World War II-dated TLS signed “Scott Fitz,” one page, 8.5 x 11, September 11, 1940. Letter to “Swanie,” his former literary agent H. N. Swanson, in full: “Your office told me that the offer of $200, for the radio rights of ‘The Dance’ came through Harold Ober. I agreed to it with that understanding. The implication of this announcement in the Reporter is that you are still my representative out here. This is emphatically not true. Your preposterous suggestion outside the theatre the other night that I advertise some commercial product is as near as you have come to representing me for almost a year. I must ask you to make no further announcements of this kind.” In fine condition, with light creasing, and staple holes, to the upper left corner.
Accompanied by a copy of Swanson’s measured reply, written six days later, in full: “Answering your note, Harold Ober and our office split a commission on the sale of the radio rights on 'The Dance,' On all sales that we share in we publicize them in the trade papers. Our radio department represents several clients for radio who have other motion picture agents in Hollywood. I am sorry if you misconstrued our intent in publicizing the item.
I hope your letter doesn't mean what it just possibly might mean: that you would not have accepted money from the sale if you had known we were to get a portion of the commission. I like to think that if our radio lads could bring you an offer for the rights of some of your published stories that you would still want us to negotiate for you.
At all events, Scott, I wish you would answer this last question for me. I feel I have known you for a long time and worked for you for a long time just as Harold Ober has. The fact that you are no longer with us as a client shouldn't mean that you misunderstand or mistrust our motives. I will always be a booster of yours. Write me a simple, friendly letter and set me right on this.”
H. N. Swanson was no stranger to strong personalities. He represented some of the finest, and in some cases, obdurate writers of the early 20th century, a list that included Raymond Chandler, William Faulkner, Frank Buck, James M. Cain, Elmore Leonard, and, of course, F. Scott Fitzgerald, who, at this particular time in his life, was finally sober, but likewise laboring to make ends meet. The juxtaposition of tone in the two offered letters speaks volumes: Swanson, calm and conciliatory, Fitzgerald, a potent mixture of offense and defense, the sound of his angry typewriter clacking across the page. The bitterness of Fitzgerald’s language feels brewed from a place of abandonment, relegated to a second-class client while Swanson, at the top of his game, deals with the next big thing. The mention of Harold Ober, Fitzgerald’s other agent, is also of note, given that Ober was as much a friend of Fitzgerald’s as he was a business partner; Ober and his wife, Anne, served as the surrogate parents to Fitzgerald’s daughter, Scottie, and, to his own detriment, Ober made it a custom to lend the author money he would never be reimbursed, a total orbiting around $20,000. Written just three months before his death at the age of 44, this letter offers a poignant glimpse into the latter stages of Fitzgerald’s life and mindset.
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