In the short story, “Crazy Sunday”, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, shows the darker side of show business by telling about the hardships that a person in Holyywood goes through. In this story, the main character faces problems while striving for success in this industry. On the other hand, another character, who has already found great success, still has personal issues of his own. Fitzgerald shows that even the life of a celebrity can be as troubling as that of a normal citizen.
This story follows the life of Joel Coles, who is a young screenwriter in Hollywood, eager to please in order to achieve his goal of success. While describing Cole, the author writes, “He was twenty-eight and not yet broken by Hollywood” (Fitzgerald, 713-714). This illustrates how the town of Hollywood is a tough one, and though many may find success in this “City of Stars”, there are thousands more who find their dreams cut short. It may seem to be that everyone finds success here, but like every other job, some people are not as qualified as others. Luckily, Joel Coles got his foot in the door from some other projects he had been working on. Early in the story, he is invited to a cocktail party hosted by the famous director, Miles Calman. There, he meets his old firend, Stella, who he knew as a struggling actress in New York. She is now married to Miles, and is enjoying the life of luxury; but she is not happy with her marriage with him. He has cheated on her with her best friend, yet she stayed with him. This fact illustrates how Stella basically depends on Miles for happiness. Although she loves Miles, the fame and fortune that he has definitely factors into her infatuation for him. She is willing to settle for less in her marriage as long as she gets what she wanted when she was struggling in New York.
Joel is invited back by Stella, with whom he starts spending more and more time. He is able to see how bad their marriage really is, and how it affects them as individuals. Joel can clearly see the difference between Miles’ life at work in contrast to his private life. “The fine instinct that moved swiftly and confidently on the set, muddled so weakly and helplessly through his personal life” (Fitzgerald, 722). This shows how the life of a celebrity is not a perfect one. While they may achieve fame and fortune, it is not always enough for them to be happy. Their personal lives are separate from their success in entertainment.
At the end of the story, Joel and Stella have made love, and following that, they get a call with the news that Miles was killed in a plane crash. Although Stella wants Joel to stay with her, she has already told him that Miles is who she really loves. She only wants him so that he can remind her of Miles. Realizing this, Joel leaves her in during her sorrow.
The main message in this story shows that the life of an entertainer is not a perfect one. In fact, it tends to have many flaws. It seems that it would be a dream come true to be an actor or a producer, but these people go through the same issues as everyone else., what is worse thing about their problems is that so many people can find out about them. It takes hard work for someone to make a name for themselves in the entertainment industry, and even if they do, there are going to be more that lie ahead.
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You did answer what the story tells about the issue of actors and stars. It seems that their life is much different than what a pedestrian percieves it to be. Your quick summary of the plot gave a lot of good background information, and it helped show how stardom affects different poeple- it could be succesful, or it may not be. It is evident in your writing that a pedestrian's world, and a star's world, are not so far apart because both have problems daily. I really like the points that you put accross, because it kind of de-glamorizes a star's life.
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