Photographs of Edith Cummings and Tommy Hitchcock, the two
real-life individuals on whom Fitzgerald partly based his characters of Jordan
Baker and Tom Buchanan.
Edith Cummings was a U.S.
golf champion whom Fitzgerald met through Ginevra King, his first great love
who was a schoolmate of Edith’s at Westover, a preparatory boarding school in
Connecticut. Edith is shown here with her golfing trophy
after winning the 1923 U.S. Women’s Amateur Tournament.
Tommy Hitchcock was a pilot in the famous Lafayette Escadrille
during World War I, and became an investment banker after the war. He was recognized as the best U.S. polo player
of his generation. Fitzgerald knew Hitchcock on Long Island when he and
Zelda lived there in 1922-24.