The Gilded Gentleman

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...

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 w...

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 o...

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 Taillon and 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 Fi...

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...

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...

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 c...

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...

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, h...

Ulysses Dietz , noted curator, author, and historian is the great-great grandson of President Ulysses S. Grant.  In this unique and very special show, Ulysses takes us behind the doors of several of Newport's great mansions to understand how architecture, design and decorative arts all combine to tell the story of how this social community came to be and grew during the Gilded Age.   Ulysses share...

Christmas traditions evolved over the 19th century, combining influences from the days of the Dutch settlers with British practices inspired by the work of Dickens, and along the way, they became something truly American.  In this special holiday episode,  the Gilded Gentleman visits with Ann Haddad, House Historian of New York's 1832 Merchant's House Museum, and takes a look at how the well-to-do...

Financier Jay Gould was one of the most famous — and infamous — of the Gilded Age robber barons. He was ruthless in his business dealings, tangled with the Vanderbilts for control of the railroads and fought battle after battle on Wall Street.  But there was a less contentious side to him as well. Gould sought respite from New York City with his family at his country home, Lyndhurst Mansion in Tar...

The Gilded Age was a period of rapid industrialization and innovation - and that was abundantly true in terms of what was happening in the kitchen.  New marvels like refrigeration, the availability of ingredients like baking powder, and new tools from egg beaters to meat slicers, all made creating over-the-top meals much easier than ever before.   Becky Libourel Diamond , food historian and author...

One of the most fascinating story lines in Season One of the HBO series "The Gilded Age" was that of the young black writer Peggy Scott and her Brooklyn family.  Elements of Peggy's father's character were based on scholar Dr. Carla Peterson's own ancestral family.    In her groundbreaking book, Black Gotham: A Family History of African-Americans in Nineteenth Century New York City , Dr. Peterson...

Celebrate the opening of the opera season Gilded Age style!  In this encore episode, Carl delves into how the Metropolitan Opera came to be and what it meant to those bejewelled Gilded Age audiences.  Most of the drama took place in the audience - and not so much on the stage.  On the night of October 22, 1883, the brand new Metropolitan Opera House opened its doors.  The new theater was able to a...

In this truly spooky episode. Greg and Tom from the Bowery Boys podcast travel to Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island to delve into four tales of the unexplained, the perhaps unforgotten and definitely the unsettling.   Our stories include a massive elegant mansion that once graced the Hunts Point neighborhood in the Bronx. Built by merchant and trader Benjamin Whitlock in 1850 and late...

John Jacob Astor  is considered to have been New York's first great real estate mogul, and indeed the Astor family has been said to have been "New York's landlords" for much of the 19th century.   But other developers and builders were responsible for establishing desirable areas in which to build as well.   In this episode guest historian Keith Taillon takes a look at five particular properties a...

Join Carl and historian and professional musician Dr. Christopher Brellochs for a tour through the musical influences of the Gilded Age.  Music in the Gilded Age incorporated many different styles and influences from the classical symphonies and operas brought to American concert halls and stages from Europe to more home grown music that included military influenced music as well as music that ref...

In the latter part of 19th-century America, over 200 young women married into British and European noble families.  Some Gilded Age families wanted their daughters to gain titles to secure their social standing, and many willing aristocrats needed the significant marriage settlements to repair crumbling estates and fill up their bank accounts.  From the marriage in 1874 of Jenny Jerome to Lord Ran...

Venice by the end of the 19th century had lost much of the glory it once had known. Crumbling palazzi, a bad economy and an overall sense of decay permeated the city.  New writings published on the long-forgotten Venetian Renaissance painters and artists brought a new stream of visitors to the city including  Henry James , John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler among others. American expat...

As we continue our visit to the Riviera in the Belle Epoque, The Gilded Gentleman revisits the little-known story of an American-born European princess.  Many people think that Grace Kelly became the first American princess of Monaco when she married Prince Rainier in 1956. The truth however is that decades before in the glittering years of the Belle Epoque, another American-born woman married a M...

A glittering, glamorous look at the history of the French Riviera and its height in the years of the Belle Epoque - where not everything was always quite as it seemed.  Originally popular as a warm weather destination for convalescing British aristocrats, the rocky, dramatically beautiful eastern coastline of southern France, the Riviera and its resorts of Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo,  have been...

As New York continued its march up the island of Manhattan, there were few places where people that couldn't escape to Newport could find somewhere to relax, play, stroll and find some shade.   The development of  Central Park   provided some much needed relief but it took some time for it to become a place that was accessible and viable for all of New York's social classes.      Out on the far co...

As a special summer bonus, join Carl for an encore of this classic Gilded Gentleman episode. Be sure to wear your best hat and dust off your gold topped cane for this very gilded shopping trip.  Carl is joined by Emma Guest-Consales , PhD art historian and master New York City tour guide. for this special look at the evolution of shopping in 19th century New York and just how revolutionary some re...

There is nothing like a finely crafted cocktail to celebrate a special occasion (even if it's just a typical Tuesday). While many think that classic cocktail history began during the Jazz Age and the 1920s (even though America was in the middle of Prohibition ), the truth is that much happened about fifty years before -- in the Gilded Age.   Vintage beverage specialist Don Spiro takes listeners th...