The Gilded Gentleman

Outdoing one another was a kind of sport for some in the Gilded Age. Who had the grandest home? Who could throw the most outrageous party? And who could wear the most glamorous gown to Mrs. Astor's annual Opera Ball?

But of all the contenders, the winner, hands down, was Alice Vanderbilt and the gown she wore to Alva Vanderbilt's famous costume party in March 1883.  Alice showed up in a gown Charles Worth made in Paris, representing "Electric Light."  

Electricity was a new phenomenon at the time, and Alice's stunning gold-and-silver gown, accented with tinsel and rich embroidery, literally sparkled as she walked.  The press  - and the ball guests - had never seen a costume like it.  Astonishingly, Alice's gown still exists, miraculously preserved in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.  

Join The Gilded Gentleman for the story of this gown, and join Carl for a special visit to see it. 

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Well, it’s that spooky time of year once again and no one celebrates it better than the Bowery Boys -- Greg Young and Tom Meyers, who have been exploring 'real' ghost stories of Old New York since their podcast began back in 2007. Join Greg and Tom for this spooky journey back to Old New York, a city lit by gaslights where so much went on in the shadows.

Featuring tales of a haunted library in Astor Place, an abandoned mansion in today's Riverside Park, the Bronx college campus where scenes from The Exorcist were filmed, and many more mysterious stories.

Visit the Bowery Boys website to see images of some of the locations depicted in this show, including the Astor Library, the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage and the photographs of the old Furniss Mansion.

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Returning guest historian and author Connor Williams returns to The Gilded Gentleman table for the in-depth and insightful discussion of the Civil War's influence on the following age of extraordinary wealth and structural advancement for the country.  

Connor discusses how America's economic power centers reversed themselves following Emancipation and how the manipulation of wealth fueled the growth and wealth of the Gilded Age. In addition, Connor takes a look at some of the literature of the era including writers such as Mark Twain who captured a very new America in their work.   

Connor is the author of the just-published "The Confederacy Myth: How an Insurrection of Slaveholders Tried to Destroy the United States". 

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Victoria Woodhull was one of the Gilded Age's most challenging, revolutionary, outspoken, and certainly fascinating figures. Often called the first woman to run for president of the United States, Woodhull worked as a spiritualist and newspaper publisher. She and her sister also became the first female Wall Street stockbrokers.  

But Woodhull's life, as biographers have struggled to capture, was a mix of paradoxes, contradictions, and challenges that easily defy simple definition.  

The Gilded Gentleman takes a look at who Victoria Woodhull was and her lasting influence, as well as how the creative team behind "A Simple Herstory,” an audio fiction podcast series, has raised the bar for narrative history.  

Creator, actor and producer Jocylyn Kuritsky and writer and executive producer Jonathan Goldberg discuss the complexities of Woodhull's life and how they chose to present her in a mix of political commentary, theater, audio drama, and podcast. 

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The Gilded Age was not limited to New York. Other cities developed differently during the 19th century and responded uniquely to this period of great technological and economic growth.  Boston, Massachusetts, the heart of New England, had a very different story than that of New York. Boston had wealth and a sharp social divide; the Boston elite, known as the "Brahmins," were quite different from the Astors and Vanderbilts of New York.  

Boston channeled its money into education, social reform, and cultural expansion. Indeed, during the 19th century, the city was a center for abolitionists and the women's suffrage movement.  Boston's story includes not only the Brahmins but also waves of immigrants from Europe, a Black population with longstanding roots in New England, and those arriving from the South. 

Author and historian R. Tripp Evans (last heard on the Bachelor Pad episode) returns to the Gilded Gentleman Podcast to chat about Boston's fascinating 19th-century cultural life and history.

This show was produced and edited by Kieran Gannon.

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Join The Gilded Gentleman and Michael Morganthal, a veteran journalist and professional tour guide, for this journey through the news process in late 19th-century New York.   

Michael shares how the Gilded Age gave rise to a nearly 24-hour news cycle and how news was reported and transmitted. 

In addition, he discusses the rise of sensational "yellow journalism" and the intense competition among titans such as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst as the Gilded Age set the stage for the modern news machine we know today. 

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In 1894, Madeline Pollard was the most famous woman in America. Her name was splashed across newspaper headlines, and the public hung on every word she said and waited to see and discuss every article of clothing she wore.  

Pollard was suing a well-known Kentucky Congressman, William Breckenridge, for breach of promise. He had promised to marry her upon his wife's death - but chose another woman instead.  The courtroom drama unfolded like the best page-turning novel. 

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, an unassuming young woman from Maine, Jane Tucker, was working furtively under an assumed identity - Agnes Parker - to discover the truth of Madeline's background.   

In her recent book, "Alias Agnes: The Notorious Tale of a Gilded Age Spy," author and scholar Elizabeth DeWolfe spins a true tale that centers on how Gilded Age women found power and used it to ensure their agency, strength, and equality.  Part courtroom drama, part tale of espionage, part old-fashioned mystery, we now have the full story of Madeline Pollard and Jane Tucker for the very first time. 

This podcast was edited and produced by Kieran Gannon.

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An isolated house, creaky staircases, hidden passages and often a dead body in the Library. These are the elements of the classic British murder mystery, particularly those written by the queen of all mysteries, Agatha Christie.  

Returning guest and English country house expert Curt DiCamillo joins the Gilded Gentleman table to discuss the origin of the British fascination with murder, some of the very first popular mysteries, and how the golden age of the murder mystery novel in the 1920s and 1930s came to be. 

In addition, Curt discusses several English country houses, ranging from those that actually inspired Christie herself to a selection of those used as filming locations for many of the beloved television and film adaptations of her novels.  As an added bit of intrigue, Curt shares the details of a real-life murder that took place in the early 19th century in an actual English country house.

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Louis Comfort Tiffany truly gave the Gilded Age a new way to see the world, showing a talent for innovation, extraordinary artistic vision and the empowerment of those with whom he collaborated and hired.  He was also known for employing and developing opportunities for women as not only creators but also as skilled managers. 

This episode focuses on the work of the women of Tiffany, highlighting two of the most famous: Agnes Northrop, known for her stunning landscape windows, and Clara Driscoll, known for her innovation in lamp design, including the "dragonfly," one of Tiffany's most emblematic designs.   

Joining the Gilded Gentleman table are two undisputed experts in the work of Louis C. Tiffany - Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Lindsy Parrott, Executive Director of The Neustadt Collection.

Produced and edited by Kieran Gannon.

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As Netflix launches a new adaptation of the beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder series "Little House on the Prairie" this summer, fans new and old cannot help be enchanted by the iconic 1970s television adaptation as well—written, directed, and produced by Michael Landon, who played the role of "Pa".  

Joining The Gilded Gentleman table for a look back at the series is original cast member Alison Arngrim, who played the role of Nellie Oleson, the bratty, selfish daughter of mercantile owners Nels and Harriet Oleson, and became a character we all just loved to hate. 

Alison discusses what it was like behind-the-scenes on the show as well as her life now.  She currently tours internationally with her one-woman show "Confessions of a Prairie Bitch," playing to sell-out audiences, and is a New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, and actor.   

This episode was edited and produced by Kieran Gannon.

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