Stay ConnectedThe Gilded Gentleman history podcast takes listeners on a cultural and social journey into the mansions, salons, dining rooms, libraries and theatres including the worlds above as well as below stairs of America’s Gilded Age, France’s Belle Epoque and late Victorian and Edwardian England.
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The small two acre square known since the 1830's as Gramercy Park has also been called "America's Bloomsbury". Taking the reference from London's famous neighborhood once home to many great writers and artists, New York's Gramercy Park has similarly included noted cultural icons from architect Stanford White to actor Edwin Booth to the great politician Samual Tilden.
Wandering along the park today it's easy to gain a view back into the past - many of the original Greek Revival brick townhouses and brownstone mansions remain, some still in private hands.
The park in the center is one of the most unique in America - it is a private park, not a city property and it's upkeep has been managed since its inception in the early 19th century by the property owners around the park itself. Writer and historian Keith Taillon joins Carl for this episode to look back into this hidden pocket of New York City's past and unlock its history.
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Carl is joined by noted architect, interior designer and author Phillip James Dodd for an in-depth discussion of the "look" of the Gilded Age - a style known as American Beaux-Arts.
Architecture constructed during the height of America's Gilded Age most certainly had a distinctive look. It was a uniquely American combination of stylistic elements of classical antiquity, the Renaissance palaces of the Medici, as well as the more flamboyant styles of France's Belle Epoque.
But just how does one define the eclectic style that came to be known as American Beaux-Arts and who were its most famous and influential practitioners? In this episode Carl and Phillip James Dodd discuss these concepts in general to arrive at a definition and understanding, but also take a look at major examples, such as the facade and Great Hall or the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library and the Morgan Library, as well as the architects who created them: Richard Morris Hunt, Charles Follen McKim, and the architectural team of Carrè re and Hastings.
After having listened to this unique episode, you'll look at the Gilded Age and New York City with whole new eyes.
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In the previous episode "Dandies: Gentleman of Style from the 19th Century to Today", Carl was joined by cultural historian and maker of fine custom clothing, Nathaniel Lee Adams for a look at this most interesting breed of society's tastemaking men. In this new episode, Carl and Natty take the discussion further and focus on the early 20th century, when a new brand of dandy was emerging - one with style perhaps, but also often tinged by scandal.
Being a "dandy" is generally thought to be more than just being a stylish dresser. There is attitude, perspective and perhaps even a sense of the revolutionary that ties many of history's so-called dandies together. In this episode, Carl and Natty start with the world of the dandy immediately following the death of Oscar Wilde and begin with a discussion of the British author and caricaturist Max Beerbohm and the American self-proclaimed inventor of the tuxedo,Evander Berry Wall.
They then discuss the fascinating, complex black American boxer Jack Johnson, who in order to fight not only his opponents but the pervasive prejudice of his time, created a boundary-breaking persona of style laced with scandal. Returning to Europe the discussion continues Oscar Wilde's own nephew and writer (and also boxer), Arthur Cravan, the War Poetsincluding Rupert Brooke and Siegfried Sassoon, the minimalist Austrian architect Adolf Loos and finally one of the most polarizing personalities of them all, the flamboyant Italian poet and would be revolutionary, Gabriele D'Anunzio.
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In this episode, journalist and biographer Maria Teresa Cometto joins The Gilded Gentleman for a look into the life of New York-born 19th-century sculptor Emma Stebbins. Emma Stebbins is most noted for her iconic bronze statue, The Angel of the Waters, which was placed on Central Park's Bethesda Terrace in 1873. Maria Teresa Cometto is the author of the recently published "Emma and the Angel of Central Park", the first extensive biographical look at Stebbins' life.
Many locals and visitors may be aware of parts of the story of Emma Stebbins - that her Angel was the first public statue in New York produced by a woman and that her life included a domestic partnership with another woman. But there is much more in the story. This is the story of a creative artistic woman whose life, which began in early 19th-century New York, expanded and flourished in a community of fellow artists and sculptors in mid-century Rome.
This is a very Italian story in many ways, set against the backdrop of the ruins, museums, and palaces of classical Rome. Emma's story includes love, betrayal, inspiration, tragedy, and even a bit of mystery. Her most well known creation, the famed Angel of the Waters, while perhaps her most significant work, is indeed only part of the story.
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Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, known to all as just Mamie, was another of the larger-than-life personalities during the Gilded Age. For this episode, Carl is joined by historian and writer Keith Taillonand actor Ashlie Atkinson, who portrays Mamie Fish in HBO's The Gilded Age,for a look at just who this complicated and fascinating woman really was.
If you received an invitation to a party at Mamie Fish's - you went. Mamie Fish, who had an iron clad family pedigree and enough money to compete with other Gilded Age hostesses, was known as a "fun maker". While at Mrs. Astor's you may have cemented your role in society, at Mamie's, you just had a really good time.
Her parties bordered on the outrageous, from inviting an elephant as a guest to co-hosting the famous dinner for dogs, some of them adorned with diamond collars.
But who was Mamie Fish and why do we find her fascinating today? Historian Keith Taillon and actor Ashlie Atkinson offer deeply insightful perspectives on this woman who perhaps sought to break out of the role prescribed to her and shake up society.
Mamie Fish, when looked at through a modern lens, was challenging, complicated, conflicted and certainly controversial. But given the Gilded Age's restrictions and gender rules, it's interesting to consider how much she could also be considered a rebel and revolutionary for her time.
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Edith Wharton published The Age of Innocence at a very important moment in her life. When the novel came out in 1920, she had been living in France full-time for nearly 10 years and had seen the devastating effects of World War I up close.
Her response was to look back with a sense of nostalgia to the time of her childhood to recreate that staid, restrictive world of New York in the 1870s that, despite its often social cruelty and harsh judgements, seemed to have some kind of moral center. It was a world in which Wharton as a creative woman, however, could not live and work, and thus, she transferred her life in stages to France.
In this episode, Dr. Emily Orlando, a noted Wharton scholar, joins Carl to delve into the background of this novel, take a deep dive into the personalities of the major characters, and discuss what Wharton wanted to say in her masterpiece.
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It's ball season! Time to call the carriage for your visit to the Gilded Age's greatest parties.
Balls were the most lavish entertainment one could attend in the Gilded Age -- from Mrs. Astor's annual Opera Ball for around 400 guests to smaller affairs for only 200 or 300 hundred.
But that ball was far more than an elegant night out. Being invited signaled that you were "in" society. Who you saw there often determined how you navigated society, and whom you could introduce your daughter to indicated possible prospects for the marriage market. Your every move was being watched, cataloged, and judged.
Venture back to the Gilded Age to revisit ball season in this classic Gilded Gentleman episode - find out what you had to wear, how you had to behave, what you had to eat, and even how to interpret the secret language of a lady's fan.
Visit the website for more images and information
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Viewers were introduced to Emily Roebling on the second season of The Gilded Age. Now learn the entire story of the Roebling family -- father, son, wife -- the engineers responsible for the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge.
As a special bonus episode to end the year, enjoy this 2023 show from the Bowery Boys podcast archives, looking at the extraordinary individuals responsible for this 19th century marvel. Greg and Tom walk through the history, then chat with Kriss Roebling, Washington and Emily Roebling's great-great grandson, who leads specialty tours of the bridge today.
The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge was a technological wonder when it opened in 1883. The story of its construction, which took over 14 years, is an odyssey of passion, ingenuity and tragedy.
In the end, it was Emily Roebling, wife of Washington Roebling who, in the face of her husband's debilitating illness, dedicated herself to completing the project in the male dominated world of engineers and contractors.
Visit the Bowery Boys website for images and other information
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Delmonico's began as the dream of two Swiss immigrants in the 1820's and grew to be a social center of the Gilded Age. Prohibition shuttered Delmonico's along with other great New York restaurants. Italian immigrant Oscar Tucci looked at the closed great brownstone former restaurant at 56 Beaver St and decided to reopen it - first as a speakeasy, then as a full continental restaurant that went on to welcome the famous, not-so-famous, and never famous to dine side by side and celebrate tradition and connection.
Max Tucci, Oscar Tucci's grandson, has returned as part of the team to reopen Delmonico's and carry on his family's traditions. Max's story, which he shares in today's show recorded at Delmonico's, is about great food, but also about something more: It's about honoring tradition and one's ancestors.
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Carl is joined by actor Simon Jones, whose distinguished career has included King George V on "Downton Abbey", stage productions on Broadway and the West End, and his current role as Bannister on HBO's "The Gilded Age".
Simon takes us backstage as he discusses his career from his earliest roles, including in the radio drama version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and film version, his role as Brideshead in the iconic 1981 adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited", and his work with John Cleese and "the Pythons" among others.
Simon also discusses his experiences with his many well-known co-stars and colleagues over the years, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Dame Maggie Smith, Lauren Bacall, Penelope Keith and Angela Lansbury. In addition, Simon takes us behind the cameras and shares some fascinating insight on creating the role of Bannister on HBO's "The Gilded Age".
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