F. Scott Fitzgerald at Work: The Making of "The Great Gatsby"

Notes

Notes Chapter 1 1.SeeWalbridge,Literary Characters Drawn from Life:“It has already been broadly hinted that EdmundWilson Jr., when he introduced a disturbing young novelist in his play [. . .] was only getting even for a suspected caricature of himself in ‘The Beautiful and Damned.’—AlexanderWoolcott in the NewYork Sun” (110). 2.The actual Julius Fleischmann (1871–1925) and his brother Max (1877– 1952), like all members of the family who owned the FleischmannYeast Company, retained the German spelling (-nn) of the name.Wilson’s use of “Fleischman”could perhaps be seen as a halfhearted attempt to veil (as well as to reveal) the identity of the real-life model. 3.There is conflicting information about who was the builder of The Lindens in 1910.Klieger,in The FleischmannYeast Family (2004) (p.49),as well as other sources, name Julius,while Raymond E.and JudithA.Spinzia in their exhaustive study Long Island’s Prominent North Shore Families:Their Estates and Their Country Homes (2004) (vol. 1, p. 566) list Max as the owner who also contracted for the original construction .The question is of some relevance for Fitzgerald biography as well as the study of the genesis of The Great Gatsby. Since Max seems to have been the owner, the likelihood is greater that Fitzgerald actually visited Sands Point and saw The Lindens as well as perhapsAugust Belmont’s BeaconTowers and Malcolm Douglas Sloane’s Lands End.These were mansions of particular renown in a choice and ex- 122 notes clusive neighborhood that later in the decade attracted and admitted people such as Mary Harriman Rumsey,Tommy Hitchcock, and Herbert Bayard Swope—all three of whom, incidentally, were friends of the Fitzgeralds who played an important role in the gestation of The Great Gatsby. 4.The endpaper page from Malraux’s Man’s Hope is reproduced in F. Scott Fitzgerald ’s“The Great Gatsby”:A Documentary Volume, p. 55, as well as in Bruccoli’s “Introduction ” to The Great Gatsby, p. xiv, and his “Introduction” to The Great Gatsby: A Facsimile of the Manuscript, p. xvii. References to parties on Long Island that Fitzgerald attended are to be found in his Ledger, pp. 177–78, as well as in Goldstein, pp. 26–27. 5. UndatedTS note byArthur Mizener [c. 1951–1954].The 3- x 5-inch note, apparently written by Mizener to identify the correspondent for his letter files,begins as follows:“Max von Guerlach was, in the 1920s, the Long Island bootlegger who, in a general way, gave FSF his first conception of Gatsby’s career.” 6. Undated letter from Max von Gerlach to Arthur Mizener, sent after Gerlach had moved to the Mansfield Hotel at 12West 44th Street, c. 1953–1954, as well as letter of June 10, 1954, from BelleTrenholm (for Gerlach) to Arthur Mizener (Arthur Mizener Papers, Princeton University Library). 7. BelleTrenholm wrote toArthur Mizener,“Max [. . .]‘lives alone’ and‘dies alone.’ He has stopped drinking and giving parties. Says it’s a‘different world.’ His mind is alert.[. . .] He says he literally lives in pajamas—at home most of the time.” She goes on to plead with Mizener to respond in some way: “[. . .] a new personality ,at present,would be a‘mind’send to him.[. . .] Do write Max‘ir’regardless of Great Gads or what nots” (see note 6). 8.The letter was written in response to Shane Leslie’s “Some Memories of Scott Fitzgerald” (Times Literary Supplement, October 31, 1958, p. 632) and was published in that paper on November 14,1958,p.657.A copy of the November 5, 1958, letter is in theArthur Mizener Papers, Princeton University Library (Box 2, Folder 20). 9.For a recent instance,see Jonathan P.Fegley’s identification of “Gatsby’s historical models, the Long Island bootlegger Max Gerlach and the NewYork stock swindler Edward M. Fuller” (131). 10. Lydia is not listed in the 1900 Federal Census Record; the record also indicates that her mother, Elizabeth, had given birth to five children, three of whom were living when the census was taken as of June 1,1900 (1900 United States Federal Census). 11.Arriving in NewYork City early in 1911, Max still gave his address as 841 North 40thAvenue,Chicago,Illinois (Ship Manifest of SS St.Paul).In his 1914 Berlin notes 123 passport application he also stated that he and his mother had lived in Chicago as well as NewYork City (Gerlach PassportApplication 1914). 12...