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Gentleman’s Reader 5/1922

A day in the life of Jay Gatsby

New York‘s first address for breath-taking parties 

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You may have heard rumours about the mysterious Jay Gatsby or even attended one of his flattering parties. But do you know the man behind the glamorous façade? GR accompanied him for one day and got to know this man’s story.

It was a Saturday morning last month that  I drove to West Egg on Long Island in New York as I had an appointment I had been waiting for since last summer.

When approaching the colossal mansion by its stunning gravel drive, I was amazed by the wealth this imitation of a Norman hotel expresses. Jay Gatsby had just returned from a ride on his brand new cream-coloured 1922 Silver Ghost Rolls-Royce. He smiled welcomingly and offered some breakfast to me. He approached the rear of his mansion showing me around the impressive gardens that had been designed by a French gardener one year ago, extending in the same dimension as St James’s Park in London. Offering me a seat in the exclusive pavilion surveying Long Island Sound, he sat down and asked his butler for some Hiedsieck 1907 Diamant Bleu cuvee and the warm breakfast to be dished up.

Afterwards, I asked him about his life and why he was still a bachelor though one of the most desired in the city. “Listen” , he said, “there is just one special women in my life, old sport, but she is, I think, not aware of me anymore.” He did not want to tell more on this precarious topic and thus I continued with some general questions. Gatsby, having been discharged honourably in the rank of a Major in the U.S. Army after World War I, said he inherited his fortune when his parents and all other relatives had died in the West. He lived in European cities for  a while, residing in Venice, Paris and Oxford to name but a few.

Jay Gatsby enjoyed the education of a privileged young man, attending Oxford and ascending in the military. Later that day, he proudly showed me a medal of valour of the Kingdom of Montenegro, which he received for extraordinary services to Montenegro in the Great War. 

At noon, he started to show me the colossal palace he called home. We started at the rear with the magnificent pool and the stunning view over the bay. When we got inside, I was impressed by the great halls he lived in. Truly, not throwing a party there would waste the building’s potential.

He introduced me to Klippspringer, an aspiring pianist, who uses to delight Gatsby by playing the most virtuosic piano concerts by the modern Russian-American composer Sergei Rachmaninov or Beethoven sonatas par excellence on Gatsby’s Steinway in the great hall.

Having had lunch, he showed me around his stalls and I was again dazzled by the enormous amounts of money that this luxurious vehicles must have cost. He owns a wide range of sports cars, including his Rolls coupé and a German Mercedes limousine. Mr Gatsby does clearly not need a chauffeur even though he uses one’s services occasionally. Gatsby is a dynamic young man who enjoys sporty adventures with friends, e.g. he goes out on the Sound with his hydroplane from time to time or simply enjoys the horsepower  of his cars.

After the short tour of his house, we talked about dressing appropriately in the approaching summer. “It’s all about fabrics, old sport”, he said. “I slightly dislike these women’s things. Going shopping in the crowded city is not something I do really much appreciate. That’s why I prefer my clothes to be send to me. I have got a friend in Europe who sends packages of shirts of all different fabrics to me. Shirts of linen for the summer or of thick silk for the winter. Suits made of linen I of course order at my tailor in the US. He knows my measures and that’s why he will send me some suits every month and I am never disappointed by his service.” GR thinks Gatsby is one of the most promising candidates for this year’s Dressed Man award.

Besides his stunning style, he is well known for the parties. When asked, he is a little shy about these weekly events that attract guests from the city and further beyond to come to the inconspicuous West Egg. “Well, these parties are a little hobby. They are just some fun, old sport.”