Who Are The Real Women In The Gilded Age HBO Season 1?

While most of the Gilded age's main characters are fictional creations of producer and writer Julian fellows there are a few real historical figures that we can single out Julian fellows also wrote the enormously popular Downton Abbey and it looks like HBO's The Gilded Age may turn out to be just as popular this time the plot is set in New York and concentrates upon the established upper classes social positions with many feuding amongst themselves while vying for position and Power and although the characters in The Gilded Age are fictional writer Julian fellows was actually inspired by real people in this video I introduced two very real fabulous Fierce and feisty women of 19th century New York Society one of whom is a real historical figure and the other who is characterized in the TV series the Gilded Age was a period of prosperity following the American Civil War during which many people prospered financially as a result of the industrial boom many people were upset by this because it became a tale about new money rising to the top and old money resenting their intrusion into established New York Society in fact Donna Murphy's character the Mrs Astor and her group and Carrie Coon's character Bertha Russell's fundamental antagonism in the HBO drama sounds eerily similar to that of the real Caroline shermerhorn Astor and Alva Vanderbilt so who were these women of 19th century New York Society let's start with Caroline shermerhorn Astor Caroline Schermerhorn Astor was a prominent American socialite of the second half of the 19th century who led what was known as the 400. the 400 was proclaimed as the number of people in New York who really mattered it was said to be a definitive list of those individuals that made up so-called acceptable Society they were defined as the people who felt at ease in the ballrooms of high society and who were worthy of being considered fashionable famous for being referred to later in life as the Mrs Aster or simply Mrs Astor she was born on September 22nd 1830 into a wealthy family who were part of New York City's Dutch aristocracy on September 23 1853 she married William Backhouse Astor Jr businessman racehorse breeder and owner and yachtsman through her marriage she was a prominent member of The Astor family and matriarch of the male line of American asters although popularly imagined as holy preoccupied with Society for the first several decades of her married life Mrs Astor was principally occupied with raising her five children and running her household as was typical of women of her class in mid 19th century New York City due to an inheritance from her parents Caroline had her own money thus she was far less dependent on her husband than most American women of the time in 1862 she and her husband built a four bay townhouse in the newly fashionable Brownstone style at 350 Fifth Avenue the present side of the Empire State Building and it was from here that she reigned as the gatekeeper to the old New York establishment in the decades following the Civil War the population of New York City grew exponentially including many wealthy ambitious self-seeking individuals from the Midwest who began challenging the dominance of the old New York establishment in an attempt to keep the Old Guard in charge Mrs Astor attempted to set a code of standards for proper behavior and etiquette as well as determine who was acceptable in her view of proper Society she was the foremost authority on the aristocracy of New York in the late 19th century she held ornate and elaborate parties for herself and other members of the elite New York socialite crowd no one was permitted to attend these gatherings without an official calling card for Mrs Astor herself Mrs Astor's social groups were dominated by strong-willed aristocratic females these social Gatherings were dependent on overly conspicuous luxury and publicity more so than the Gatherings themselves importance was highly placed upon the group as the Upper Crust of New York's Elite while Mrs Caroline Astor and her group of iron-willed women represented the aristocratic or old money the newly wealthy Vanderbilt family sought to establish a new wave of social status with what was known as new money and here we can introduce Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt Belmont first married to a Vanderbilt and then to another millionaire by the name of Belmont Alva was born January 17 1853 in Mobile Alabama to a wealthy Southern family at a young age she became aware that girls and women were looked down upon by boys and men Alva would respond to any boy teasing her for being a girl by beating up the boy in question all this family had lost their riches after the American Civil War and were living in New York City to reclaim her standing Alva understood she needed to marry a wealthy man and that man was William K Vanderbilt a railroad millionaire Willie as Alva affectionately dubbed him was wonderful he was attractive powerful and most importantly wealthy in 1875 they married and thus began Alva's climb to power and social status despite marrying a Vanderbilt Alva thought she and her husband were being overlooked by Society in New York City the battle between old money and new money erupted as a result in 1879 Alva and William began construction on an opulent French chateau-style Mansion designed by Richard Morris hunt it was located at 660 Fifth Avenue in the heart of old money Society it would be finished four years later in 1882 it was a building that literally overshadowed the tower albeit luxurious town homes that lined the Avenue and Alva wanted everyone to know that she intended to flaunt her husband's wealth for all to see as Grand as the Mansion 660 Fifth Avenue was Alva wanted even more show and attention so she planned a ball to serve as her housewarming party on March 26 1883 Alva threw one of the most magnificent parties that New York had ever seen with her access to seemingly endless amounts of money she used every available resource including the power of the press to build excitement and to make her ball bigger than any ball before it she cunningly invited journalists to come in and preview the decorations in the ballroom before the ball began truth be told Alva was determined to use what was possibly the simplest weapon in her Arsenal to gain admission to the New York 400 good old-fashioned manipulation Alva also had another hand to play The Story Goes that like all marriageable young girls Mrs Astor's daughter Carrie was anxiously awaiting her invitation and even began practicing for a quadrill with her friends then the unthinkable happened all of her friends got their invitations but none came for Carrie Aster carried immediately got on her mother's case to rectify the situation and wouldn't you know due to complex social Customs Alva claimed she could not invite the daughter of Mrs Astor since Mrs Astor had never called on the Vanderbilt home Mrs Astor really had no choice but to drop her visiting card at 660 Fifth Avenue thus formally acknowledging the Vanderbilts the Astor's invitation to the ball was received the next day the ball was lavishly attended with nearly 1 200 outrageously costumed members of the highest ranks of society the ball went on for hours and the extent to which the elite went to each have the most outlandish and outstanding costume was the Talk of the Town dinner was served at two in the morning by the chefs of Delmonico's working with the Vanderbilt small army of servants and then dancing continued till the sun rose the event was estimated to cost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars almost 6 million dollars in today's money and included sixty five thousand dollars for champagne and eleven thousand dollars for flowers it was conspicuous consumption at its finest and it worked newspapers across the country reported every detail and extolled all this tastes and classiness by March 27 1883 the Vanderbilts were at the top of a new New York society that was no longer limited to 400 people Alva Vanderbilt had surpassed anything that Mrs Astor had done but the feud managed to continue until it came to pass that the two families joined together to build the Metropolitan Opera House which opened on October 22nd 1883. finally Alva had what she had always dreamed of acceptance reluctantly Mrs Astor admitted defeat and acknowledged acceptance of the new money that the Vanderbilts and the other wealthy Interlopers brought to New York in the late 1800s and early 1900s the Old Guard relented and where Mrs Astor goes Society follows the exploits of the two women had done the impossible bringing the families of new and old money together under one Gilded Age roof forging the beginning of modern New York Society thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe for more videos on the many fabulous fears and feisty women in history

Channel: Fabulous, Fierce & Feisty Women In History

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Id: VehK5qfKqVs

Length: 11min 36sec (696 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 04 2022