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“Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story”

By Keith Loria

If you’ve read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel “The Great Gatsby” or seen either the 1974 movie starring Robert Redford or the 2013 remake with Leonardo DiCaprio as the titular Jay Gatsby, you probably think you know the true story of who Gatsby was.

But a new documentary entitled “Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story” will tell the real story and answer the question, “Who was the real Jay Gatsby?”

The documentary, which will be available on DVD and streaming services on Sept. 1, also reveals that Fitzgerald’s inspiration for the story’s setting of West Egg was really Westport and not Long Island as many assumed.

The film also acts as a companion piece with the book “Boats Against the Current,” written by the documentary’s producer, Richard “Deej” Webb Jr.

Presented by Vision Films and Against The Grain Productions, “Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story” is directed by Robert Steven Williams and features actor Sam Waterston, who starred as Nick Carraway in Redford’s version of the movie.

“Sam is a longtime Connecticut resident and I had a friend who knew him well and reached out to him and ask if he would take a tour of the Fitzgerald house, and interestingly enough, he didn’t know anything about the Fitzgeralds in Westport,” Williams says. “He came down and spent the entire day there because he was so fascinated by the house.”

Fairfield’s own Keir Dullea, who starred as astronaut David Bomwan in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” narrates the film.

“Keir is another local and we have done work together before,” Williams says. “He’s an icon and people know him for 2001, but he actually played Fitzgerald in a one-person play off-Broadway in the early ’90s. I was very fortunate both Sam and Keir gave of their time and they generally found the project fascinating.”

The film was inspired by an article written by Barbara Probst Solomon that appeared in an edition of the New Yorker in 1996, which explored the theory that Westport was the true inspiration for the locale of the story.

Williams’ film shines a brighter light on Probst’s theory, as he attempts to show it’s true through his research into Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s life and their love of Westport, looking at the untold story of the Fitzgeralds living in Connecticut. Bobbie Lanahan, the couple’s granddaughter, appears in the documentary and she herself is amazed at the findings.

“I started with this about seven years ago,” said Williams, who lives in Westport. “I had just written a novel and I decided to promote the novel by celebrating the town’s rich cultural history. I did a literary roundtable at the Westport Historical Society and I had [Richard] present some Fitzgerald stuff.”

By the end, numerous people came up to Williams telling him they had no idea about any of Fitzgerald’s association with the area and that made him start thinking.

“I called the guy who did the presentation up and told him I wanted to do a short, three-month project, maybe a 10-minute film for the Historical Society so the next generation doesn’t forget that the Fitzgeralds even lived here,” Williams says. “He thought it was a great idea and that’s how we started.”

The more Williams researched, the more intrigued he became. By the time he came across Solomon’s article, and saw the similarities between the Westport houses and the Gatsby mansion she wrote about, he was convinced the film had to be more.

“Along the way, we uncovered academic secrets and a lawsuit to stop the leading Fitzgerald scholar from rewriting parts of Gatsby,” Williams says. “Most important, we were able to bring to life an overlooked period of Scott and Zelda’s that had a profound impact on their lives including their art, the novels, their love.”

The reason it took seven years was because it took time to build confidence with the Fitzgerald community to reveal some of their secrets. There was skepticism among many Gatsby scholars, and some even actively tried to stop the information from coming out.

“It took a long time for anyone to admit that maybe what Barbara wrote was a possibility,” Williams says. “It was really important to create trust with the community and let people finally feel comfortable with sharing things they didn’t want to actually say.”

The movie also has some great music in it, which Williams says reflects Fitzgerald’s love of jazz.

At a time when there are a lot of crazy things going on in the world, Williams feels the film is the perfect escape.

“The opportunity to spend an hour or so in the world of Scott and Zelda is a great escape,” he says. “You don’t have to be a lover of history or literature. It’s a really fun ride because it’s such an interesting time. It’s also one of America’s most beloved novels, something we’ve all read. It’s an incredible commentary on how hard it is to achieve the American Dream.”

“Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story” will be available Sept. 1, on DVD from all major online retailers and on digital for an SRP of $4.99 to $9.99 from platforms including iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Xbox, Amazon, and FandangoNow, as well as cable affiliates everywhere.

Film claims Westport is the real inspiration for West Egg in ‘The Great Gatsby’

By Keith Loria

If you’ve read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel “The Great Gatsby” or seen either the 1974 movie starring Robert Redford or the 2013 remake with Leonardo DiCaprio as the titular Jay Gatsby, you probably think you know the true story of who Gatsby was.

But a new documentary entitled “Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story” will tell the real story and answer the question, “Who was the real Jay Gatsby?”

The documentary, which will be available on DVD and streaming services on Sept. 1, also reveals that Fitzgerald’s inspiration for the story’s setting of West Egg was really Westport and not Long Island as many assumed.

The film also acts as a companion piece with the book “Boats Against the Current,” written by the documentary’s producer, Richard “Deej” Webb Jr.

Presented by Vision Films and Against The Grain Productions, “Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story” is directed by Robert Steven Williams and features actor Sam Waterston, who starred as Nick Carraway in Redford’s version of the movie.

“Sam is a longtime Connecticut resident and I had a friend who knew him well and reached out to him and ask if he would take a tour of the Fitzgerald house, and interestingly enough, he didn’t know anything about the Fitzgeralds in Westport,” Williams says. “He came down and spent the entire day there because he was so fascinated by the house.”

Fairfield’s own Keir Dullea, who starred as astronaut David Bomwan in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” narrates the film.

“Keir is another local and we have done work together before,” Williams says. “He’s an icon and people know him for 2001, but he actually played Fitzgerald in a one-person play off-Broadway in the early ’90s. I was very fortunate both Sam and Keir gave of their time and they generally found the project fascinating.”

The film was inspired by an article written by Barbara Probst Solomon that appeared in an edition of the New Yorker in 1996, which explored the theory that Westport was the true inspiration for the locale of the story.

Williams’ film shines a brighter light on Probst’s theory, as he attempts to show it’s true through his research into Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s life and their love of Westport, looking at the untold story of the Fitzgeralds living in Connecticut. Bobbie Lanahan, the couple’s granddaughter, appears in the documentary and she herself is amazed at the findings.

“I started with this about seven years ago,” said Williams, who lives in Westport. “I had just written a novel and I decided to promote the novel by celebrating the town’s rich cultural history. I did a literary roundtable at the Westport Historical Society and I had [Richard] present some Fitzgerald stuff.”

By the end, numerous people came up to Williams telling him they had no idea about any of Fitzgerald’s association with the area and that made him start thinking.

“I called the guy who did the presentation up and told him I wanted to do a short, three-month project, maybe a 10-minute film for the Historical Society so the next generation doesn’t forget that the Fitzgeralds even lived here,” Williams says. “He thought it was a great idea and that’s how we started.”

The more Williams researched, the more intrigued he became. By the time he came across Solomon’s article, and saw the similarities between the Westport houses and the Gatsby mansion she wrote about, he was convinced the film had to be more.

“Along the way, we uncovered academic secrets and a lawsuit to stop the leading Fitzgerald scholar from rewriting parts of Gatsby,” Williams says. “Most important, we were able to bring to life an overlooked period of Scott and Zelda’s that had a profound impact on their lives including their art, the novels, their love.”

The reason it took seven years was because it took time to build confidence with the Fitzgerald community to reveal some of their secrets. There was skepticism among many Gatsby scholars, and some even actively tried to stop the information from coming out.

“It took a long time for anyone to admit that maybe what Barbara wrote was a possibility,” Williams says. “It was really important to create trust with the community and let people finally feel comfortable with sharing things they didn’t want to actually say.”

The movie also has some great music in it, which Williams says reflects Fitzgerald’s love of jazz.

At a time when there are a lot of crazy things going on in the world, Williams feels the film is the perfect escape.

“The opportunity to spend an hour or so in the world of Scott and Zelda is a great escape,” he says. “You don’t have to be a lover of history or literature. It’s a really fun ride because it’s such an interesting time. It’s also one of America’s most beloved novels, something we’ve all read. It’s an incredible commentary on how hard it is to achieve the American Dream.”

“Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story” will be available Sept. 1, on DVD from all major online retailers and on digital for an SRP of $4.99 to $9.99 from platforms including iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Xbox, Amazon, and FandangoNow, as well as cable affiliates everywhere.

The Great Gatsby’ prequel must be approached with caution

By Noah Keate

Aug. 28, 2020

Name the top 10, even the top five, American novels and F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby will certainly feature. A tragic tale about love, illusion and the failure of the American Dream, it’s an iconic piece of work detailing how individual desires so differ from reality. Featured on American and British academic courses for decades, the combination of exceptional literary prose, insightful characters and riveting context make the novel required reading.

Though numerous film adaptations were made, the text always belonged to Fitzgerald. The characters were his own and that was how it would always be. Until January 1 2021. With US copyright expiring on that date, the book can be freely adapted for the first time. Author Michael Farris Smith, according to the Guardian, has already announced his prequel Nick to be published on January 5 in the US and February 25 in the UK.

Can this prequel bring anything extra to the novel? It has a lot to live up to. Fitzgerald died in 1940; we can never know his opinion about how the characters developed or the intricacies of their lives before the story began. Given the original novel was published in 1925, Fitzgerald had ample opportunity to construct a prequel or sequel.

I fear this book will, like many of the film adaptations, incorrectly portray Nick Carraway

Farris Smith already suffers from not knowing what the source author narratively desired. Similarly, his prose and writing style are likely to be different to Fitzgerald. This is not to say it will be poor quality but it will certainly be different. The characters and ideas were created by Fitzgerald, indeed, many argue that Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are a reflection of himself and Zelda Fitzgerald. It is, to say the least, tricky for someone else to match that.

The prequel will apparently see Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, step ‘“into the spotlight,” with the novel detailing his life before meeting Jay Gatsby. Is this really necessary? We learn a great amount about Nick’s life during the main text. Of course, he is an unreliable, selective narrator that only reveals certain details. But all books do: one of the brilliant things about Fitzgerald’s prose was his ability to be concise while writing in an enriched manner.

The prequel will also see Nick be “charged with alcohol and heartbreak” and “flounder” as a result of trench warfare during the First World War. These initial descriptions by the publishers don’t leave me optimistic. I fear this book will, like many of the film adaptations, incorrectly portray Nick Carraway. As the academic Sarah Churchwell argues, Nick is often presented as a “dopey loser” following the Buchanans around. In reality, Nick is a “sophisticated, smart and ironic” stockbroker. He is the cool character that others are desperate to befriend. This prequel suggests it will only highlight his vulnerabilities.

The cynical part of me would suggest publishers are using the financial success of The Great Gatsby… to promote an extra novel that doesn’t need to be written

The one redeeming feature of Farris Smith’s prequel promotion is “the decade of uncertainty” when turning 30 and the contradiction between “what we discover in life and the abandon of those same discoveries.” These concepts could make a fascinating book. Why then does it need to be a prequel to The Great Gatsby? The cynical part of me would suggest publishers are using the financial success of The Great Gatsby, which has sold over 25 million copies, to promote an extra novel that doesn’t need to be written. Many novels are classics because they work as set pieces for their time, rather than constantly facing new adaptations.

When the novel is released, it won’t be at the top of my ‘to be read’ list. My intense A-level studies meant my focus turned only to stories within the novel rather than the experiences they could have led. While fan fiction is always written, deep academic analysis of The Great Gatsby has always turned to the main story. This prequel somewhat reminds me of Go Set a Watchman, the sequel to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Whether she gave consent to its publication was always unclear, but the sequel itself was of no comparison to the groundbreaking classic. While only publication day will reveal the truth, I fear Farris Smith’s The Great Gatsby prequel could follow the same fate.

Rolls Royce featured in ‘The Great Gatsby’ is up for sale

By Daily News staff

Posted Aug 28, 2020 at 9:30 AM

  

The yellow Rolls Royce featured in the 1974 film “The Great Gasby” that was filmed in Newport is on the auction block.

The 1928 Rolls-Royce 40/50hp Phantom I Ascot Dual Cowl Sport Phaeton is nearly perfect after benefiting from a thorough restoration with a total investment of $1.2 million.

F. Scott Fitzgerald selected a Rolls-Royce as the car to be featured in his classic and timeless novel. The car was described in detail in the novel and was an important highlight in the movie as well. And with an all-star cast selected by Paramount studios, it was important the Rolls-Royce was equally as stunning. Robert Redford starred alongside Mia Farrow to create this all-time classic movie.

S304KP was just the right car to co-star with Robert Redford. It had been owned by Ted Leonard, who was a well known collector from Seekonk, Massachusetts. The Rolls is likely the only Ascot sport phaeton built as a dual cowl.

And this was one of the details F. Scott Fitzgerald included in his description of Jay Gatsby’s Rolls: “He saw me looking with admiration at his car. ‘It’s pretty, isn’t it, old sport!’ He jumped off to give me a better view. ‘Haven’t you ever seen it before?’ I’d seen it. Everybody had seen it. It was a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns. Sitting down behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory, we started to town.”

After being selected as The Gatsby Rolls, S304KP required its livery repainted in the creamy yellow combination and its leather interior to be dyed in an elegant green.

Chassis S304KP was originally a Town Brougham delivered to Mildred Loring Logan of New York City, and was later owned by American Tobacco Company president, George Washington Hill. There is no documented history in the Rolls-Royce factory “Schoellkopf Cards” from 1929 through 1964.

The research determines that the Ascot body was originally mounted onto chassis S240RM and that the body was moved onto chassis S304KP sometime during or after 1945. The history of the Rolls is well researched and documented, and copies of the related factory and historical information accompany the motorcar. Mr. Leonard acquired the car just in time for the starring role as The Gatsby Rolls. The Leonard’s maintained ownership of S304KP for the next 36 years.

In 2009, The Gatsby Rolls was sold at auction from Leonard’s estate to John O’Quinn of Houston, Texas. Mr. O’Quinn died suddenly a few months later, and the car was eventually sold to the current owners, for whom a ground-up restoration was completed from 2011 through 2019. Many of the leading experts were involved in the restoration.

Steve Littin from Vintage & Auto Rebuilds in Chardon, Ohio, did the full mechanical restoration and the paint and body restoration was performed by Shawn Robinson from Yesterday’s in Tyler, Texas. The Gatsby Rolls is nearly perfect today after a total investment in the restoration of about $1.2 million. It would be welcomed at any concours event throughout the world, and had been invited to be shown at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours.

The elegant cream paint is excellent in all respects and is accented by the abundance of concours quality chrome. The green leather interior is complimented by the tan Haartz cloth canvas convertible top and the beautiful wood dashboard with chrome bezels.

The Ascot body is widely considered one of the most stunning designs of the classic period. It is both sporty and elegant.

Bidding for the car begins Oct. 12. To learn more, visit www.classicpromenade.com/inventory.

She was beautiful

She was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines. She was beautiful, for the way she thought. She was beautiful, for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved. She was beautiful, for her ability to make other people smile even if she was sad. No, she wasn't beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul.— F. Scott Fitzgerald

- Zelda Fitzgerald, in a letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1919

 “…but somehow I can’t find anything hopeless in having lived—all the broken columnes and clasped hands and doves and angels mean romances—and in a hundred years I think I shall like having young people speculate on whether my eyes were brown or blue—of course, they are neither—I hope my grave has an air of many, many years ago about it—isn’t it funny how, out of a row of confederate soldiers, two or three will make you think of dead lovers and dead loves—when they’re exactly like the others, even to the yellowish moss? Old death is so beautiful—so very beautiful—we will die together—I know”