March 6, 2013 | Combined Reports - UConn Communications

Speaking of The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, this year's UConn Reads selection, was celebrated at a speakeasy party at the Benton.

Stephanie Shentowski '14, Anthony Naples '14, Gloria Medina '13, Nicole Duquette '14, Stephanie Duquette (Thompson, CT), Mae Sullivan (Manchester, CT), Sarah Quintiliani '14, Karolina Hac '14, Jessica Smith '13, Robert Helme '14, and Jeanne Magayzel (Bean Team Advisor and Benton Staff) pose for a photo with an auto cut-out at the Gatsby Speakeasy Party at the Benton on March1, 2013. (Max Sinton/UConn Photo)

Stephanie Shentowski '14, Anthony Naples '14, Gloria Medina '13, Nicole Duquette '14, Stephanie Duquette (Thompson, CT), Mae Sullivan (Manchester, CT), Sarah Quintiliani '14, Karolina Hac '14, Jessica Smith '13, Robert Helme '14, and Jeanne Magayzel (Bean Team Advisor and Benton Staff) pose for a photo with an auto cut-out at the Gatsby Speakeasy Party at the Benton on March1, 2013. (Max Sinton/UConn Photo)

Jacob Conshick '13 (CANR) enjoys a (gum) cigar at the Gatsby speakeasy party, a 1920's-themed reception. (Max Sinton '15 (CANR)/UConn Photo)
Jacob Conshick ’13 (CANR) enjoys a (gum) cigar at the Gatsby speakeasy party, a 1920’s-themed reception. (Max Sinton ’15 (CANR)/UConn Photo)

At a sold out 1920’s-themed reception at the William Benton Museum of Art on March 1, a cast of characters that included mobsters and their molls*, flappers** and their friends, and (perhaps) even the Great Gatsby himself, mixed and mingled to the sounds of live music from Tin Pan Alley.***

The event, which was sponsored by the Bean Team, a group of students devoted to bringing art to UConn through various programs and events, and the UConn Reads Steering Committee, was considered to be the bee’s knees**** by the dolls***** and their Big Cheese****** boyfriends, who all agreed that the joint******* was jumping and the Benton was highly successful in Putting on the Ritz********, while celebrating the style and substance of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby.

The speakeasy party took its name from the establishments that illegally sold alcohol during Prohibition, although at the Benton, Hosmer sodas stood in for alcoholic beverages.

 

*moll – a gangster’s girl
**flapper – a stylish, brash young woman with short skirts & shorter hair
***Tin Pan Alley – the music industry in NYC located between 48th and 52nd Street
****bee’s knees – an extraordinary person, thing, idea; the ultimate
*****doll – an attractive woman
******Big Cheese – big shot
*******joint – establishment
********Putting on the Ritz – doing something in high style (after the Ritz Hotel in Paris)

Assistant curator Ally Walton surveys the scene at the Benton before the Gatsby speakeasy party on March 1. (Max Sinton '15 (CANR)/UConn Photo)
Assistant curator Ally Walton surveys the scene at the Benton before the Gatsby speakeasy party on March 1. (Max Sinton ’15 (CANR)/UConn Photo)
Robert Heme '14 and Ariel Agron '14 ask for passwords near the entrance. Participants were required to pick up a secret password to say to the doorman in order to be admitted to the party. (Max Sinton '15 (CANR)/UConn Photo)
Robert Heme ’14 and Ariel Agron ’14 ask for passwords near the entrance. Participants were required to pick up a secret password to say to the doorman in order to be admitted to the party. (Max Sinton ’15 (CANR)/UConn Photo)

 

 

 

 

 

A group of party-goers and Benton staff pose with a cut-out of a 1920's era car. (Max Sinton '15 (CANR)/UConn Photo)
A group of party-goers and Benton staff pose with a cut-out of a 1920’s era car. (Max Sinton ’15 (CANR)/UConn Photo)