Edith Cummings, Jordan Baker, and the Golden Age of Golf in Fitzgerald’s Fiction

Sue Hoover Epstein, independent scholar, is returning to the History Center on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. to speak on the character of Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby, who was based on Lake Forester Edith Cummings, winner of the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1923. Her talk will discuss how F. Scott Fitzgerald knew and admired Cummings and her brother Dexter (a Yale golf champion) and how he immortalized them both in his fiction.

The Cummings duo were lauded nationally for their golfing prowess, honed at The Onwentsia Club. Expect to hear many anecdotes from the Golden Age of Golf, and learn how Lake Forest was central to the development of the game. Epstein's research has focused on The Big Four, the Lake Forest debutantes who fascinated Fitzgerald and provided the model for many of his most memorable female characters. Edith Cummings, Ginevra King, Courtney Letts and Peg Carry loomed large on the Society Pages a century ago, and thanks to Fitzgerald, their exploits, personalities and marital choices defined a generation of modern women.

You may also like the following events from History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff:

• Next Saturday, 6th September, 10:30 am, Lake Forest by Bike in Lake Forest
• Next month, 9th September, 07:00 pm, The Great Gatsby at 100: Fitzgerald’s American Epic in Lake Forest
• Next month, 14th September, 04:00 pm, Local Legends 2025 Event Honoring Joanna Rolek in Lake Forest

Also check out other Sports events in Lake Forest.