06/03/2006 - Research (Part 6)

The following is a list of actual addresses from the New York City Telephone Directory dated May-October 1919. The four digit numbers you see on the far right hand side are phone numbers and the names underneath the street addresses are the neighborhoods where these places were located. As I said in a previous post, I forgot to write down the address for Brooks Brothers so it has been omitted. Lastly, Child’s was a chain of restaurants, much like a Denny’s, that littered the cityscape. There were actually two locations in Columbus Circle. The reason I did not include both is because this particular Child’s listed had a direct view of Columbus Circle and the other did not. I don’t know if you’ll be able to see it but I’ll throw in a copy of a map from 1916 (Bromley) that shows the view the address has of Columbus Circle(The picture isn't exactly what one would call satisfactory. Childs' is located on the left side of Columbus Circle where the Time Warner building is now.). Any other places of interest that Fitzgerald mentioned in “May Day” were not found. I had trouble locating any place by the name of “Tolliver Hall” (page 78) or “Deveneries’” (page 102). I never did make it to the business library and believe I will try one last time to locate these places.

1. Addresses
a. The Biltmore Hotel Madison Avenue and 43rd Street
Murry Hill 7920
b. The Commodore Hotel Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street
Vanderbilt 6000
c. Child’s Restaurant 300 West 59th Street
Columbus Circle 6344
d. Delmonico’s Office and Restaurant 5th Avenue and 44th Street
Murry Hill 6110

“Over on Sixth Avenue the elevated, a flare of fire, roared across the street between the glimmering parallels of light at the station and streaked along into the crisp dark. But at Forty-fourth Street it was very quiet” (page 103).
In an earlier post I questioned existence of elevated trains in New York City. I think my train of thought is excusable, especially for an outsider with no real working knowledge regarding the history of the city. How did they get all those trains from the above the streets to below? I mean I can imagine how they did but that must have been a most daunting task. Anyways, there were, as of 1916, elevated trains running up Sixth Avenue. I’ll try and get a picture of that but for now another map will have to do. Once again I don’t know if you’ll be able to see it because of size and quality. The tracks are illustrated by a ---------- and there is an “Elevated Station” towards the center, at the bottom of the map (Bromley).

The specific line of collars and clothing that Dean mentions “Welsh Margotson” and “Covington” (page 72), as far as I can tell, are made up. However, I did find a mention of a line of clothing being sold at Sears referred to as the Covington line. I couldn’t find any connection dating back to the time period of the story though.

As you will find out later the riot in “May Day” is based off real events. The New York Trumpet never really existed and was based off a daily communist called The Call (New York Times). The Call wasn’t located on 44th street either, so the building that Fitzgerald described doesn’t seem to have ever housed a paper. The one thing that really stuck out in the description that Fitzgerald gave was that this was “a two-story, comparatively old building on Forty-fourth” (page 103) in the middle of Manhattan and the only building I found on 44th that had two stories was a place called the Blue Bar. Once again I should have went over to the Business Library to find out what was there previously but did not.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “May Day”. Tales of the Jazz Age. First Pine Street Books: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2003.
N.Y.C. Telephone Directory, Manhattan White/Yellow Pages (includes all five boroughs). May, Oct. 1919. Reel 31.
G.W. Bromley & Co. Atlas of the Borough of Manhattan, city of New York. Map. New York, G.W. Bromley 1916.
“Soldiers and Sailors Break Up Meetings.” New York Times 2 May 1919: 8.
NYPL Digital Gallery

06/03/2006 - A Month And A Half Later

“At four, to his relief, Dean rose and announced that he was going over to Rivers Brothers to buy some collars and ties” (page 72).

After a month and a half sabbatical I have returned to continue my what seems to be a never-ending quest for information regarding “May Day”. I found out a couple of things my last day in New York having to do with the story. There was always this issue of what was Rivers Brothers and where did it come from. Fitzgerald could have made it up, however it appears that most of the places that these characters go and see are based in reality. The reason being is that these locations tend to lend themselves to the idea of realism that Fitzgerald was striving to write. Hopefully, someone will be able to understand my poor prose but I digress. So, back to the Rivers Brothers issue. Where did this store come from? The answer had been staring me in the face since my first day of research in the city. The store that Fitzgerald is referring to has to be Brooks Brothers (most definitely). Get it? A river, like a brook, is just another synonym among the many that describes a body of water. Mystery solved. The similarity in name isn’t the only evidence that has led me to believe that these two stores are one in the same; the location too solidified my beliefs. When I first got to the city I photographed the easiest things I could, the locations that Fitzgerald gave specific addresses for (Delmonico’s and Columbus Circle). Either on my way back from, or to the Yale Club I noticed the Brooks Brothers building had been in the same spot in New York for some time, I didn’t make the connection until later that being in such close proximity to the Yale Club that this was probably the clothing store that Dean, Sterrett, and the unnamed man visited after lunch (page 72). Logically, too this seems like the place that these men would buy clothes because when I think Brooks Brothers I think one of two things, old men, or privileged young men and what I mean by privileged men are young urban professionals.
I know that was rather jumbled so I’ll make it easier for you to understand,

1. A river is just a bigger version of a brook. Essentially mean the same thing, the only difference between the two is the volume of water each contains.

2. The location of the Brooks Brothers building is within walking distance from the Yale Club.

3. The business itself was at the same location during the period that May Day takes place (I need to double check the phone book on that one but I am ninety-nine percent sure).

Lastly, I know damn well that I spent way too long and got way too excited about such a insignificant plot point but in my defense this project is to be as thorough as possible.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “May Day”. Tales of the Jazz Age. First Pine Street Books: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2003.