Revealing the Real Great Gatsby

Revealing the Real Great Gatsby

 

(originally published July 14, 2014 – Cool Cleveland)

Did you ever wonder it how it would feel to be present and experience one of The Great Gatsby’s parties?  While this story was written in the 1920’s, every young generation wants to experience a lavish party where one rubs elbows and interacts with the rich and famous. This fictional prose was set it the New York City, and while it will never be believed in New York City or other east coast cities, it’s literally possible the Great Gatsby was based on Cleveland area families and parties that occurred in the region during the period.   The recent Great Gatsby movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and the original F. Scott Fitzgerald book, reminded Clevelanders of all the similarities between this fictional character and the Van Sweringen brothers.  An earlier publication “Mentor and Mistress” tells of these two extremely wealthy and powerful brothers sharing a love for a married woman named “Daisy”, just as Gatsby’s fictional love was named.  The similarities between the real life Van Sweringens and fictional Jay Gatsby are so numerous they needed to be examined more fully.  From the evidence below its likely The Gatsby Character was based on Clevelanders and their life styles. 

As a writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald was known to have based his stories on real people.  The story Bernice Bobs her Hair was said to be written about a young woman from Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  As F Scott was from St. Paul Minnesota he may have heard stories about her and this is upon who he based this story.  It’s therefore not too hard to fathom that Jay Gatsby and his love Daisy could have been based on real life Clevelanders.   

The real Daisy’s maiden name was Louise Davidson and when the name Louise was quoted to a friend who knew Daisy, she simply stated “they didn’t know her”.  Anyone who was a friend of Daisy knew her by that name.  Mr. Fitzgerald may have given his leading lady the name Daisy for a reason.  Daisy is not a common name and searching database names from the 1920’s it wasn’t even in the top 100 names during that period.  In addition the name Daisy is usually associated with a rural family and not a high society family.  It curious Mr. Fitzgerald choose this name and it’s my belief he did so as to give credit to the inspiration for the story.

 

Photograph reprinted with permission of Shaker Heights Historical society

 

Daisy Davidson married Mr. Ben Jenks and shortly thereafter the two Jenks became close friends with two of the Van Sweringen brothers.  The ‘Vans’ were beginning their careers in real estate and railroads.  Daisy’s wisdom and drive helped her husband and the two ‘Vans’ begin to build a multi-billion dollar railroad and real estate empire.   People who knew them and even the Van Sweringens gave credit for their success to Daisy.  In a book Daisy published in the 1940’s she remarked how OP Van Sweringen came to their home one night and told her she was the reason behind their success.      

The Vans started with a single small railroad and quickly began expanding their enterprise.  Using the stock market to raise capital they continued to purchase railroads and soon they were the largest railroad owners in the country.  They had amassed great wealth and by some accounts had net worth of over $2 billion dollars in the 1920’s, a massive fortune today but even bigger during the time.  This is similar to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s character in The Great Gatsby. Mr. Gatsby had started from humble beginnings (The Vans started out as paper boys) and amassed a great fortune.  Also just as “Jimmy Gatz” had changed his name to Jay Gatsby, the Van Sweringen’s also changed their name.  Originally their last name was Sweringens, and they added the “Van” early in their career. In both stories they were in love with a woman named Daisy. 

 

By the 1920’s the Vans and the Jenks had moved to Hunting Valley on what is now known as “Daisy Hill”.  The Jenk’s front door is directly across from the front door of the Van Sweringen home.   In the book Gatsby could see Daisy’s home across the way, just at the Vans could.  F Scott wrote also of a light at the end the pier and that the light could be seen from Gatsby’s home.  To this day there is a prominent light and light fixture on the Jenks home.  Anyone driving anywhere near the home would see this prominent architectural feature and this may have been why it was written into the story. In the fictional story there was a water way separating the two homes, in the real world there is half mile of open land between the two homes.  Not in the story however in the real world, there is an underground tunnel between their two homes; it exists to this day. 

 

It was said the Vans worshipped and idolized Daisy and were lifelong friends.      The Vans at the time were known by all Clevelanders and used their money and influence over much of the Cleveland area.  It was they who moved the private schools and many country clubs out of Cleveland into the suburbs.  They also developed many area  roads and railways which we still in use today.  If you have ever traveled to the Greenbrier in West Virginia this was also created by the Van Sweringens.  You can almost imagine the Great Gatsby walking through the Greenbrier’s opulent halls. 

 If you were in Cleveland or knew anything about Cleveland or railroads you certainly knew about the Van Sweringens.  However as with most wealthy individuals, they were private and secretive about their activities.  Few knew them personally and even fewer knew of their activities. This was a time of great wealth in Cleveland and they were at the top of the ladder, at least for a time.    Today it’s hard to imagine how well known, feared or cheered they were.  A similar set of brothers exist today and they are the Koch brothers of New York.    Imagine the Koch brothers living in Cleveland and this was the influence of the Van Sweringen’s.  For a detail and thorough appreciation of their business and personal lives, please read Invisible Giants by Herbert Harwood.  His title says it all. 

It might also be difficult to visualize Cleveland as an area for the rich and famous, however in the 1880 US government census, showed there were more millionaires living in the Cleveland than any place else in the United States.  This was true all the way through the 1920’s.  To understand the wealth in Cleveland at the time anyone who remembers watching Gilligan’s Island and seeing Thurston Howell III the millionaire, can appreciated how Clevelanders lived and behaved during this period.  Jim Backus who played ‘the millionaire’ was originally from a wealthy Cleveland area and has told reporters, many of his lines from Gilligan’s Island were simply lines he heard from his father and his father’s friends.  Mr. Backus was born in 1913 and would have been a young boy in the 1920’s.  His role as Gilligan’s Island millionaire was developed during his time growing up in Cleveland. 

There was another well known Clevelander who is central to this story.  His name is Leonard Hanna and Leonard was heir to the great Hanna mining fortune and was a strong supporter of the arts.  In his support of the arts it is said he knew F. Scott and may have invited him to parties his home.  Mr. L. Hanna was said to have large, noisy parties with many influential individuals attending.  It’s not hard to imagine the writer writing these parties into his book.  He may have also been introduced to the Vans.    

There is connection between the Vans and Mr. Hanna which needs to be mentioned.  Mr. Hanna was known to live an alternative lifestyle which at the time was rare and hardly mentioned in public.  The Vans also lived in the same bedroom their whole life and by some accounts the same bed.  While they shared a love for Daisy they may too have had alternative lifestyles.  This certainly would create a connection between the Vans and Mr. Hanna as their wealth and lifestyle would have certainly put them in contact with each other.  Mr. Fitzgerald meeting them is almost a certainty. 

Even today, it’s not unusual for married men to have a mistress or even a married mistress.  It certainly is not worth  writing a book about it.  However two powerful extremely wealthy, rags to riches individuals in love with a woman named Daisy, this is a different story.  Hearing a real life story such as this is something most writers can only dream about.  While in the 1920’s and even today, it would be hard to believe or write about two brothers in love with the same married woman, a story could certainly be written about one rags to riches individual in love with a woman named Daisy. 

There is another story in the Great Gatsby which ties the origins of the book with the Cleveland area elite.  In one edition of the book, it is written about how ‘rich are different than the rest of us’ and an example is given of two wealthy cousins marrying each other.  This may have happened in New York and in other cities, however in at least one situation it happened here in Cleveland.  They may have been in love however Clevelander’s wedding occurred to help preserve the family fortunes.     In hearing about this wedding, I remember my aristocratic friend who told me this, saying ‘they had to get permission from the bishop first’.    

As discussed the Great Gatsby and the Vans were in love with a woman named Daisy.  In addition they each began in humble and meager circumstances.  They each changed their names.  However further research is needed to cement this story.  Any photographic evidence of Scott Fitzgerald’s trips to Cleveland and possibly attending parties at the Hanna’s would be great.  If there is a possible photograph of The Vans with F. Scott, this would almost cement the connection between the book and these Clevelanders.  Let’s hope one day photographic or at least written accounts of the 3 or 4 (including Daisy) of them meeting can be found. 

While F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a wonderful ending to The Great Gatsby not even he could foresee the ending to the Vans Sweringens and their fortunes.  The roaring and profitable 1920s’ came to an abrupt end in 1929 with the stock market crash.  The Van’s fortune had been made by selling more and more stock in their railroad ventures.  Not quite a Ponzi scheme, but close.  The stock market crash punished their holdings considerably and it literally killed them.  Mantis James Van Sweringen passed away of ill health in December 1934 and his older brother Oris Paxton Van Sweringen met a similar fate to Jay Gatsby in November 1936.  They both passed away too young and as others have written, their work was unfinished.