Letters from readers in search of information about Max Gerlach

November 20, 2002

Thank you for including my request for information on F. Scott Fitzgerald ’17 and Max Gerlach in your publication.

I have received two phone calls that are helping me delve into the Princeton/Fitzgerald/Gerlach post WWI era. One call came from the grandson of Fitzgerald's best friend, Ludlow Fowler. The other call came from a woman whose family has deep Princetin ties dating back to the Class of 1911. Her aunt dated Fitzgerald during his Princeton years.

On another side of my investigation the N.Y.P.D. commissioner's office has agreed to help in my search. We are meeting a detective in December who will go through the 1939 suicide-attempt files of Max Gerlach in the hopes that we can get leads on Max Gerlach's next of kin. If I find the next of kin I am sure I can unlock the Max Gerlach mystery.

Howard Gerald Comen   
Private Detective
Charleston, S. Carolina  

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November 14, 2002

Brucolli, Kruse, and Comen seem to be off on a fruitless search for the prototype of Gatsby. Surely these literary critics have read the book and therefore must recognize that the inspiration came from Fitzgerald's imagination. Gatsby has entranced readers for three-quarters of a century because F.S.F.'s words captured a vital archetypal bit of American experience. Von Gerlach or some other bootlegger may have supplied a few random details, but not the spirit of Gatsby. Anyway Gerlach was pretty much disposed of by Mizner, Piper '39 and other Fitzgerald scholars a long time ago.

Roberta Piper
Murphysboro, Ill.

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September 30, 2002

I am helping two F. Scott Fitzgerald ’17 scholars, Dr. Matthew Bruccoli of the University of South Carolina and Dr. Horst Kruse of the University of Meunster, track down the inspiration for Fitzgerald's character Jay Gatsby.

I believe that person was Max Gerlach, who operated a garage in New York City at 24 E. 40th St., around the corner from the old Princeton Club.

Dr. Burcooli and Dr. Kruse and I believe Gerlach was a bootlegger, and we are investigating the possibility that Gerlach supplied the Princeton Club's alcoholic needs and met Fitzgerald at the Princeton Club.

I would like to hear from any alumni who might have some family stories or information on the Princeton Club, Fitzgerald, or a Max S. Gerlach (aka Max Von Gerlach) during the 20s.

I can be reached on-line at comendetec-pi.com or through my Charleston offices 800-270-4170 or my New York office (Uscrimestop) 516-352-5400.

Howard Comen
Private Detective
Charleston, S. Carolina

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