KHS Gatsby party features vintage cars, live jazz music (2024)

You were bound to hear some gossip Monday afternoon as you strolled through the Elliott House.

Of particular interest was who killed Kenneth Steel’s business partner.

Was it Steel, the New York City real estate tycoon with more than 200 properties, or his business partner’s wife?

“He met an untimely fate,” said Noah Birdsong. “He was murdered. She says it was me. I say she did it. That’s alright."

Steel was Birdsong’s character for “The Great Gatsby” party Monday. The party is for Kokomo High School juniors who are in the International Baccalaureate Dual Programme language and literature class.

Students are reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel. They’re about four chapters in, which is when the lavish parties thrown by Jay Gatsby are first mentioned.

“This is kind of fresh in the memory,” said Aaron Blessing, who teaches the class.

Blessing, like his students, donned period-specific wear. In his case, a tux. Many of the girls wore flapper-style dresses while the boys sported suits.

Noelle Duncan looked the part of her character Beatrice, or “B,” an aspiring jazz singer and movie star. She said many of the girls got their dresses from Goodwill or Amazon.

Every student played a character for the party. There were actresses, coal magnates, bootleggers and businessmen. Each had a backstory that was revealed by talking to them.

We are back in time, specifically the summer of 1922, for the Great Gatsby Party, as a class of KHS juniors are currently reading the novel. pic.twitter.com/AYS0jJyWT6

— Spencer Durham (@Durham_KT) April 15, 2024

Characters were based on the guest list mentioned in the novel. Students could also come up with their own.

Gatsby parties were notorious for hosting the rich and famous. There were few, if any invites, the wealthy just knew to show up.

“Today it’s 1922,” Blessing said. “It’s 10 p.m. There’s gossip. It’s just how it’s supposed to be in 1922.”

Birdsong said the gossip has been the most interesting part of the early chapters of the novel.

“You don’t know if anything is true,” he said.

Monday’s party had two new features that added a touch of nostalgia: a live band and vintage automobiles, a perfect backdrop for photos on a warm spring day.

Kokomo High School band members provided the jazz music. Kokomo Area Career Center culinary students made the appetizers and finger foods.

“The Great Gatsby” is considered one of the best American novels. There are many ideas a literature class can tease out through discussions and writings, including gender, race, social class and wealth.

The pursuit of wealth and the extent one will go to achieve their dreams are both discussed in Blessing’s class. As is how wealth doesn’t always mean happiness. Many of the main characters in the novel, who are all wealthy, are miserable, despite their high rank in society.

Those concepts play themselves out as the book goes on. As do the secrets many of the characters hold.

“I think Gatsby is very intriguing,” Duncan said.

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Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.