THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU NEEDED TO KNOW

  What do you do if you are a recognized beauty afraid of losing your looks? You fill your face with paraffin wax that settles an odd lumps towards your chin. Such was the situation for Gladys Deacon, a noted Gilded Age beauty who modeled for Pond's Soap and had her portrait painted by Boldini . Gladys Deacon faced a rocky childhood, life as a Gilded Age socialite and a terrible marriage to the man of her dreams. Gladys Deacon's story is most definitely one of the most unusual socialite stories ever. Gladys was born in Paris February 7 1881. Gladys was one of three sisters and the family lived the European life of wealthy expatriated Americans. In 1892 Gladys's mother went away for a week tryst with a lover. Gladys's father followed them, burst into their room, and shot his wife's lover. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Gladys was sent to a convent school but her mother kidnapped her so Gladys his father could not claim her upon his release. After his releas...

   The bride, face puffy from a morning spent crying, tears streaming down her silk bodice, entered the church, hair laced with orange blossoms - Queen Victoria wore them in her hair at her wedding. Her arms were heavy with a bouquet of orchids. Orchids, in Victorian flower language, symbolize beauty and refinement, but also self-love and uniqueness. A very telling statement for the bride. This wedding was the ultimate statement of the beauty and refinement the mother of the bride wanted to shove in the faces of the society mavens who rejected her. The bride, Consuelo Vanderbilt, would find self-love years later after escaping the Gilded Age cage of society and its restrictive roles for women via charity work and championing women's suffrage. Daughter of queen of the social climbers Alva Vanderbilt, Consuelo Vanderbilt was named for her mother's best friend, OG Penny Princess Consuelo Yznaga. Alva spared no expense, and showed no mercy, in her desire to mold Consuelo into Amer...

Consuelo Yznaga sang minstral songs and played the banjo. But what's that compared to a bawdy, brassy babe who gives hecklers the what for? Viscount Mandeville - Kim - Consuelo Yznaga's husband certainly thought that, as he carried on an open affair with Bessie Bellwood for several years. Bessie was a dance hall singer with a feisty, fiery reputation. Sharp-tongued Bessie was a hero to the working class, a star performer they could claim as their own. Bessie was a charitable woman who lived life the way she wanted to, be damned to anyone who said she shouldn't. Catherine Mahoney was born March 30th 1856, to Irish parents. The family were working class. Catherine skinned rabbits in a factory before becoming Bessie Bellwood. She made her stage debut in the working class area of Birdmondsey. She adapted the persona of a coster - a street vendor. Bessie sang songs about the hardships of life, sometimes from the perspective of a woman done wrong. Bessie Bellwood was sassy and sa...

  As I discussed in last week's post, there were 3 O G Penny Princesses.  Jenny got her own entry, so this week Minnie and Cosuelo get their due.  Then two more of the best known  Penny Princesses will tell their stories. Minnie Stevens If Minnie Padget had written a self-help book, she would have called it "Marrying Into the Aristocracy For Dummies." Minnie brokered marriages for the Penny Princesses - including Consuelo Vanderbilt. Minnie was a hostess and a brilliant fundraiser as well. Minnie eased young ladies into English society from her house on the posh Belgrave Square. She entertained Bertie and the Marlborough House set.  Minnie Stevens was born in 1853. Her father was Paran Stevens, owner of the 5th Avenue hotel. Her mother Marietta was the daughter of a grocer. In typical New York City Society style the Stevens were ostracized for making their money themselves -  shudder . Minnie made her debut, to not much success. Paran St...

  Three young girls sailed over the ocean to London and Paris and caused a sensation with their wit, beauty, and charm.  They were the O G Penny Princesses, the three girls who started the wave of over seas marriages between girls rejected from proper American society and the British nobility.  The first married charmed the Prince of Wales, traveled the world, and captivated those who knew her.  Her son smoked a lot cigars, drank a lot of booze, and sounded the alarm that some German chap called Hitler might be up to no good.  Jeanette Jerome was born in Brooklyn on January 9th 1854 to Leonard and Clara Jerome. Leonard was a financier and speculator. Clara wanted herself and her daughters Jennie, Leonie, and Clara to enter society. Leonard's penchant for opera singers - he built a small theater in the Jerome mansion - ensured the Jerome girls would never be accepted. Clara informed Leonard that she would be taking the girls to Paris and Leonard could pay the ren...

  When young women traversed the sea in order to pay their pennies to earn a place amongst the posh, one man took up the rightful duty of being their connection. He didn't have anything else to do really, as his mother reigned for 60 years. Prince Albert Edward, Bertie to the pulchritudinous Penny Princesses would eventually become king, but until then he lived large, waiting to be in charge. His Marlboro House Set became the talk of London. Bertie was benevolent and beautiful girls took notice. Edward Albert, Prince of Wales, was born November 9th 1841 to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Called Bertie, he was the second child of 9, but first son. Due to primogeniture, (sexist old timey talk for "dudes rule") he would be king. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert wanted Bertie to have a well-rounded education to prepare him for his royal duties. Tutors found Bertie charming and sweet, but not much of a scholar. Bertie eventually attended University and met with academic suc...

  Post Civil War America faced great financial changes. Industrialization and an agrarian economy no longer based on enforced labor created opportunities for anyone to make a great fortune. Old Guard families with immense wealth resented this encroachment to their whole their hold on society. Families from all over America arrived in New York (snidely called  arrivistes)  replete with cash and two goals : build mansions and enter their daughters into society. But, when father's womanizing reputation or mother's unsavory past became grist for the gossip mill, these daughters had no chance of a proper debut or snagging an eligible society bachelor. Over the sea, to London and Paris went mothers and daughters. Flush with cash, beauty, and personality, these young women wove themselves into the British upper class and saved the aristocracy from ruin. America became fascinated with all things British because of Bertie - Prince Albert Edward, eldest son of Queen Victoria. Berti...

  Not every upper class socialite could marry into the aristocracy. Gilded Age young women were allowed to court interested gentlemen. A gentleman would express his interest to a mutual acquaintance and the acquaintance would introduce the gentleman and young lady. Once introduced a gentleman could present his calling card and be permitted to visit the young lady in the family parlor. The young couple would be chaperoned, of course. Couples would often play piano together, subtly touching hands. After courting for a while young couples could attend balls and social events, or go skating and for carriage rides. A gentleman could only make an overture to a lady who had come out into society. Marriages were often arranged to forge business partnerships, elevate social status, or increase wealth, of on the part of either the bride or the groom. Young women of the Gilded Age were educated in the ways of social manners and presentation, and running homes. Young women married for a secure...