VITAL SIGNSrnSx “^KU ^ErnII ^^^^ 1 a S ‘^Ji ^V MS < ‘^ KrnH i’ 1rnn ^wHHHrnH ‘^^’^!^HBrnwjy wn’_^’ , K Srn1rnIrnMrn^ ‘^ 1rnr -iml’iilfijrnm*rnThe Quest for BijournO’Conorrnby Jeffrey MeyersrnF. Scott Fitzgerald’s MistressrnLives AgainrnIn 1975 an eccentric old lady whornlived near Brighton, England, with arnPekinese gave a taped interview aboutrnher affair in 1930 with Scott Fitzgerald.rnRecent Fitzgerald biographers havernmentioned the evocatively named BijournO’Conor and quoted bits from the tape,rnbut no one has disco’ered anything significantrnabout her background, appearance,rnor character.rnI’he husky, upper-class voice on therntape intrigued me, and I wondered whatrnhad brought them together and howrnFitzgerald had fitted into Bijou’s life.rnHappening to be in London last summer,rnI tried to find out more about her.rnAs I liave often discovered, someonernwho seems utterly obscure, dead, andrnforgotten can be brought to life oncernyou tap into the institutions that survivernher: in this ease, her family, an Oxfordrncollege, and the Foreign Office.rnI began with the Who’s Who entry onrnBijou’s father. Sir Francis Elliot (ISSl-rn1940). Grandson of the second Earl ofrnMinto, he rowed for Balliol College, enteredrnthe diplomatic service, served asrnconsul-general in Sofia from 1895 torn1903 and as minister in Athens fromrn1903 to 1917. Debrett’s Peerage adds thatrnBijou, whose real name was VioletrnMarie, was born in 1896 (the same yearrnas Fitzgerald), the fourth and youngestrndaughter of Sir Francis. In 1920 shernmarried Lieutenant Edmund O’Conor,rnR. N., of Charleville, Dunleer, CountyrnLouth (the O’Conors are no longerrnthere), who died in 1924. Though widowedrnat age 28, she never remarried.rnI first telephoned the present Farl ofrnMinto, whom I imagined pacing tlie armor-rnlined corridors of his crumbling castlernin the Highlands. Instead of the servantrn1 had expected, the Earl himselfrnanswered the phone. Though he hadrnnot heard of Bijou, his curiosity wasrnaroused by my questions about his family.rnHe spoke to me for a leisurely 20rnminutes and shrewdly suggested variousrnlines of inquiry.rnFollowing the Earl’s advice, I wrote tornthe records department of the BritishrnForeign Office, which sent me the addressrnof Bijou’s niece in Exeter. Debrett’srnprovided the address of the HonourablernMary Alington Marten, O. B. E.,rnthe daughter of Bijou’s friend Napier Alington.rnBut Mary Alington was only 11rnyears old when her father died and knewrnnothing about Bijou. William Furlong,rnwho had conducted the taped interviewrnwith Bijou, had heard about her byrnchance through a mutual friend mrnHove, near Brighton. He characterizedrnher as a mysterious and rather ruthlessrnwoman, who responded to male attentionrnand seemed genuinely concernedrnabout the welfare of Fitzgerald’s daughter,rnScottie. Furlong promised to lookrnthrough the original transcripts and tornsend me any new nraterial he could find.rnMy first breakthrough came fromrnClaire Eaglestonc of Balliol College, whornwas intrigued bv my query about SirrnFrancis and, putting m letter on the toprnof her correspondence, rang me at once.rnThough Sir Francis had no sons, hisrngrandson had (as I suspected) gone tornhis old college. Captain William Elliot-rnbung (1910-42) had been killed in thernwar, but his son, the 10th baronet. SirrnWilliam Neil Young, reportedly lived inrnLoiidon. When he did not answer mvrnletter (which had been forwarded to hisrnnew home in Edinburgh), I rang him atrnthe Saudi International Bank. Thev toldrnme he had moved to Coutts Bank,rnwhich put me right through to him.rnSir William was in the midst of hisrnwork but, like the Earl of Minto, was fascinatedrnby his great-aunt and disposedrnto chat about her. He described her extravagance,rnher alcoholism, her mythomaniarn—and her wooden leg. Most importantly,rnhe put me in touch withrnGillian Plazzota, the former wife of Bijou’srnson. Mrs. Plazzota told me morernabout Bijou’s striking appearance andrnbohcmian character, and about Bijou’srnson, Michael O’Conor. He had beenrnabandoned by his mother, brought uprnin the south of France by his stern Scottishrngrandparents, and eared for by arnnanny until he was sent to school inrnEngland. She gave me his phone number,rnbut suggested I “be gentle withrnhim, and ask about photographs andrnletters before requesting informationrnabout Bijou.”rnThough slightly suspicious at first,rnMichael O’Conor—curious about whyrn1 was so interested in Bijou, amused byrnthe circuitous trail I had followed to findrnhim, and eager to hear what I knewrnabout Bijou and Fitzgerald—agreedrnto see me the following morning inrnSurrey. He had been educated at preprnschool, Radley, and Oxford, become arnpetroleum engineer, and worked for thernKuwait Oil Cornpanv and for Shell inrnVenezuela. Many of the oil wells he hadrnbuilt and supervised had been recentlyrndestroyed in the Persian Gulf Wir. FIcrnshowed me a photograph of Bijou’srnPekinese, a pet he had inherited on herrndeath but, significantly enough, did notrnhave one of his mother. Michael saidrnthat the most serious of Bijou’s numerousrnlovers was a Russian photographer.rn42/CHRONICLESrnrnrn