What I am about to reveal today is a gift to St Louis simply because it is the home of such greatly important people. Please do not believe that I am so important that I would forget all my friends amongst the blue collar workers, the street sweepers, the garbage collectors, the bus drivers or the giants of industry. I confess that the authors of the "Star Spangled Banner and The Great Gatsby," are both related to the McQuillens of St Louis, Miss-oo-ree. Proof you ask? F. Scott Fitzgerald was born just up the river in St Paul, Minnesota September 24, 1896 the very same year and month William Patrick (Bow Wow) McQuillen was born in St Louis, September 1896. F. Scott's full name was, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald and was the second cousin three times removed of the author of the National Anthem, "Oh say can you see." And there was much more to the Fizgerald family's fame. His father’s aunt was Mrs. Suratt, one of the conspirators hanged for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Fitzgerald came of an old Southern family. His great-grandfather’ s brother was Francis Scott Key, composer of "The Star Spangled Banner." The author was named after him. Scott's father was Edward Fitzgerald, born in the Baltimore, MD area and was a southern gentleman with high morals and leaned toward southern virtues and values. His Mother was the lovely Mary (Molly) MCQUILLEN who was the daughter of an Irish immigrant who became wealthy as a wholesale grocer in St. Paul. Both were good Catholics who raised this lovely girl to take her place in polite society, which she did handily. In 1917 a genteel black mark appeared on F. Scott's record at Princeton University. It was discovered that he was partying a little more than was naturally good for him and caused a great uproar in the family concerning grades. And so he enlisted in the army as a second lieutenant and was sent to a camp near Montgomery, Alabama where he met the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge and fell in love. This flower of the confederacy was Zelda Sayre, a lovely young thing who was to stumble on the rocks along the road of life. Being one half Fitzgerald and one half McQuillen and one hundred percent Irish, can you imagine F. Scott's disappointment when he discovered he was not to be sent overseas to give those Huns, "what for?" In 1919 F. Scott was discharged and he began to write in earnest. He wrote for magazines and worked on novels until he was inspired to write "The Great Gatsby," but some time after his novel, "This Side Of Paradise," in 1920. A week after this novel was published F. Scott and the lovely Zelda were wed. But the newly weds were not to live life as a fairy tale, "No indeed," their life together was to be laden with trolls, goblins and dragons. Their life was loaded with lavish living and booze and nervous break downs. It was reported that Zelda never became an alcoholic but F. Scott certainly did. Zelda's demon became the young gentlemen of the times. They embarked on an extravagant life as young celebrities. F. Scott tried to earn a solid literary reputation, but his playboy image impeded the proper assessment of his work. Things finally came to a head in April 1930 when Zelda suffered her first breakdown. She was treated at a clinic in Switzerland until September 1931, while F. Scott lived in Swiss hotels. Work on another novel was suspended as he wrote short stories to pay for psychiatric treatment. F. Scott went to Hollywood alone in the summer of 1937 with a six-month contract at MGM, screenwriting at a magnificent $1,000 a week. This was a great deal of money during the depression years. It was said he earned above $90, 000 total while at MGM, when a new Chevrolet coupe cost $619; although F, Scott paid off most of his debts, he was unable to save. His trips back east to visit his wife were disastrous. In California F. Scott fell in love with movie columnist Sheilah Graham. Their love affair endured despite his drunken binges. After MGM dropped his option at the end of 1938, Fitzgerald worked as a freelance script writer and wrote short-short stories for Esquire Magazine and other publications. He began his Hollywood inspired novel, "The Love of the Last Tycoon," in 1939 and had written more than half of it when he died of a heart attack in Sheilah's apartment on December 21, 1940 when I was only five and a half years old. Zelda Fitzgerald perished in a fire in Highland Hospital in 1948. And so, as you can see, I am a humble man and firmly believe I should take no credit for my help in the writing of the "Star Spangled Banner," and "The Great Gatsby." It all belongs to St Louis, Missouri.----Jim