"Jerry Frost is thirty-five. He is a clerk for the railroad at $3,000 a
year. He possesses no eyebrows, but nevertheless he constantly tries to
knit them."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Vegetable (1923)
The Vegetable; or, From President to Postman (1923) is the only play F.
Scott Fitzgerald wrote and when produced was regarded by many as a
disaster. The title is derived from a quote Fitzgerald stated came from
a "current magazine" as written on the title page of the work: "Any man
who doesn't want to get on in the world, to make a million dollars, and
maybe even park his toothbrush in the White House...-he's nothing more
or less than a vegetable." This foray by Fitzgerald into playwriting is
a must-read for those intrigued by one of the most prolific authors of
the twentieth century.