From The Villager
Search for the real Great Gatsby leads to Jones St. in the Village
By: Lincoln Anderson
June 05, 2002
A detective hot on the trail of the man who may have been the basis for the title character from "The Great Gatsby" thinks he may have found him in Greenwich Village.
Charleston, S.C., private eye Howard Comen has been hired by Professor Matthew Bruccoli of the University of South Carolina, an F. Scott Fitzgerald authority, to track down the author's inspiration for Jay Gatsby, the famous fictional West Egg tycoon.
Bruccoli reached out to Comen early this month after what he called "25 years of dead ends," sending him the few leads he has collected. One is a newspaper clipping showing a photo of Fitzgerald, his wife, Zelda, and two-year-old son, Scotty, with a message from a friend, Max von Gerlach, penned across the top: "En route from the coast: Here for a few days on business. How are you and the family old sport?"
"What we're looking for is an important piece of Americana here," Comen said. "Basically, von Gerlach is the real character that the main character of the 'great American novel' is based on - [in the newspaper clipping] you've got the 'old sport' phrase that is prominent in 'The Great Gatsby.' "
The theory is Fitzgerald and von Gerlach met while summering in Great Neck. A Max von Gerlach died Oct. 18, 1958, but Bruccoli and Comen don't know where.
"We assume it was in New York but we don't know what borough," Comen said. "We know he lived in Flushing as of '39."
Two "police blotter"-type newspaper articles from 1939 reported a Max von Gerlach, 55, attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head while staying with an Elizabeth Mayer at her apartment at 14 Jones St. in the Village.
"They had been sitting there for almost three hours, each reading a newspaper," The Herald Tribune reported. " 'Good by, darling,' said Mr. von Gerlach suddenly. Miss Mayer looked up just in time to see him fire the shot. He was taken to St. Vincents Hospital and is in serious condition."
According to the newspapers, von Gerlach was upset over losing his used-car business on Northern Bouleverd in Flushing, Queens, a month earlier.
Bruccoli and Comen have a photo of von Gerlach. A cockatiel is on his shoulder.
They also have a letter written on stationary from the Mansfield Hotel, 12 W. 44th St., von Gerlach's last known address. Comen believes the letter was written by someone who visited von Gerlach.
"Max, as Metsche said it, 'lives alone' and 'dies alone,' " the letter reads. "He has stopped drinking and giving parties. Says it's a 'different world.' His mind is alert. Visits and letters, at this time, would be especially welcome.... He says he literally lives in pajamas - at home most of the time. So a new personality."
Comen said: "It says, 'he no longer throws parties,' Gatsby throws parties. That's where Fitzgerald probably got the idea because this guy is a high roller."
Comen hopes media exposure will turn up someone who knew von Gerlach, possibly from the time of his suicide in the Village or a grandchild. So far, he's contacted The Villager and another weekly newspaper, The Queens Tribune.
The private eye will come to New York this month for some on-the-scene investigating.
©The Villager 2003
