After years of struggle, a hostess gets to throw her most famous and popular annual event once again, so come and see who attends. April 1933, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus arrives in New York, but everyone is more interested in the return of Cobina Wright’s Circus Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria. Other people and subjects include: James HR Cromwell aka “Jimmy,” William May Wright aka “Bill,” Prince Serge Obolensky, Elsa Maxwell, President Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Prince David – Prince of Wales, King Edward VIII – Duke of Windsor, Wallis Simpson – Duchess of Windsor, Viscountess Thelma Morgan Furness, Virginia “Birdie” Graham Fair Vanderbilt, Lili Damita, Raymond Guest, Tony Biddle, servants Bruce & Fred, William “Bill” Paley, Samuel Klein, Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, Sally Tevis, Mrs. E. Marshall Field, Mrs. James Roosevelt, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Dall, Mr. & Mrs. John Hearst, Grand Duchess Marie, Countess de Forceville, bluebloods, George Gershwin, Ed Wynn, Eva La Galliene, Jimmy Durante, Hope Williams, Noel Coward, Fred Astaire, Clifton Webb, Fanny Ward, Beatrice Lillie, Fanny Brice, Charles Winninger, Lupe Velez, Cleon Throckmorton, Peter Arno, Cecil Beaton, Rosamund Pinchot, Rudy Vallee, Erna Gilsow, Lucrezia Bori, Marilyn Monroe, giraffe women – Red Karens from Karen Hills, Burma, National Geographic magazine, the Little Season, trained seal, donkey, elephants, calliope, ball park mustard, costume themes (Paris Apaches, Siamese twin, peasants, snake charmers, harem, cowboys, Cossack rider, aerialist, tight rope, juggler, pantomime, Pierrot, Pierrete, Annie Oakley, cellophane sylph) Greatest Show on Earth, Circus Ball, Society Circus Ball, Sassiety Circus, April in Paris, Butterfly Ball, Metropolitan Opera Ball, Nineteenth Century Parisian Carnival, beer garden, Prohibition, Cullen-Harrison Act of 1933, legalizing beer & wine, ocean liners Bremen, Olympic, Ile de France, Waldorf-Astoria New York, Jade Room Basildon Room, Grand Ballroom, Madison Square Garden, Colony Club, Ritz-Carlton, memoirs, multiple events of same name, blended details, circus, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, gladiators, menagerie, amphitheater, Philip Astley, John Bill Ricketts, George Washington, Joshuah Purdy Brown, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, P.T. Barnum, James Anthony Bailey, Golden Jubilee tour, traveling circus, traveling museum, canvas tent, Soviet circus, Lenin, Moscow Circus School, gymnastics, China, acrobatics, tin type – melanotype – ferrotype, metal polaroid, Daguerrotype, Adolphe Alexandre Martin, Civil War, Wild West, World War I, World War II, animal rights, carnivals, Middle Ages, Renaissance, minstrel shows, Greek god Dionysus, Roman god Saturnalia, Germanic Nordic goddess Nerthus, Carnival of Venice, Napoleon, Carnivale international locations, Mardi Gras, Boy Scouts of America, W.D. Boyce, Scouting Movement (British), James Baden-Powell, London fog, YMCA, Ernest Thompson Seton, Woodcraft Indians, Daniel Carter Beard, Sons of Daniel Boone, resilience, hope, chaotic times, pandemic, recovery, historical footage of war times, gas masks, bunny costumes, Lebanon Civil War, women having tea, humanity, better times Archival Music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.
After years of struggle, a hostess gets to throw her most famous and popular annual event once again, so come and see who attends.
April 1933, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus arrives in New York, but everyone is more interested in the return of Cobina Wright’s Circus Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria.
Other people and subjects include: James HR Cromwell aka “Jimmy,” William May Wright aka “Bill,” Prince Serge Obolensky, Elsa Maxwell, President Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Prince David – Prince of Wales, King Edward VIII – Duke of Windsor, Wallis Simpson – Duchess of Windsor, Viscountess Thelma Morgan Furness, Virginia “Birdie” Graham Fair Vanderbilt, Lili Damita, Raymond Guest, Tony Biddle, servants Bruce & Fred, William “Bill” Paley, Samuel Klein, Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, Sally Tevis, Mrs. E. Marshall Field, Mrs. James Roosevelt, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Dall, Mr. & Mrs. John Hearst, Grand Duchess Marie, Countess de Forceville, bluebloods, George Gershwin, Ed Wynn, Eva La Galliene, Jimmy Durante, Hope Williams, Noel Coward, Fred Astaire, Clifton Webb, Fanny Ward, Beatrice Lillie, Fanny Brice, Charles Winninger, Lupe Velez, Cleon Throckmorton, Peter Arno, Cecil Beaton, Rosamund Pinchot, Rudy Vallee, Erna Gilsow, Lucrezia Bori, Marilyn Monroe, giraffe women – Red Karens from Karen Hills, Burma, National Geographic magazine, the Little Season, trained seal, donkey, elephants, calliope, ball park mustard, costume themes (Paris Apaches, Siamese twin, peasants, snake charmers, harem, cowboys, Cossack rider, aerialist, tight rope, juggler, pantomime, Pierrot, Pierrete, Annie Oakley, cellophane sylph) Greatest Show on Earth, Circus Ball, Society Circus Ball, Sassiety Circus, April in Paris, Butterfly Ball, Metropolitan Opera Ball, Nineteenth Century Parisian Carnival, beer garden, Prohibition, Cullen-Harrison Act of 1933, legalizing beer & wine, ocean liners Bremen, Olympic, Ile de France, Waldorf-Astoria New York, Jade Room Basildon Room, Grand Ballroom, Madison Square Garden, Colony Club, Ritz-Carlton, memoirs, multiple events of same name, blended details, circus, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, gladiators, menagerie, amphitheater, Philip Astley, John Bill Ricketts, George Washington, Joshuah Purdy Brown, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, P.T. Barnum, James Anthony Bailey, Golden Jubilee tour, traveling circus, traveling museum, canvas tent, Soviet circus, Lenin, Moscow Circus School, gymnastics, China, acrobatics, tin type – melanotype – ferrotype, metal polaroid, Daguerrotype, Adolphe Alexandre Martin, Civil War, Wild West, World War I, World War II, animal rights, carnivals, Middle Ages, Renaissance, minstrel shows, Greek god Dionysus, Roman god Saturnalia, Germanic Nordic goddess Nerthus, Carnival of Venice, Napoleon, Carnivale international locations, Mardi Gras, Boy Scouts of America, W.D. Boyce, Scouting Movement (British), James Baden-Powell, London fog, YMCA, Ernest Thompson Seton, Woodcraft Indians, Daniel Carter Beard, Sons of Daniel Boone, resilience, hope, chaotic times, pandemic, recovery, historical footage of war times, gas masks, bunny costumes, Lebanon Civil War, women having tea, humanity, better times
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Extra Notes / Call to Action:
New York Adventure Club www.nyadventureclub.com
Mansions of the Gilded Age & The Gilded Age Society by Gary Lawrance
Instagram: @MansionsoftheGildedAge and @TheGildedAgeSociety
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mansionsofthegildedage
https://www.youtube.com/c/MansionsOfTheGildedAge
Share, like, subscribe
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Archival Music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.
Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 1 Music: Eeny Meeny Miney Mo by Harry Roy, Albums The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s & Tea Dance 2
Section 2 Music: Organ Grinder’s Swing by Jack Payne, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 3 Music: One Two, Button Your Shoe by Jack Hylton, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s
End Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
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AS THE MONEY BURNS
Podcast by Nicki Woodard
Episode 111 – Society Circus
Outline
Circus ball
Good times during bad
Series Tag
00:00
[Music – My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
AS THE MONEY BURNS is an original podcast by Nicki Woodard. Based on historical research, this is a deep exploration into what happened to a set of actual heirs and heiresses to some of America’s most famous fortunes when the Great Depression hits.
Each episode has three primary sections. Section 1 is a narrative story. Section 2 goes deeper into the historical facts. Section 3 focuses on contemporary, emotional, and personal connections.
00:29
Story Recap
While Cobina Wright plays hostess at the Waldorf, Barbara Hutton travels the South Seas and finally gets engaged to Prince Alexis Mdivani.
Now back to AS THE MONEY BURNS
Title
00:44
Society Circus
[Music Fade Out]
Episode Tag
After years of struggle, a hostess gets to throw her most famous and popular annual event once again, so come and see who attends.
01:02
[Music – Eeny Meeny Miney Mo by Harry Roy, Albums The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s & Tea Dance 2]
Section 1 – Story
[Music Fade Out]
01:19
Come one… Come all… Step right up for the Circus Ball!!!
Did you get an invitation? What will you be wearing? Do you have a special role in the activities?
This event is going to be grander than all the ones before it.
Oh yes, after several years away, supreme hostess and coloratura soprano Cobina Wright is hostessing another Circus Ball. Her grand annual event used to celebrate her husband, silver spooned golden boy, former Wall Street broker William May Wright, aka Bill.
01:49
This new Circus Ball will serve as a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts of America, a favorite charity for the new United States President Franklin Roosevelt.
The event will now be held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It is going to be bigger and better than ever before. Always known for her generosity, Cobina is going all out. What she thought was unlimited before will be no match for this time.
Cobina Wright is definitely outdoing herself. Her previous event was limited to only 400 people. But now with the Waldorf – size and space capacity it will be a 3000 guest affair. With all those glorious rooms on one floor of the largest hotel in the world to be used as she sees fit.
02:32
Even the papers are touting its return after a 4 year absence. Really has it been 4 years now? The last Circus Ball was held in January 1929, when everything still seemed so uplifting and promising versus how that year ended and the ones that came after it.
Cobina has always loved publicity. The attention given to her past events, fashion, and activities. Mostly positive at least. Now, the papers like to throw little burrs at her. Reminding everyone that Bill is now in the Rockies trying to strike gold, and how their fortune imploded into all of Cobina’s attempts now to make a living to survive.
03:12
Oh, how far things have changed since then. Back in 1924, new mother Cobina began her rise as a supreme hostess of New York capital “S” Society. After attending a costume ball with Bill, they remarked on the fun people had when they dressed up as someone else and felt at liberty to play around more. Back then, Cobina hosted their first Circus Ball to great acclaim in their home. Furniture removed as the living room turned into a big tent for the night. Other rooms like the library also emptied then converted into specialty booths. Adding to the amusements, live animals would be present like a trained seal or once a donkey who bit Tony Biddle. A much smaller party, but still very illustrious. Much of the favorite players were there – Fannie Brice, Beatrice Lillie, Noel Coward, George Gershwin, plus the blueboods coming from Bill’s set. Cobina’s former sweetheart and heir to two fortunes James HR Cromwell, aka Jimmy, served as a street sweeper.
04:08
That night was so successful. As the couple fell asleep the next morning, Cobina asked if Bill had ever gone to the circus as a boy to which he softly replied no. She then vowed to throw him a circus every year.
And she did, up until January 1929. Held again and again, people flocked to this favorite engagement. The first ball put them on the social map as the top host and hostess in the Big Apple. She would have thrown it again in 1930, but by then the Wall Street Crash had drastically changed their circumstances.
04:41
But this new Society Circus Ball could be her saving grace. A return to glory and finally a turn towards a new, positive, and maybe even grander direction.
Once again, anyone and everyone wants to participate. What used to be a much more relatively paired down event, now has multiple committee meetings happening every day. Plus the stars of cinema and Broadway all clamoring to practice and show off their routines and ideas before the big night.
The abundant excitement is unmistakable as nearly 1,001 events, acts, and other spectator and participant activities will be going on throughout the night.
05:21
Set designer Cleon Throckmorton returns to his role of the former balls to design lead the transformation. The main event will be held in the Grand Ballroom converted into a large circus tent with gawdy red and white striped canvas. Then there will be the other rooms the luscious Jade Room and one of Cobina’s favorite spots the Basildon Room – a replica of an old English manor with frescoed ceiling, a Parisian marble fireplace, and stunning panels.
Cobina can hardly pinch herself how beautiful things are turning out. Her devoted servants Bruce and Fred are replaced with the Waldorf staff of several hundred meaning she barely utters a word and voila it’s done to the extreme.
And Cobina takes it to the extreme. From the large specialty posters announcing the event to the special 400 invitations that resemble tickets.
06:07
No details overlooked – Ball Park mustard for the hot dogs. Self-service fashion retailer pioneer Samuel Klein is unveiling his new fashion line paraded by debutantes. Another donates a calliope organ cart. Tons of prizes, including the grand prize a European cruise.
And what’s this reference that there could be a beer garden while Prohibition still ongoing with a glass sold for 25 cents (roughly $6 in 2024)? Only 18 days after taking office, President Roosevelt signs the Cullen-Harrison Act legalizing beer and wine of 3.2% alcohol, effective on April 7th, 1933. This is partially an attempt to raise government revenue with taxation. But who cares, people are ready to celebrate. FDR is quoted as saying, “I think this would be a good time for a beer.” The Waldorf & the Society Circus Ball agrees as high society barmaids will serve the foaming suds with pretzels in one of the first events to celebrate the new freedom.
Other elites have reserved their spots and participation. The ballrooms boxes alone are sold out and to the likes of Virginia “Birdie” Graham Fair Vanderbilt, Mrs. James Roosevelt, Mrs. E. Marshall Field, among others.
07:21
A day later Saturday, April 8th, 1933, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus starts the celebration of their Golden Jubilee Tour at Madison Square Garden. Long giraffe necked ladies wearing 21 to 25 brass ring bands, known as Red Karen women from the Karen Hills of Burma, arrive aboard the Bremen ocean liner to debut as the new featured exhibit having only before been seen in photographs of magazines like National Geographic.
This event provides a perfect research trip for Cobina, but everyone knows she is going to do something far more fabulous.
07:56
For those staying in New York during “The Little Season” the time in spring that lulls between those who left to winter in Palm Beach and before the summer activities come about. Among the 400 and others, they gladly pull out their trunks, sewing kits, and wallets to fashion all sorts of costumes.
Elsewhere other gossip is noted but not nearly as dominating. At the Colony Club in Manhattan, Viscountess Thelma Morgan Furness receives a phone call from a mysterious London gentleman (hmmm, could it be British Prince of Wales Prince David). While starlet Lili Damita is joined by the handsome polo player Raymond Guest. Wearing dark glasses due to pesky eye trouble, Russian Prince Serge Obolensky lunches while watching young English artist Cecil Beaton finish a sketch of some Society ladies before heading back to London.
Tidbits but nowhere near the feverish excitement of Cobina’s upcoming event catching like wildfire across the country and press.
08:53
Tuesday, April 25th, 1933 – Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York
Early that day a message from Eleanor Roosevelt arrives to the organizers stating --
I wish I could be with you today for I know of no organization which does more valuable work than the Boy Scouts, and I wish you every success in your drive and am glad that the women are doing such good work.
Sure enough this will be a guaranteed hit and a nearless painless event. Unlike all the other events, guests will not be mere spectators but enthusiastic participants. Truly amazing – Society Circus more like Sassiety Circus, as people’s humorous and playful sides are coming out. The excitement is both intoxicating and electrifying.
09:43
10:00pm the activities begin, with 12:00pm Midnight live radio broadcast of the event
Where to go? What to do? There’s so much happening,
Did you see that?
Don’t blink or you’ll miss something. No worries, so much more to come…
Archery & peep shows, palm reading, taxi dancers and gigolos, a fish pond, dog kennel,…
10:02
Nearly 1500 are dressed in costumes, and many change throughout the long night. Cobina starts off as Wild West cowgirl Annie Oakley for one performance before a chariot race, then she will later change to a cellophane sylph.
Chairwoman Mrs. Alexander Hamilton will serve as one part of a Siamese twin with Sally Tevis as the other half.
One of the most popular themes are male and female pantomimes of the French variety referred as Pierrot and Pierrette, including William “Bill” Paley, Mr. & Mrs. John Hearst, along with several others…
The other attendees Grand Duchess Marie is a simple Russian peasant girl, while the Countess De Forceville dresses as a scarlet circus queen with her own troupe of tumblers.
Ah yes, a night full of wild men, wild women, and wild animals…
A large, wide, and varied assortment,… German Tyrolean peasants, Russian Cossack rider, cowboys, pirates, Bohemian artists, tightrope walkers,… Intricate costumes like an Egyptian snake charmer in white satin and chiffon and another as an exotic Oriental beauty dressed in salmon and gold as part of a sultan’s harem.
11:12
And of course, those from the stage and screen
Ed Wynn and his trained seal
Eva Le Galliene and her trained stallion
Jimmy Durante and Hope Williams as the King & Queen of the High Wire
Noel Coward as an aerialist
Fred Astaire as a barker
Clifton Webb as a sailor
Fanny Ward is another Oriental snake charmer in white net with silver trimmings
Beatrice Lillie as a tumbler
Fannie Brice as a tiger, this is after she had trouble finding someone to be on the receiving end of her sword throwing act, previously begging for volunteers saying, “Honest, I won’t hit you…”
Cleon Throckmorton, George Gershwin, Noel Coward, New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno, and Cecil Beaton join others as a group of Paris Apaches (members of a street gang and hooligans in the early 1900s Paris).
12:00
Fresh and unperturbed by recent Reno troubles (eh-hem could that mean another divorce), crooner Rudy Vallee attends with on his arm the lovely Erna Gilsow in a sparkling beaded white gown.
While newly sworn in President Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt are unable to attend, their daughter Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Dall attends the event wearing mufti.
Serving as ringmaster, humorist Charles Winninger looks dignified in a gray top hat and black and white checked fitted coat. He is assisted by Lupe Velez.
12:34
Last minute, Cecil Beaton cancels his return to London aboard the ocean liner the Olympic to man a sketching booth next to…
The most popular booth run by Rosamund Pinchot, who raises a quarter (roughy $6 in 2024) for every tintype photograph (a positive metal type polaroid). Rosamund dresses in an old-time shirtwaist, black patent belt, plaid green and black wool skirt, pinned up in the back with a safety pin.
Guests merrily move about.
Wait is that two elephants coming up the elevator? Cobina doesn’t miss a single detail.
13:11
Well, there is one thing missing – the most important element of the whole event the former ringmaster Bill.
This event is so large maybe he will slip in. She has sent him the beautiful flyer for the affair. But alas, not even a whisper or unconfirmed sighting.
As she pulls off her shoes back in her room after a wondrous night, tears come to her eyes. Life keeps moving forward and away from the one she once held so dear.
13:48
The same evening the butterfly ball is held at the Ritz-Carlton. A day later another benefit aboard the Ile de France ocean liner. And two more days on April 28th, the upcoming Metropolitan Opera Ball hosted by soprano Lucrezia Bori will have a Nineteenth Century Parisian Carnival costume theme.
But make no mistake this season, the Greatest Show on Earth is Cobina’s Society Circus Ball.
14:20
[Music – Organ Grinder’s Swing by Jack Payne, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Section 2 – History & Historiography
[Music Fade Out]
14:36
It’s here. It’s here. It’s here. We are finally at the Circus Ball. Ohhhhh, how I have so waited to tell this tale.
Now I have lucked out since it is part of my Waldorf-Astoria webinars with New York Adventure Club, so I have gotten to cover it a few times each year before this episode. But even there I am not able to go into this much detail, since the webinar is about the overall history of the hotel. But this podcast is about people with Cobina Wright being one of the main POV (point of view) characters whom we follow. And with all the extra embellishments, it is even better than I originally imagined.
15:15
Now in many sources, they attribute the Circus Ball to Elsa Maxwell, which she also served as part-time hostess at the Waldorf due to her association with Noel Coward and did host a different set of circus themed parties as part of the recurring April in Paris series in the 1950s. Her honored guests included the Duke & Duchess of Windsor and Marilyn Monroe though not at or for the circus themed ones.
15:39
But we know Cobina Wright kicked off this particular trend. Elephants and all – both ladies had the large animals in their festivities. It is a little hard to delineate all the exact facts as Cobina’s autobiography lacks specific dates. But this is partially due at least to Cobina having held this party multiple times thus giving more generalities and the effects of writing a memoir decades later, so understandably details might get blended. Newspapers back up some specifics while contradicting others. Now the fact that people would switch outfits throughout the night might explain some potential conflicts.
16:18
And well, it’s the details that can be both fun to track down and then after a moment of trying to tie them all together again – gets the head scratching and wondering…
So let’s have a little fun, because we need to have some fun in our lives. We already have plenty of more serious and chaotic elements floating about in our various worlds right now. Is it just me or did some of the costumes and events seem a little jarring for a circus theme? The large event is an admixture of several other similarly themed traditions and events.
16:51
Circuses have occurred throughout a large portion of history and evolved in concept. Going back to Ancient Rome, the circus is an open roofless arena with equestrian activities like chariot races, staged battles, gladiator events, and displays or fights with animals. Some circuses could be flooded with water for naval battle type events. Thus completely different than how we relate to circuses in the modern era.
17:17
The more modern notion of circus comes much later in 1768 when British calvary officer Philip Astley set up an amphitheater to display horse tricks. Now his building was designed around a circle, where previous horse shows would have followed a straight line. In 1770, Astley adds performances by acrobats, jugglers, clowns, and tightrope walkers as in between acts. In 1782, Astley will expand his circus amphitheater to Paris and then onto 18 other permanent European cities.
17:46
Later circuses in England would be performed in large buildings and provide a combination of circus stunts, animal menagerie, and theatre. Another Englishman John Bill Ricketts will bring the circus over to America in 1793 Philadelphia, also in a permanent building. George Washington is said to have attended a performance later that season. In 1825, Joshuah Purdy Brown is the first to use a canvas tent for an outdoor circus. The 1830s saw the rise of sideshows along with circuses.
18:18
In the 1870s, P.T. Barnum began his own tradition of the traveling museum, circus, menagerie, and freak show. In 1881, he merges with another travelling circus run by James Anthony Bailey. The Ringling Brothers would buy the circus in 1906 after Bailey’s death. The Ringling Brothers began their own circus in 1884 which would still run separately until combining the two in 1919. The joint Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus will celebrate its 50th Anniversary – Golden Jubilee in 1933 with a tour including Boston, Chicago, all across the United States as well as the West Coast and Canada.
18:57
By late 19th Century and early Twentieth Century, traveling circuses become a popular spectator entertainment. Tastes will change after World War II and the rise of other entertainment like television, and by the 1960s animal rights becomes a growing concern.
In 1919 Soviet Russia, Lenin encourages the notion that circuses should become “the people’s art form” on par with ballet, opera, and theatre. In 1927, the Moscow Circus School will train performers for Soviet gymnastics. China will also adopt a circus type style of performance with a heavy acrobatic program.
19:32
A popular attraction at fairs and carnivals is the tintype, an early form of photography also called melanotype or ferrotype. Where a positive image is created on a thin sheet of metal (not actually tin despite the name). It is first developed by Adolphe Alexandre Martin in 1853 Paris, 14 years after the Daguerreotype. Both forms of photography became popular in America. The tintype will document parts of the Civil War as well as the Wild West. The tintype’s highest popularity is the 1860s and 1870s and lasts until the 1930s. Tintype will lose out due to the competition with more advanced paper photography, but it will remain popular as a carnival novelty.
20:15
Now some of the costume descriptions for Cobina Wright’s Circus Ball threw me off a little. It felt more like a sideshow but not like a circus. References to pantomimes, snake charmers, gypsies, and other Medieval or Oriental type imagery. Like the type of popular entertainment you would expect during the Middle Ages and the minstrel shows and festivals of yore.
20:37
Carnivals date back to Ancient Europe, at least to Greece and Rome with feasts and celebrations related to the gods Greek Dionysus and Roman Saturnalia. German tribes would have celebrations with their Norse fertility goddess Nerthus and the end of winter.
In the Middle Ages, the Christian version of carnivals would occur after the Epiphany Season, meaning Christmas before the fasting of Lent. This period allowed for all sorts of feasting including sexual desires. By the Renaissance, these traditions grew more elaborate with parades and masquerade balls. The most famous is the Carnival of Venice, which was abolished by Napoleon in 1797 and would take until 1979 to be restored.
Still celebrations continued and evolved as we know in several parts of the world referred as “Carnival” (Carnivale”) from Italy to Spain, Portugal, France, North America, the Caribbean, and Latin America. In the United States, the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Variations keep growing and evolving in different parts of the world.
21:36
One last side note relates to the charity beneficiary for this episode’s main event, the organization known as Boy Scouts of America is founded in 1910 by W.D. Boyce. The story goes that Boyce was lost in a London fog and an unknown British Scout came to his aid then refused a tip as helping is part of his duty as a member of the Scouting Movement. The British Scouting Movement is found in 1907 by Robert Baden-Powell, who himself had been inspired by the earlier likes of the YMCA and other progressive young men’s groups in America like in Ohio Ernest Thompson Seton’s Woodcraft Indians in 1902 and Daniel Carter Beard’s Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905. Franklin Roosevelt would help set up the Greater New York chapter of the Boy Scouts of America in 1922, which included a 10,000 acre camp site, the largest boys camp in the world at the time.
22:30
The mention of the return of the beer garden was an unexpected finding in an article to promoting the upcoming Circus Ball as well at the actual Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus coming to Madison Square Garden just before the Circus Ball at the Waldorf. A beginning and ending mark of one era as we cross into another.
Many things are happening simultaneously as our story and characters forge ahead into the unknown.
22:59
[Music – One Two, Button Your Shoe by Jack Hylton, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s]
Section 3 – Contemporary & Personal Relevance
[Music Fade Out]
23:17
The hardest part of getting through something difficult or traumatic is getting back to happiness and hope.
It has been 4 years since Cobina Wright last threw her greatest annual party event, and ironically we too have had 4 years since our lives turned topsy turvy.
Depending on which part of the country or world you have been in, would impact how long the lockdowns or other aspects still ripple through your life. And still as much as things have gotten better relative to the summer of 2020, we are seeing another upswing in chaos and the brink if not already over the cliff and back into societal instability.
23:51
This reminds me of my days working for a company that did over 100 hours of History Channel documentaries. We had a broad range of topics, but the bread and butter deal was a lot of war, mostly Civil War, World War I, and World War II. I logged a lot of footage back in the early days before promotion to research.
I was most struck by the images of war and the contrast of people trying to be normal. Gas masks for kids that looked like bunny suits in case of nuclear war. Women having tea while bombs went off in 1970s Lebanon. I am always drawn to the need people have to find the good and fight to have it remain and not let simple things be stripped from them. I might have overindulged in this episode reveling in how momentarily happy people are despite the contrasts of their outer lives.
24:39
This is resilience. It’s not the being knocked down. It’s the getting up. It’s laughing again after so many tears. It’s finding new connections after losses, no matter how those happened.
It’s so important not to drown in the negatives. We have to find a way out. It helps preserve our humanity. It gives us motives to move forward, and eventually things will improve.
I hope you too are getting to better places. Survive the chaos and thrive regardless. In that way, we could all gain a wealthy life many of our heirs and heiresses did not have despite their large fortunes.
25:25
There are so many places to see and explore, and one great company to help with that is New York Adventure Club, the webinar home of my own two Waldorf-Astoria webinars. NY Adventure Club provides 3 different webinars daily for only $12 each, live with 1 week access afterwards. If you love the content of this podcast, then you might enjoy diving into the past, especially with those hosted Gary Lawrance who runs Instagram & Facebook Groups Mansions of the Gilded Age and the Gilded Age Society. He also has his own YouTube channel Gary takes you through multiple properties of the Gilded Age and many with connections to the people in our stories.
Links and the notes and transcript.
New York Adventure Club www.nyadventureclub.com
Mansions of the Gilded Age & The Gilded Age Society
Instagram: Mansions of the Gilded Age and The Gilded Age Society by Gary Lawrance
Instagram: @MansionsoftheGildedAge and @TheGildedAgeSociety by Gary Lawrance
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mansionsofthegildedage
https://www.youtube.com/c/MansionsOfTheGildedAge
If you enjoy As The Money Burns, then please share, like, & subscribe.
Hook
26:13
[Music – My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Next when we return to AS THE MONEY BURNS…
An heiress has her hands full battling the tax man while flirting with a new aristocratic suitor.
Until then…
Credits
26:29
AS THE MONEY BURNS is an original podcast written, produced, and voiced by Nicki Woodard, based on historical research. Archival music has een provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, check out their website at www.pastperfect.com.
Please come visit us at As The Money Burns via Goodpods, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook (now Meta), or Instagram. Transcripts, timeline, episode guide, and character bios are available at asthemoneyburns.com.
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