In the last article we were introduced to Max Gerlach, the ‘gentleman bootlegger’ who had provided the partial inspiration for Jay Gatsby. Then there’d been that bombshell discovery that Max had been running a speakeasy for Arnold Rothstein, the notorious mobster who had ‘fixed’ the 1919 World Series. The speakeasy, adjacent to the Coronet Apartments…
Category: The Jazz Age
Max von Gerlach aka Max Stork – The Original Great Gatsby?
“He started as one man I knew and then changed into myself.” That’s how the author described his most famous creation, Jay Gatsby. And on the evidence currently available there’s no reason to doubt him. Discoveries made by Matthew J. Bruccoli and Horst Kruse suggest that the ‘one man’ he knew was Max Gerlach, whose…
The Eyes of Dr T. J. Eckleburg, The Valley of Ashes and the Meaning and Inspiration Behind Them.
Blending into the background and creating a mask is all part of the tradecraft of being a spy, and whether it’s the endless whirring rumours at Gatsby’s parties, the private investigations into his business affairs carried out by his love rival Tom Buchanan, or the eyes of Dr T. J. Eckleburg staring out with haunting…
Beacon Towers – The Sands Point Mansion that Gatsby Made His Home
Whether you’ve seen the films or read the books, the thing that everybody seems to remember most about The Great Gatsby is the fantastic house and the riotous parties. But where did Scott get his inspiration for the house? And what was the house intended to say? Despite the increasing personal and religious space that…