The Homes of The Stars by Scott F. Fitzgerald

 The Homes of The Stars by Scott F. Fitzgerald


 

Scott F. Fitzgerald was a very glamorous author, if not for real, in my imagination he was. I am not just imagining things- the books, his career and even the way he is presented in the movies: in Midnight in Paris, he has a rather short appearance, but that too suggested a life full of parties, wild nights and hedonism.

The Homes of the Stars must have been inspired by his work as a screenwriter in Hollywood. And it is a very pleasant and enjoyable read.

At center stage we have Pat Hobby …

‚Beneath a great striped umbrella at the side of a boulevard in a Hollywood heat wave, sat a man. His name was Gus Venske (no relation to the runner) and he wore magenta pants, cerise shoes and a sport article from Vine Street which resembled nothing so much as a cerulean blue pajama top.’

 

That is the funny start of the story. Pat Hobby gets the sign with “Visit the Homes of the Stars” from the above mentioned Gus Venske and this attracts a couple from Missouri, who drive by in a limousine.

When asked what homes they can visit, Hobby is a bit surprised, for this not the way he makes his living but times are hard.

The man and the woman from Missouri are keen to see the homes of Shirley Temple, Robert Taylor and Clark Gable.

Pat Hobby is a writer in his better days, but they are gone, at least for the time being. So he offers to take the visitors to the “Homes of the Stars”, although he doesn’t really know where they are, not to mention any access to them.

On the way, Pat mentions that he is a writer and when asked why he is doing this guiding he cannot think of anything except for…there is a strike now.

But he has to make up quite a few things along the way: he doesn’t know these stars- he has only met Clark Gable when he was in a crowd and invents something about the parents of Shirley Temple being afraid of kidnappers.

Eventually, they stroll around the house of an imaginary Shirley Temple, with the Missouri couple asking tricky questions: they knew that the child actress had siblings and more…when the real owner shows up at the front door…our hero runs for his life, imagining the police arriving and frisking the innocent man and the woman…

It was a very funny short story that has reminded me of my own tour guide days.

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