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Max Gerlach

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Max Gerlach
A grainy surveillance photograph of Max Gerlach clandestinely taken by New York City police operatives. Gerlach appears blonde-haired and immaculately groomed. He is wearing a high starch collar and a large brown overcoat.
Surveillance photograph of bootlegger Max Gerlach clandestinely taken on July 8, 1915, by the New York City Police Department
Born
Max Stork Gerlach

(1885-10-12)October 12, 1885[1]
Berlin,Brandenburg,Prussia,Germany
DiedOctober 18, 1958(1958-10-18)(aged 73)[2]
New York City, U.S.
Resting placeLong Island National Cemetery[2]
NationalityGerman-American[a]
OccupationBootlegger

Max von Gerlach(bornMax Stork Gerlach;October 12, 1885 – October 18, 1958) was a German-born American bootlegger and an acquaintance of American writerF. Scott Fitzgerald.[4][5]After serving as an officer in theAmerican Expeditionary ForceduringWorld War I,[6]Gerlach became a gentlemanbootleggerwho operatedspeakeasieson behalf of gamblerArnold Rothsteinin New York City.[7]

Flaunting his newfound wealth as a bootlegger in New York, Gerlach threw lavish parties,[8]never wore the same shirt twice,[9]used the phrase "old sport",[4]claimed to be educated atOxford University,[10]and fostered outlandish myths about himself, including that he was a relation of theGerman Kaiser.[11]Many of these details about Gerlach inspired Fitzgerald's creation ofJay Gatsby,the titular character of his novelThe Great Gatsby.[12]

With the end ofprohibitionand the onset of theGreat Depressionin the early 1930s, Gerlach lost his immense wealth.[13]Living in reduced circumstances, he attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head in 1939.[13]Blinded after his suicide attempt, he lived as a helpless invalid for many years.[2]Gerlach died on October 18, 1958, atBellevue Hospitalin New York City.[2]He was buried in a pine casket atLong Island National Cemetery.[2]

Biography

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Early life and military service

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According to research, Gerlach was presumably born in or nearBerlin,Germany, in 1885.[1]His father was Ferdinand Gerlach, a secretary toFrederick IIIin the Ministry of theRoyal House of Hohenzollern.[1]His father died in 1887 or 1888 while serving in theRoyal Prussian Army.[14](Although a marriage document fromKönigsberglisting his full name, parents names, and date of birth makes him alive in 1895). After his father's death, his mother Elizabeth Gerlach married a merchant named Andreas Stork.[14]

In 1894, Max, his mother, and his step-father immigrated to the United States and settled inYonkers, New York.[15]In 1900, a fifteen-year-old Gerlach worked on a motor boat as a machinist where he traveled to Mexico. He later worked as a mechanic and car salesman in Cuba and other locales.[16]By 1910, a 25-year-old Max had returned to the United States and become a merchant onSecond AvenueinManhattan.[15]

In 1918, following theUnited States' entranceintoWorld War I,Gerlach applied for a major's commission in the Ordnance Department of theU.S. Army.[17]Although he applied to be a major, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant and managed military logistics for the American Expeditionary Forces inHoboken, New Jersey.[17]After thearmistice with Imperial Germany,Gerlach was honorably discharged.[17]Immediately after his discharge, Gerlach often traveled between Cuba and the United States during which time he likely became involved in illegally importing alcohol duringProhibition.[18]He soon became a gentlemanbootleggerwho lived like a millionaire in New York.[6]

Bootlegging and meeting Fitzgerald

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F. Scott Fitzgeraldpartly based the character of Jay Gatsby on his wealthy neighbor Max Gerlach.

While bootlegging in New York City, Gerlach befriended writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Both Fitzgerald's wifeZelda Fitzgeraldand his friendEdmund Wilsonstated that Gerlach was Fitzgerald's neighbor at some point during the author's sojourn in New York state.[4][5]Initially, Fitzgerald scholars were uncertain where the two met and could not find property records for aLong Islandestate with Gerlach's name.[18][19]

In 2022, scholars discovered evidence that Gerlach operated aManhattanspeakeasy in 1927 in a building owned byArnold Rothstein,[7]the gambler andkingpinof theJewish Mobupon whom Fitzgerald based the character of Meyer Wolfsheim in his novel,The Great Gatsby.[20][21]In a letter written to Corey Ford at MGM in 1937, Fitzgerald stated he met Rothstein in New York City in unspecified circumstances.[22]

According to aVarietymagazine article dated July 27 1927, New York police raided Gerlach's posh speakeasy located at 51 West 58th Street.[7]Gerlach's speakeasy was located a few hundred feet from thePlaza Hotelwhere Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda frequently stayed when visiting Manhattan,[23]and Gerlach's well-heeled patrons were reported by the press to be "quite exclusive".[7]

In his interactions with Fitzgerald, Gerlach claimed to have been born in the United States to a German immigrant family. Flaunting his new wealth, Gerlach threw lavish parties,[8]never wore the same shirt twice,[9]used the phrase "old sport",[4]claimed to be educated atOxford University,[10]and fostered myths about himself, including that he was a relation of theGerman Kaiser.[11]Fitzgerald used these details for the character ofJay Gatsby.[24]

Loss of wealth and suicide attempt

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In Summer 1927, police arrested Gerlach and charged him with violating theVolstead Actby selling alcohol.[25]The outcome of the case is unknown, but he later appeared in records at a prestigious address on 22 East 38th Street in Manhattan.[25]With the end ofprohibitionand the onset of theGreat Depression,Gerlach lost his immense wealth. After losing his wealth Gerlach found work as a car salesman.[13]Living in reduced circumstances, he attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head in 1939.[13]Blinded after his suicide attempt, he lived as a helpless invalid for many years.[2]

Final years and death

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How are you and the family, old sport?

—Max Gerlach, Letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald[26]

After Fitzgerald's death in December 1940 and after the belated popularity of his novelThe Great Gatsbyin the late 1940s, a blind Gerlach attempted to contact Fitzgerald's first biographerArthur Mizenerin 1951.[5]He attempted to communicate to Mizener that he had inspired the character of Jay Gatsby. However, Mizener wrongly believed that Gatsby was an entirely fictional character and refused to speak with Gerlach.[5]

Gerlach died on October 18, 1958, atBellevue Hospitalin New York City.[2]He was buried in a pine casket atLong Island National Cemetery.[2]Following Gerlach's death, scholars discovered correspondence between Gerlach and Fitzgerald. In one letter, Gerlach had written, "How are you and the family, old sport?"[26]Further statements made byZelda Fitzgeraldand Fitzgerald's friendEdmund Wilsonconfirmed that Gerlach had primarily inspired the fictional character, including a statement by Wilson that Fitzgerald had visited Gerlach's home and had been impressed by its splendor.[5]Several years before her death, Zelda stated "that Gatsby was based on 'a neighbor named Von Guerlach or something who was said to beGeneral Pershing's nephew and was in trouble overbootlegging' ".[4]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^Although Gerlach claimed in legal documents to have been born in the United States,[3]records indicate he attained American citizenship during his youth.[1]

Citations

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  1. ^abcdKruse 2014,p. 19.
  2. ^abcdefghKruse 2014,p. 26.
  3. ^Kruse 2014,pp. 31, 34.
  4. ^abcdeBruccoli 2002,p. 178.
  5. ^abcdeKruse 2014,pp. 13–14.
  6. ^abKruse 2002,pp. 53–54, 47–48, 63–64.
  7. ^abcdSargeant 2022.
  8. ^abKruse 2014,p. 15.
  9. ^abKruse 2002,p. 47.
  10. ^abKruse 2014,pp. 38–39, 63–64.
  11. ^abKruse 2002,p. 60.
  12. ^Kruse 2002,pp. 45–83;Bruccoli 2002,p. 178;Kruse 2014,pp. 19, 26.
  13. ^abcdBruccoli 2002,p. 178;Kruse 2002,pp. 47–48;Kruse 2014,p. 15
  14. ^abKruse 2014,p. 20.
  15. ^abKruse 2014,p. 21.
  16. ^Kruse 2014,p. 22.
  17. ^abcKruse 2014,p. 23.
  18. ^abKruse 2014,pp. 23–24.
  19. ^Kruse 2002,p. 51.
  20. ^Bruccoli 2002,p. 179.
  21. ^Mizener 1965,p. 186.
  22. ^Turnbull 1971,p. 558;Bruccoli 2002,p. 179;Mizener 1965,p. 186.
  23. ^Bruccoli 2002,p. 261: "There were regular trips from Wilmington to New York, where the Fitzgeralds stayed at the Plaza."
  24. ^Kruse 2002,pp. 45–83;Bruccoli 2002,p. 178.
  25. ^abKruse 2014,p. 24.
  26. ^abKruse 2014,p. 17.

Works cited

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