Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Zelda's Mother - TPR's In Focus - March 26, 2026

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Zelda's Mother - TPR's In Focus - March 26, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park
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  on the main campus of Troy University,
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  featuring the International Arts Center,
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  the Fred Nall Hollis Museum,
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  and the Who About You gallery.
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  More information at troy.edu slash arts park.
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  ♪
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is In Focus,
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  and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  In honor of Women's History Month,
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  we bring you part two of the early life story
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  of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald,
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  wife of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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  Tisha Rhodes, Executive Director
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  of the Montgomery County Historical Society,
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  joins us from the Fye Pickett House.
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  Tisha, welcome back.
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  Thank you for having me.
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  Tisha, the Montgomery County Historical Society
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  has a landmark exhibit.
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  Can you get the listeners up to date?
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  Yes.
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  Our current exhibit is called Zelda's Muses,
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  the Women of Montgomery,
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  and it features Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald
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  and women that were both mentors and muses in her life
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  and inspired her to believe that she could accomplish
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  the many things that she did.
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  And that began with her mother, Minnie Sayre.
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  It includes her three sisters,
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  along with Marie Bankhead Owen,
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  who was the first woman in our country
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  to run a state archives.
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  Her niece, Tallulah Bankhead, a famous actress,
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  Margaret Booth, who ran an incredible all-girls school
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  here in Montgomery,
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  and then two writers that came out of her school,
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  along with Ann Wilson-Golthway,
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  who grew up here in Montgomery,
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  went to school in New York,
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  went on to Paris,
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  and then became a renowned artist
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  whose work hangs in many major museums in our country.
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  And Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald herself was an artist.
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  You're very familiar with her art background.
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  And she was a writer married to F. Scott Fitzgerald,
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  who apparently was inspired by her own life.
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  Yeah, Zelda does have such a fascinating story
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  that starts here in Montgomery.
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  She was the youngest of the Sayre children.
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  She had three other sisters.
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  Met F. Scott Fitzgerald here in Montgomery in 1918
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  at a dance.
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  And then they married in 1920 and traveled the world
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  and moved back to Montgomery
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  and lived here on Felder Avenue,
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  where they worked on some of their literary pieces
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  at the same time.
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  This couple was known as the personification
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  of the jazz age, shall we say?
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  That's true.
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  They were living during a really fun time in our country,
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  but a difficult time too, with wars happening.
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  And their life had these distinct highs and lows.
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  Who knows if that was because of the time or personalities
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  or what they were trying to achieve in life.
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  They never actually divorced,
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  but the relationship effectively ended in mid 1900s
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  when Scott moved to Hollywood
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  and Zelda was in a hospital in Asheville.
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  And then some back and forth between Asheville
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  and Montgomery.
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  But it was both, I think, an exciting time
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  and a challenging time.
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  The Montgomery County Historical Society
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  has zeroed in on the women who influenced Zelda.
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  And today we want to talk about Minnie Sayre
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  and the honeybees.
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  Yeah, so we've got a Lunch and Learn
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  that is free and open to the public
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  on Wednesday, April the 8th from 1130 to one
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  here at Phi Pickett House.
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  And the subject is Minnie Buckner Macon Sayre,
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  who was Zelda's mother and her co-founding
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  of an organization called the Honeybees.
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  Who were the Honeybees?
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  It was a notable group of local figures
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  and it included Alabama's second Poet Laureate,
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  Kate Slaughter McKinney.
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  This group was created in 1903.
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  It endured for about three years
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  and Kate did not become our state's Poet Laureate
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  until 1931, but she was writing at the time
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  and making a name for herself.
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  It also included Rabbi A.J. Messing of Temple Bethor,
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  the prominent architect, Frank Lockwood,
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  composer and organist, John Proctor Mills,
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  and Clifford Lanier, who was the younger brother
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  of Sidney Lanier and the owner of the Exchange Hotel.
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  Can you tell me more about Minnie, her mother?
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  Yeah, so in Minnie's youth, she was a talented performer
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  who gained recognition for her dramatic recitals
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  and she aspired to a stage career.
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  She chose to set that aside when she came to Montgomery
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  at the age of 23 in 1883.
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  She met her soon-to-be husband, Anthony Dickinson Sayre.
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  They married here in Montgomery
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  and Minnie had four daughters between 1885 and 1900,
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  but she continued to write and publish stories and essays
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  and then in 1903, she co-founded this notable literary
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  and musical society called the Honeybees
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  with these other inspirational people.
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  How active were the Honeybees locally?
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  They would meet monthly in one of the members' homes
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  and they would present an original poem or short story,
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  essay, maybe a musical composition,
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  and they would critique each other's work.
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  So they really were gathering as a group
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  of arts-based people, sharing their skills and talents,
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  then learning from one another.
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  But their friendships endured for decades
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  and they helped lay the groundwork
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  for other organizations that would come,
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  including the Press and Authors Club,
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  which more than a century later continues to meet
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  at the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum.
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  How was Zelda influenced by her mother's activities?
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  That her mother had the forethought,
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  the courage, the creativity to take her own ideals
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  and desires and form groups of people
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  that she could be with to fulfill herself.
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  And then Zelda got to be around these people.
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  It gives energy, it gives you courage.
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  It sounds like Minnie Sayre and the Honeybees
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  were very influential in the arts.
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  They really were doing incredible things here in Montgomery.
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  And the result of their work can be seen today
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  in the architecture of Frank Lockwood, which still stands.
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  Kate Slaughter McKinney went on
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  to become Alabama's second poet laureate.
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  And Zelda and her paintings,
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  the Press and Authors Club that still meets today.
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  So there is an enduring and lasting legacy
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  that these people left behind.
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  Can you describe the exhibit?
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  This exhibit is a collaboration
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  with the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum,
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  as well as the Dixie Art Colony Foundation.
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  And it explores Zelda's Southern roots
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  and these women that inspired her and surrounded her
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  as muses, mentors, and mirrors
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  that fueled her extraordinary spirit.
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  Tisha, how can people register for the Lunch and Learn
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  April 8th at the Fyde Pickett House in Montgomery?
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  Our website is mchsal.org.
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  You know, we prepare to have chairs and tables.
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  So if people bring their lunches,
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  they've got a place to sit.
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  So Fyde Pickett House is 512 South Court,
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  and there's plenty of parking behind our building.
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  We have a lift if anybody has mobility issues.
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  Easy access for this Lunch and Learn
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  about Minnie Sayre and the Honeybees.
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  Tisha, thanks so much for joining us today.
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  Thank you so much.
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  That was Tisha Rhodes, Executive Director
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  of the Montgomery County Historical Society,
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  joining us from the Fyde Pickett House.
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  The Brown Bag Lunch and Learn will be held on April 8th,
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  and more information can be found at the mchsal.org website.
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  Thanks for joining us for In Focus,
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  which is a podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson,
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  and this is listener-supported Troy Public Radio.