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HBO's New TV Series, The Gilded Age, is a fictionalized story revolving around 19th
century New York City high society including many real historical people who lived and
ruled during that time.
At the beginning of the Gilded Age, New York's elite society was comprised of what were known
as “The 400” or “The Patriarchs.” A list of people also referred to as The Knickerbockers
by the likes of Washington Irving (though they didn’t like the name).
Essentially, they were considered Old New York because they came from the Dutch and
English settlers of the city whose families brought their wealth and aristrocratic heritage
to the New World. They later became know as Old Money when a new class of wealth bearing
indivduals began showin up in New York at the end of the 1800's into the new 20th century.
And the Queen of Old New York society was Mrs. Caroline Astor, commonly known as THEE
Mrs. Astor. She and her high society parties were equally famous and were taking place
long before the HBO series introduces us to the newly wealthy industrialist family, the
Russells. Who were actually the Vanderbilts of the time and who became known as the New
Money molving into town.
I did another video on alva vanderbilt and her thrist for acceptance and power during
this time in history. Please check it out and leave comments. So...
So here are some weird things you might not have known about Mrs. Astor and her Parties
of The Gilded Age.
1. Mrs. Astor's Calling Card Was The Only One That Truly Mattered
During the Gilded age, calling cards were used as both an entry into someone's home
as well as a badge that a certain someone had graced the doorstep of your home.
Dropping into a person's house was permissible and encouraged during the Gilded Age, as long
as it followed a set of social rules.
In short, upon arrival at the house, the card was presented to the head butler at the front
door and then forwarded to the lady of the house who would decide whether or not to receive
you. As a reply, specific corners of the card would be folded down to indicate the lady’s
wishes or her absence.
In the case of Mrs Astor, her calling card was most certainly a badge of honor since
hers was the only name on a calling card that gave you guaranteed entry to any and all socially
elite events happening in the neighborhood.
2. Mrs. Astor Wasn't the Most Beautiful Socialite of The Gilded Age.
Much to her chagrin, the elder Mrs Caroline Astor was not considered a beauty.
She had strong features, a pudgy and short figure, and dark hair, which she apparently
dyed.
And because Mrs. Astor did not like photographs of herself not many images of her exist. There
is, of course, the one portrait of her by Carolus-Duran, painted in Paris in 1890 and
now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Mrs Astor made sure that this painting was placed prominently in her New York house where
she would stand in front of it when receiving guests for receptions.
3.She Had Two Mansions on Fifth Avenue
For most of her adult life, Mrs Astor lived in a a mansion-size brownstone on the corner
of 34th Street and Fifth Avenue in what is now Herald Square.
In this location, the Astors owned the two lots that covered the block along the avenue.
Mrs. Astor shared the block with William Waldorf Astor, the son of her husband’s brother
John Jacob Astor II. It was a dull looking large brown 5-story box where, for years,
she had hosted her annual ball for the Four Hundred elite of New York Society.
Later, this same location would became the second half of the Waldorf-Astoria, which
was later torn down to build The Empire State Building.
But as times changed, prominent New Yorkers began moving farther up the avenue toward
the new Central Park - now known as Upper East Side - which had opened in 1859.
During her reign, Mrs Astor was forced to keep up with the Jonses, so she followed suit.
Her second home was a veritable mansion built on Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side neighborhood
of Manhattan New York City. As was her other home, it spanned 2 city blocks and was located
at 840 and 841 Fifth Avenue, on the northeast corner of 65th Street. It was completed in
1896 and demolished around 1926.
The mansion was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, who used the early French Renaissance
architecture in imitation of a château in the French Louis XII Style.
The house was the setting for many parties and was a New York City attraction. This new
ballroom could hold twelve hundred people, compared with only 400 at Mrs Astor’s previous
home at 350 Fifth Avenue and 34th Street.
Now, About Those Parties....
From the 1870s until the 1900s, Mrs. Astor presided over thousands of parties & balls
at her opulent mansions on Fifth Avenue including her annual Ball, which was the most highly
anticipated event of the season. In the beginning, it was always held on a Monday night in January
at her Fifth Avenue brownstone and then moved later to her new Mansion on the East Side.
Here are some weird and crazy things you might not have known about the prties and balls
that Mrs Astor hosted during the Gilded Age of New York.
1. Only the Elite of The Elite Could Attend.
The earlier parties held at the old brownstone were elitist to say the least. These soirées
were frequented only by those on the 400 list but as the New Money moved into town and finally
found favor with Mrs Astor, that number increased to fill her twelve hundred capacity ballroom
in her new mansion.
2. Mrs. Astor Had A Thing For Nude Ladies.
In the ballroom at the new mansion, that was also her art gallery, prominently displayed
you'd find a large portrait of a female nude. It seems that Mr. William K Vanderilt found
this distasteful but, then she was Mrs Astor so who was he to say. She also had a nude
Statue of Venus in her formal dining room. There were report of even more nude female
statues around the house.
3. Mrs. Astor Would Wear a Diamond Tiara to Her Parties.
It was reported that at one party thrown at her Upper East Side mansion, Mrs Astor was
said to have donned an elaborate diamond tiara along with her diamond necklace enhancing
a black velvet, off the shoulder gown.
4. The Common Goal at Each Party Was Marriage.
The Patriarch balls, also known as marriage marts, were the start of it all.
Mrs. Astor arranged a series of subscription balls in order to find appropriate husbands
for her four daughters. To maintain society's exclusivity, only 25 carefully chosen gentlemen
were invited, and they were then asked to bring nine additional guests: four debutantes
and five eligible bachelors. These balls lasted long hours with a late dinner at 1:30 a.m.
and more drinking, dancing, and matchmaking. till daybreak.
5. Polkas Were Not Allowed.
Ladies of that time simply did not show their ankles or calves during a dance, so dances
like the Polka were banned because they had a tendency to show what was considered, vulgar,
parts of a woman’s body.
6. If You Attended, You Couldn't Talk About Body Parts.
Mrs. Astor placed a high value on decorum, which was largely upheld by women at the time.
At her gatherings, there could be no mention of "legs" (or any other body parts for that
matter). And, of course a lady was expected to never be along with an man, at any time.
That was specifically prohibited.
7. Mrs Astor Couldn't Compete With the Vanderbilts.
As it would come to pass, Mrs. Astor’s annual ball was soon to be eclipsed by a flashier,
fancier party down the street at 350 Fifth Avenue. This was the newly built mansion of
the Vanderbilts who made their way into the 400 club, and essentially abolished it, in
1883.
Having never been invited to either the Patriarch balls and certainly not Mrs. Astor’s annual
ball, the newly arrived Mrs. Alva Vanderbilt, wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt, sought
to do one better when she held her legendary masquerade ball on March 26, 1883, to celebrate
the completion of her new Fifth Avenue residence, Petit Chateau.
Suddenly it was the talk of the town and sent prospective attendees scurrying to jewelers,
cobblers, and dressmakers in search of the perfect costume. The wealthiest families in
New York were whipped into a frenzy for months as they obsessively planned for this big,
new, wonderful event happening on the East Side.
On the big night, the stuffy Knickerbockers and the opulent Nouveau Riche mingled under
one roof in an entourage of crazy costumes including Little Bo Peep, Daniel Boone, Mozart,
and a slew of Louis the sixteenth queens and Joan of Arcs.
Even Alva's mother, Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt II herself, appeared dressed in an electric
light outfit, complete with a torch that she lit with a button hidden in her pocket.
Here is Alva in her own costume which she dubbed a Venetian Renaissance Lady, birds
and all.
And here is Alva's sister-in-law wearing a diamond-studded beehive hat and dressed as
a hornet.
Lastly, no one could forget when Kate Strong, a socialite with the hilarious nickname of
Puss, wore a taxidermied cat on her head with half a dozen cat tails glued to her gown.
It wasn't long after Alva's highly successful costume ball, that Mrs Astor had to accept
the Vanderbilts and all the other nouveau riche into her social circle. She spent her
last several years suffering from periodic dementia, and died at age 78 on October 30,
1908.She was interred in the Trinity Church Cemetery in northern Manhattan.