DS, one page, 8.5 x 11, December 16, 1931. Official Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer document in which Fitzgerald confirms an agreement to modify the end date of his contract, in part: "This will confirm the agreement between us that the term of your employment under your contract of employment with us dated November 7, 1931, shall be deemed to have expired on December 15, 1931…it being expressly understood that we shall have and retain all rights of every kind granted to us under said contract." Signed at the conclusion in fountain pen by the esteemed Jazz Age author, "F. Scott Fitzgerald," (who also adds the initial "F" to the wrong line), and countersigned by Vice President Irving Thalberg, "I. Thalberg." A pencil annotation at the bottom notes: "Mr. Thalberg signed original copy only. Mr. Mayer signed 2 copies. Copies signed by L. B. Mayer sent to Ober & Craig." Harold Ober was Fitzgerald's literary agent. In fine condition, with wrinkling along the top edge.
In his second stint in Hollywood, Fitzgerald spent a four-week assignment working on the script for Red-Headed Woman, a screenplay to be adapted from Katharine Brush's novel of the same name. Thalberg found his script to be too serious, and turned it over to Anita Loos for a rewrite. Loos delivered a script with more playful banter, and the Jean Harlow vehicle—with Loos's solo screen credit—became a box office success. Dismayed by his failure, Fitzgerald returned east to focus on his literary writing, and in 1932 began his final draft of Tender Is the Night.
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