in the interesting position of characterizing the last love affair of the man who sat across the table — the man who, only months before, had written “For Shielah, Beloved Infidel,” the poem his mistress would later look to for a title.

The misspelling of Sheilah in the title of the poem refers not only to Fitzgerald’s last mistress, Sheilah Graham, but also to her pathological lying about her own past. Fitzgerald has long been a popular subject of character analysis; Sheilah Graham’s own character was not unworthy of consideration, or the tumultuous effect the two had upon one another. Both were ferociously status-conscious people, narcissistically obsessed with their reputations. Graham had spent much of her life re-inventing her past, taking on the air of an upper class Englishwoman after a life of deprivation as an orphaned Jewish girl. Her career as a successful gossip columnist was greatly aided by her manipulative and exploitative mindset. Many remembered her as charming, pretentious and ruthlessly calculating — not the least of them Fitzgerald himself, who was wary that “so much innocence and so much predatory toughness could go side by side behind this gentle English voice.” Fitzgerald’s drunken rages put her through astounding abuse, which she endured out of a love that was significantly tempered by the loftiness of his reputation….

Fitzgerald was very much a moralist, holding himself ruthlessly against a strict sense of propriety. His wild life in the public eye during the 1920s, when he and his wife Zelda were among the most famous couples in the world, took a brutal turn with Zelda’s eventual deterioration into insanity by the early 1930s. This, and the greatly changed culture of the 1930s, pressed Fitzgerald’s ability to cope beyond the limit. Nearly ruined by the institutionalization of Zelda and by a new age, Fitzgerald’s pride and propriety goaded him more and more to license his frustration and hostility through drink. His sober charm was compromised more and more by his aggressive, brutal drunkenness. The path between the two, ever more erratic as the years wore on, were what occupied Fitzgerald and Graham from their first meeting on Bastille Day, 1937, until his death just before Christmas, 1940.

While Beloved Infidel charts effects the agonizing anonymity Fitzgerald suffered in the last years of his life, it does not suggest his path back to fame. Ironically enough, it began within days of his death in December 1940. Obituary memoria appeared in many leading papers throughout the world; more important still, a collection of memoria was published in the New Republic the following March which included notables such as John O’Hara, Malcolm Cowley and John Dos Passos. The following October Fitzgerald’s final, unfinished, novel, The Last Tycoon, was published in a collection of his more famous works — a volume which not only received the better notices than any he’d received in his lifetime, but which also prompted remarks like that made by Stephen Vincent Benét: “You can take off your hats now, gentlemen, and I think perhaps you had better. This is not a legend, this is a reputation — and, seen in perspective, it may well be one of the most secure reputations of our time.” Had Fitzgerald been able to make it through World War II he may well have found himself back in fashion — though it is difficult to say, since death does so much to help an artist’s reputation….

The restoration took time, both in the worlds of literature and of film. Alan Ladd starred in a moderately successful adaption of The Great Gatsby produced at Paramount in 1949. It was not until 1951, however, that the real watershed came. Arthur Mizener’s The Far Side of Paradise appeared — the first full-length biography of Fitzgerald. Malcolm Cowley also published several important works of scholarship, leading especially to the Scribner’s revised edition of Tender is the Night.

While The Great Gatsby remained the most discussed of the novels by far, there was interest in the others as well. David O. Selznick bought the film rights to Tender is the Night after seeing the new Scribner edition and began a decade-long effort to adapt it. Another interested party was Jerry Wald, who thought The Last Tycoon was very promising, though it needed an ending. Wald turned to his friend John O’Hara for advice. When O’Hara suggested Sheilah Graham probably knew the most about the novel Wald was unaware of her affair with the Fitzgerald. Wald arranged to meet with her, and was astounded by what she had to say about the affair. She showed Wald letters and poems, all of which quickly congealed into an urgent agenda. Ever the watchful promoter, Wald immediately sensed the enormous potential of the material and proposed it should be crafted into an autobiographical novel.

Graham had every intention of telling a story of the relationship with Fitzgerald, but had to be urged to write it in book form. When Wald came into the picture she had generated a 600-page typescript which she intended for serialization in the Women’s Home Companion. Wald urged a friend at Simon and Schuster, Jack Goodman, to see Graham. She insisted her journalism kept her too busy to develop it as a novel, so she was pressed to consider working with writer Gerold Frank. After a series of conversations Graham was still ambivalent.

Events complicated her resolve in short order. The Women’s Home Companion folded, leaving her temporarily without a venue. However, the book idea was discouraged as well when Jack Goodman died. Without Goodman, Gerold Frank cooled to the idea of working on the project. But Wald was undaunted, and impetuously informed the New York Times he was buying the film rights to the book. Suddenly everyone was interested in the project, including Graham: whether or not she had calculated it or not is open to speculation, but on 16 November 1957 Sheilah Graham’s phone number was very popular with an array of powerful film and publishing people. One year later, on 24 November 1958, Beloved Infidel: the education of a woman was published by Holt. Only five days before the final deal on the film rights closed, and Graham came away with $100,000 and 5% of net receipts for Wald’s film adaption. Additional deals included sizeable sums for two serializations — one with Bell Syndicate, who published her gossip column, and another from a British publisher. Wald estimated she would probably see a half-million dollars from the affair — which he noted was more than the whole of Fitzgerald’s literary had earned….

Jerry Wald was one of the most successful film producers of his time. After many productive years with Warner Brothers he teamed with Norman Krasna and oversaw production at RKO Radio Pictures. Work with Howard Hughes proved tedious and unrewarding, and he soon moved to Columbia Pictures as Head of Production. Wald was a man of highly literate interests, and by the mid-1950s wanted to focus more directly on projects that interested him. This led him to a semi-independent production arrangement with 20th Century-Fox, which he maintained through the remainder of his career.

Wald was increasingly noted in the 1950s as a producer who scrupulously “pre-sold” his film productions. Peyton Place was a huge success in part because the film was planned as Grace Metalious wrote the novel, and the forthcoming film adaption was promoted along with the book. Wald later enthused about the efficiency and effectiveness of this strategy, noting that Lana Turner — whose Universal contract guaranteed her $175,000 per film with a large percentage of its gross — eagerly accepted his offer for her role in Peyton Place for $125,000 flat. He looked forward to repeating the formula with Graham’s book.

Beloved Infidel proved to be a difficult film to make. Though Henry King emerged quickly as the director of the new film, casting was not immediately determined. More importantly, the adaption remained a taxing effort and primary concern through months of pre-production in the early months of 1959. Beginning in mid-February Wald began actively critiquing drafts of the screenplay in a string of long memoranda, one of which ran to 49 pages. Eventually the script passed through the hands of writers Alfred Hayes, Robert Alan Arthur and Sy Bartlett. The enduring concern was with the flatness of the characters, a problem even Henry King found baffling when he was at last invited to doctor the script.

Deborah Kerr was chosen to play Graham — a choice that brought much difficulty due to her impending commitment to make The Sundowners at Warner Brothers beginning September 4th. Beloved Infidel would be the last film commitment of her Fox contract, and her agent urged her not to entertain the notion of withdrawing to ease the strain of her divorce, which was about to play out. The shooting schedule was arranged to accommodate her plans, and the film went into production on July 22nd without a finalized script.

Gregory Peck, known widely as a great gentleman, proved to be a great problem in this production. The script provoked him to boisterous critique, and he resented the rush created by Kerr’s immanent starting date on The Sundowners. Peck tirelessly argued for changes to what he felt were flat characterizations, and struggled to take on the abuse mindset of an alcoholic. He was also concerned that the film should ultimately be about Fitzgerald, not about Graham, and fought to swing the center of gravity accordingly. These energies tried the patience of all involved….

When shooting ended on September 25th there was not great optimism about what had been achieved. It may be that while the story had great appeal for its relationship to a great writer, the “flat characters” would not round without ruining the mood of romance that Wald hoped to sell. The relationship was a complex one, with a powerfully cynical undertow. Despite Graham’s courage in revealing her humble origins, she was selectively honest about those origins. Most who knew Graham were quick to describe her as an exploitative opportunist, something hard — if not impossible — for Deborah Kerr’s star persona to emulate. By the same token, Peck may have been able to capture Fitzgerald’s puritanical uprightness of mind, but was at a loss to effectively convey his vicious, drunken hostility. Fearing the audience would lose sympathy if the portrayals were too harsh, Wald’s production was unable to find a compromise that could keep the story from deteriorating into simple melodrama.

By the time production closed, Waxman was nearly finished with his score for the film. Waxman had known Wald for nearly twenty years, and had worked on many of Wald’s pet projects. Peyton Place, their previous project, drew from Waxman not only a famous score, but also a theme that was easily adapted into the hit song, “The Wonderful Season of Love.” On the very day Beloved Infidel was published Wald was considering Jimmy McHugh as a possible song writer for the new film. McHugh agreed to work on a song for $5,000, depending upon the availability of a major lyricist. Sammy Cahn and Paul Francis Webster were both available for $5,000; Ned Washington for $2,500. But the Peyton Place formula was followed closely when Waxman proved available.

Waxman’s contract for Beloved Infidel was negotiated on 1 July 1959, where he would begin no earlier than August 31st and no later than September 28th on a ten-week assignment to score the film. He officially started September 8th, though he had already composed the song that would work as the driving element in the score. On August 26th demonstration copies of both the new song and the song from Peyton Place were recorded by Aileen Wilson.

The incidental score of Beloved Infidel is concentrated in a small succession of cues, many of them timing at 3 minutes or longer. As might be expected in the face of the complaints leveled by many about the script, Waxman’s song is strongly melodramatic in tone and aims at heightening the story’s wistful romantic tone. In justaposition to it are a number of striking contrasts. Several powerful jazz touches emerge…

The tour de force of the score is the “Confession Scene,” the beach scene where Fitzgerald skillfully humiliates Graham into admitting her real history. After a grim opening, harps, trilled strings, glockenspiel and lyrical solos for oboe and violins capture the brisk ambience of the ocean, where Graham hopes Fitzgerald will feel encouraged to resist the bottle and work. Graham’s upbeat mood is met with pointed resistance, where Fitzgerald’s cruelty steadily works at Graham while a stunning dissonant counterpoint unfolds between the Violins, doubled by flutes, and the Cellos, doubled by English Horn. Eventually, she is overcome. Fitzgerald retreats from his attack, comforting Graham through her tearful confession. Their rapprochement begins, where the song enters and is steadily worked through a rhapsodic treatment until it culminates with a cymbal crash. Their return home in renewed closeness is captured with touching simplicity by a solo oboe and two clarinets.

Fox orchestrator Edward B. Powell handled most of the score, though Leonid Raab, Waxman’s long-standing workmate, orchestrated several cues. Waxman recorded his score on September 13, 23, 26, 27, 29, 30; he remained on contract until his ten weeks ran out on November 11th.

Nearly two years to the day from the exciting Saturday in 1957 when Sheilah Graham’s phone rang off the hook as her autobiographical novel was set into motion, Beloved Infidel premiered on November 17th, 1959. Despite Waxman’s expert treatment, crowned with a song that attracted a respectable amount of attention, Beloved Infidel proved a disappointment when it earned barely a million dollars upon its release. Wald’s work had done enormous help to Fitzgerald’s legacy by bringing knowledge of the Graham affair to light. Its effect upon Graham was profound as well. Ever the opportunist, she would create seven more books which dealt entirely or partially with Fitzgerald, and managed to self-promote herself into wealth, if not independent respectability, by the time she died in 1988 at the age of 84.

– © Julie Kirgo, from her liner notes for the 2003 release of the original soundtrack recording.
(Varese Sarabande)