Gotham’s Gilded Age

Gotham’s Gilded Age “If you don’t have anything good to say about someone, come sit by me” — Alice Roosevelt

Ahhhh yes, I know, I’m unforgivably late to the season 3 party … but better late than never, right? Since it’s so many ...
06/26/2025

Ahhhh yes, I know, I’m unforgivably late to the season 3 party … but better late than never, right? Since it’s so many days after the fact I’ll forego a recap and highlight this Gladys Russell moment entitled “Girl Whose Life Is About to Get Hijacked By Her Power Hungry Mother.” I knew I’d seen this portrait IRL, although the actual artist was Giovanni Boldini, not John Singer Sargent. The sitter was socialite Emiliana Co**ha de Ossa, daughter of Chilean politician Melchor Co**ha y Toro, who founded winery in 1883. Methinks poor Gladys could’ve used a few glasses before attempting to flee her impending betrothal to the Duke of M̶a̶r̶l̶b̶o̶r̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ Buckingham.

“The coast of Normandy was still miles away when the first unmistakable popping reached our listening ears. We ducked do...
06/06/2025

“The coast of Normandy was still miles away when the first unmistakable popping reached our listening ears. We ducked down in the bottom of the barge and ceased to watch the approaching coastline. It was now light enough to start taking pictures, and I brought my first Contax camera out of its waterproof oilskin. The flat bottom of our barge hit the earth of France. The boatswain lowered the steel-covered barge front, and there, between the grotesque designs of steel obstacles sticking out of the water, was a thin line of land covered with smoke. My beautiful France looked sordid and uninviting, and a German machine gun, spitting bullets around the barge, fully spoiled my return. The men from my barge waded in the water. Waist-deep, with rifles ready to shoot, with the invasion obstacles and the smoking beach in the background—this was good enough for the photographer. I paused for a moment to take my first real picture of the invasion. The boatswain, who was in an understandable hurry to get the hell out of there, mistook my picture-taking attitude for explicable hesitation, and helped me make up my mind with a well-aimed kick in the rear. The water was cold, and the beach still more than 100 yards away. The bullets tore holes in the water around me, and I made for the nearest steel obstacle. It was still very early and very gray for good pictures, but the gray water and the gray sky made the little men, dodging under the surrealistic designs of Hitler's anti-invasion brain trust, very effective … Fifty yards ahead of me, one of our half-burnt amphibious tanks stuck out of the water and offered me my next cover. Between floating bodies I reached it, paused for a few more pictures, and gathered my guts for the last jump to the beach.”

ℹ️ Photojournalist Robert Capa’s written account of his experience, from his illustrated memoir ‘Slightly Out of Focus’

📸 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Normandy, France, June 6, 1944

“The recent raid upon a dinner party at Sherry’s by the New York police has been denounced as an outrage upon those who ...
06/04/2025

“The recent raid upon a dinner party at Sherry’s by the New York police has been denounced as an outrage upon those who were assembled there and an infraction of their rights as citizens. Be that as it may, the party seems to have been a very scandalous one. The gentleman who gave the party [Herbert Barnum Seeley, grandson of circus impresario P.T. Barnum] says that his brother was intending to get married in a few days and he arranged a “farewell” dinner for him. He went to an agency and a girl called Little Egypt was engaged to dance the couchee-couchee. Her agent said she would appear in any costume desired. None seems to have been desired. When she was brought before the authorities, she made an affidavit as to what she was engaged to do and what she wore. Her dress, as she describes it, was scanty and shocking in the extreme … It was a part of her agreement that in the encore dance, where she would be in the “altogether,” with the exception of the slightest drapery, she was not to confine her antics to a stage or to a table but was to dance up and down the room and around the chairs occupied by the guests. Nothing could be more disgraceful than such a performance, and the surprise is that a reputable place would permit such carryings on. The scandal growing out of this dinner at Sherry’s will very likely ruin the business, as it should [it didn’t]. And this is the high life below stairs in New York. It is not a pleasant picture to contemplate, and will produce nothing but deep feelings of disgust with all decent people.” [This wild bachelor party resulted in indictments against Police Captain George S. Chapman, for raiding without a warrant; and Herbert B. Seeley, for committing a public nuisance and conspiring to procure indecent exposure. Both cases were dismissed]

ℹ️ Salt Lake Herald; Jan 5, 1897
📸 Little Egypt [Katherine Devine] ca. 1890

“New Dorp, on Staten island, is the site of the Vanderbilt tomb; or, to speak in terms adopted by the awe-inspired, the ...
06/03/2025

“New Dorp, on Staten island, is the site of the Vanderbilt tomb; or, to speak in terms adopted by the awe-inspired, the Vanderbilt mausoleum. It is here that untold millions are consecrating brick and mortar, granite and marble, to the memory of a man who never was great in anything save in money keeping. The consecrated pile dedicated to the imperial arbiter of millions is perhaps a mile or more from the quaint Dutch settlement where you leave the train, and nature herself has done much to make the place all that the immortal yearnings of even kings could have desired … The colossal sepulcher is practically finished, and the ashes of William H. Vanderbilt rest within. The surroundings are yet rude, for the grounds have not yet been fully graded or laid out, and an air of newness pervades everything … This mausoleum, into which has been crowded all the ingenuity and protective devices known to science, is not even adequate to guard the bones of the "dead king." All night and all day 6 detectives watch over this huge granite pile. Granite is not strength, iron is not protection, monumental walls are not unassailable to the craft and spirit Vanderbilt ingrafted by his life work. [He] has been dead a year and a half, yet there is no pause in the watch which great riches have made essential to the baffling of cupidity … When darkness brings greater danger from those who would steal the body for a ransom, a powerful flame is lighted in the cupola, which shines out over the humble graveyard below.“ [The was designed by and is part of the family's private plot adjacent to Moravian cemetery. It is not open to the public. The grounds around the mausoleum were designed by ]

ℹ️ Boston Herald; July 1, 1887
📸 under construction ca.1885 from loc.gov; present from nps.gov

“Mrs. Hetty Green, the richest woman in America [aka the Witch of Wall Street], dreads publicity for a very good reason....
06/02/2025

“Mrs. Hetty Green, the richest woman in America [aka the Witch of Wall Street], dreads publicity for a very good reason. She lives the life of a roving hermit because it gives her an excuse to refuse to pay taxes on her personal property. She is miserly and suspicious. She is constantly haunted by a dread of begging letters, and newspaper men, and cranks, and men with schemes who want her to invest money, and she is all the time in terror of robbers and Anarchists. Her very shabbiness is the greatest protection she could have. The 58-year-old has enough money to take up a nation’s issue-of-bonds, yet dresses like a scrub-woman and lives in cheap boarding houses. So surrounded by mystery have been her affairs that thousands of readers will learn with surprise that she has a husband and 2 grown children. Hetty Green’s office is in the Chemical Bank, where she is one of its largest stockholders. She keeps her spare cash there, and there is always enough to make good a check for $4M, if she chooses to draw it. In the vaults of the bank are Mrs. Green’s strong boxes, where are some $25M worth of government bonds, securities, mortgages and a magnificent collection of diamonds. She gets hundreds of begging epistles every week, and they invariably reach the waste basket.”

ℹ️ Indianapolis Journal; Feb 1, 1894

🍵 Hetty, who died in 1916 (age 81), left an estate estimated at $5B in today’s dollars. She also had the distinction of being named Biggest Miser in the Guinness Book of World Records. According to the entry, “her will was found in a tin box with 4 pieces of soap. Her son had to have his leg amputated because of the delays in finding a free medical clinic. She lived off cold porridge because she was too miserly to heat it, and died of apoplexy in an argument over the virtues of skimmed milk.”

“The sale of the effects of the late Stanford White furnished a great chance to the snapper-up of souvenirs of tragic as...
05/29/2025

“The sale of the effects of the late Stanford White furnished a great chance to the snapper-up of souvenirs of tragic association. That there are a large number of the sensation-craving was proven by the fact that the sale brought in more than $125,000 [about $4M in today’s dollars]. Few of the names of the buyers became known, most of them sending their agents to make the purchases. This affair once more demonstrates New York’s pre-eminence as the metropolis of sensations. Stanford White was killed on the opening night of a new show on the Madison Square roof garden. The show was very bad, stupid and tiresome [Geez tell us how you really feel!] but it thrived throughout the summer; thanks to those who considered a dollar a low price for the privilege of having pointed out to them the exact spot where Harry K. Thaw shot Stanford White. And how gratifying it must hare been to the morbid curiosity to invade the home of the dead architect!”

ℹ️ Montgomery Advertiser; April 14, 1907
📸 121 East 21st Street ca.1884 [demolished 1924]

“... Let us then gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flow...
05/26/2025

“... Let us then gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of Springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as a sacred charge upon a Nation’s gratitude—the soldiers’ and sailors’ widow and orphan” — General John A. Logan, May 5, 1868
📸 A peaceful spot in 🇺🇸 Underwood & Underwood, 1905

“Ten pounds sterling is the generous offer Mrs. Lillie Langtry makes for any photograph of herself when she was 14 years...
03/27/2025

“Ten pounds sterling is the generous offer Mrs. Lillie Langtry makes for any photograph of herself when she was 14 years old. She saw one of these pictures recently and was so chagrined at its ugliness that she made the offer forthwith. It shows a lanky, ungainly girl with large feet, large hands and features that spread "all over the face." A homelier or more unattractive young woman would be difficult to find in the United Kingdom. Mrs. Langtry is ashamed of her counterfeit presentment and will be glad to get her hands on every copy extant. It is remarkable how this gawky girl grew into beautiful womanhood. At 21 she was the perfection of symmetry and fulfilled the rule of beauty laid down by Hogarth. She retained her loveliness of form until she was 33; then she began to take on weight, despite dieting and obesity remedies. Now that she has grown stout, she wishes to forget the angular days of her girlhood; so any possessor of a picture will please forward it and get the reward.”

🍵 St. Paul Globe; March 30, 1904
📸 “Stout” Lillie, age 52, by Lafayette Studio (1905)

“The long looked for and much advertised fancy dress ball of Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt is now in full blast, if one may...
03/26/2025

“The long looked for and much advertised fancy dress ball of Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt is now in full blast, if one may speak so of such an important affair. It is rather the biggest thing of its kind that New York ever saw, and it is doubtful if any member of the Vanderbilt clan ever succeeded in making such a stir. The house where the fiddling and dancing are at this moment going on is at the corner of Fifth avenue and 52nd street, way up in the neighborhood of Central Park. It is a splendid mansion, built as well as the best skill of the best architects could build it, and furnished as well as the best taste of the best authorities on interior decoration could furnish it.

Since early this morning florists have been hard at work arranging rare flowers and plants in a manner to make the most of their beauty and fragrance. Masses of rare roses were placed in the dining room and ballroom, wherever opportunity offered. In the evening, where the temporary canopy before the entrance was lighted with many Chinese lanterns, a squad of 25 policemen came and did duty there until late at night. It was noticed that several quiet men in very plain clothes were not molested by the policemen. These were private detectives, who were on the lookout for the dynamite throwers who are threatened to make it unpleasant for the party-goers as well as for the party-givers.

As early as 10 o'clock carriages began to draw up in front of the brilliantly lighted house where a flunky in livery examined the credentials of the guests. Then, the door being passed, other flunkies directed the gentlemen to their dressing rooms, the ladies to theirs. In due time a hue of gaily-dressed figures began to troop down the broad stairs and present themselves before Mrs. Vanderbilt, who was dressed as a Venetian princess.”

ℹ️ Philadelphia Times; March 26, 1883
📸 Alva Vanderbilt by Mora

🇺🇸 🇺🇸“Before thine ancient altar, God of War, Forlorn, afraid, alone, I kneel to pray. The gentle shepherd whom I woul...
12/07/2024

🇺🇸 🇺🇸

“Before thine ancient altar, God of War,
Forlorn, afraid, alone, I kneel to pray.
The gentle shepherd whom I would adore,
Faced by thy blazing plaything, slips away.
And I am drained of faith — alone — alone.
Who now needs faith to face thy outthrust sword,
Bereft of hope, turned pagan to the bone.
I kneel to thee and hail thee as my Lord.
From such a God as thee, I ask not life,
My life is forfeited, the hour is late.
Thou need not swerve the bullet, dull the knife.
I ask but strength to ride the wave of fate.
And one thing more — to validate this strife,
And my own sacrifice — teach me to hate.”

✍️“Prayer Before Battle” by Lt. Henry Lee, Dec 8, 1941

📸 ”...We Here Highly Resolve That These Dead Shall Not Have Died in Vain... / Remember Dec. 7th!“; drawn by Allen Saalburg for the Office of War Information (1942)

“The wedding of Miss May Goelet to the Duke of Roxburghe [Henry Innes-Ker] at St. Thomas's Church was delayed and the fe...
11/10/2024

“The wedding of Miss May Goelet to the Duke of Roxburghe [Henry Innes-Ker] at St. Thomas's Church was delayed and the festivity of the occasion marred when a great crowd of women, most of whom had been loitering about the church all day, broke through the police lines and mobbed Miss Goelet's carriage. For a time the police were helpless and it looked as if the bride's dress might be torn to shreds in the crush. From the church to the Goelet residence, a distance of 5 blocks, the avenue was a surging mob numbering 10,000 persons; mostly women, whom a force of 200 policemen was powerless to hold in check. Before the service began several hundred women gained entrance to the church and seated themselves in the galleries, from which they were forcibly dislodged by a squad of police. When the carriage containing the bride-to-be and her brother, Robert Goelet, neared the church it was surrounded by women, who stopped the horses and clung to the carriage … Some of those in the front rank reached in and began clawing at Miss Goelet and feeling her clothing as if she were some strange creature from another world. Mr. Goelet called to the police, but it was some moments before [they] were able to drive the curious women back … Four hours after the ceremony, Fifth Ave was still crowded with curious women, many of whom were laden with spoils from the church decorations, for, after the guests had left the mob crowded into the church and proceeded to tear the flowers from the pews … The Duke and his bride will spend their honeymoon at Ochre Court, Mrs. Goelet's place on the cliffs at Newport. In the course of the present month they plan to sail for Floors Castle, the Duke's estste in Scotland, which is now being prepared to receive them.”

ℹ️ St. Louis Republic; Nov 11, 1903

“Life-size wax figures, strikingly realistic in colors and attitudes, evoked a variety of exclamations from the 2,000 la...
11/03/2024

“Life-size wax figures, strikingly realistic in colors and attitudes, evoked a variety of exclamations from the 2,000 ladies and gentlemen who visited, by special invitation, the new Eden Musée, in West 23rd street, last night … A great profusion of tropical plants mingled their fresh green colors with the rich crimson of the alcove hangings, and the bright costumes worn by some of the inanimate figures added additional brilliancy to the scene. The building was especially designed to give to this city a permanent exhibition of wax works, and the architect, builder, and decorator have performed their respective parts well. There are 2 square halls on the ground floor devoted to the display of artistic tableaus in wax. Back of the 2nd hall is a “Winter Garden,” where instrumental music may be heard day and evening, and the tile-paved floor will be dotted with tables suitable for the serving of light refreshments. The chief purpose of the wax work tableaus will be to depict historical incidents and to reproduce as nearly as possible the forms and features of eminent persons, both dead and living, [and] a spacious “crypt” underneath the ground floor will contain a fascinating “Chamber of Horrors” showing the different methods of executing offenders … The Eden Musée will be opened to the public today, and this evening half of the receipts will be devoted to local charities. There will be orchestral music each day from 3–5pm and from 8–11pm.” [[After the Musée, aka the American Madame Tussaud’s, went bankrupt in 1915, many of its wax figures were bought at auction and exhibited at Coney Island. Unfortunately, the exhibit was destroyed by fire in 1928. The 23rd street building was demolished around 1920]]

ℹ️ NY Times; March 29, 1884
📸 Geo. P. Hall & Son

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