Description:

Fitzgerald F. Scott 1896 - 1940 1942 final movie script "Life Begins at Eight-Thirty" by uncredited screenwriter F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Copy no. 208 of final version of Twentieth Century-Fox movie script "Life Begins at Eight-Thirty", written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nunnally Johnson. The light blue softbound 94-page typed script includes over fifteen blue revised pages (including the last page) and is secured by heavy duty brass brads. Originally released to performers on July 18, 1942, this copy of the script is in near fine condition, with clean and crisp pages. There is expected wear to the covers, including water stains and a partial loss to the film title stamped on the front. A small tear runs along the left corner of the perforated Stenographic Department receipt on front endpaper. The script is contained within a hunter green hard clamshell case, partly bound in cloth and leather, with gilt lettering on the spine. The case measures 10.375" x 12.375".

"Life Begins at Eight-Thirty" was a film screenplay written by Nunnally Johnson, with uncredited contributions by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and based on a play called "The Light of Heart" by Emlyn Williams. The movie centers around the relationship between an aging, alcoholic actor and his physically disabled but devoted daughter. The movie script includes dialogue but also stage and camera directions. The film's title alludes to the time of evening when most theaters draw open their stage curtains and "life begins" for its actors.

"KATHI: 'But which would you honestly prefer, pop - tonight you have your choice, you know - eight-thirty and another drink with Barty? - or eight-thirty and the curtain rising on Madden Thomas'

As he meets her level gaze ...

Dissolve to:"

Film production at Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation Studios took place between July and September 1942, and the 85-minute-long film was released in early December 1942 starring Monty Woolley (1888-1963) as Madden Thomas and Ida Lupino (1918-1995) as Kathi Thomas.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is well-known for his Jazz Age novels and short stories, but he also greatly contributed to the print and Hollywood film industries. His 1934 novel "Tender is the Night" was a flop, so Fitzgerald relocated to Hollywood to write and edit movie screenplays. He worked for eighteen months at MGM in 1937-1938 and did freelance work at Paramount Universal, Goldwyn, Columbia, and Twentieth Century Fox -- the studio that released "Life Begins at Eight-Thirty". Fitzgerald worked on movie scripts for films as diverse as "A Yank at Oxford" (1938), "Gone With The Wind" (1939), and "The Women" (1939), but he was only credited as a screenwriter for "Three Comrades" (1938). Fitzgerald died of a heart attack in December 1940, eighteen months before the release of the "Life Begins at Eight-Thirty" final script.

Fitzgerald's co-screenwriter Nunnally Johnson (1897-1977) worked as a journalist before transitioning into film criticism and screenwriting. Johnson was hired full-time at Twentieth Century-Fox in 1935. His "Grapes of Wrath" screenplay had been nominated for an Oscar just two years before "Life Begins at Eight-Thirty".

An incredible piece of Golden Age Hollywood film history!

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