A Golden Cage (29 page)

The Gilded Age was a time of colossal riches, conspicuous consumption, and outrageous expenditures. Wealth was something to show to the world. Money became the standard by which society was judged. The Knickerbockers, the old moneyed families of New York, were forced to accept the “new rich,” those who made their fortunes in shipping, oil, railroads, and manufacturing, into their ballrooms and social clubs.

What these newcomers lacked in taste they made up for in extravagance. And ruthlessness.

But it wasn't just among the social elite that change was happening. And it was happening fast. Jobs opened up for middle and working class men and women. Education was mandatory so many young men, no longer content to become day laborers, farmers, or dock workers, migrated to the city to become clerks and office workers and partake of city life. Young women, once destined to be servants or laundresses, were accepted into colleges, found employment as typewriters (the term for those who did the typing), store clerks, and bookkeepers.

Jobs once only open to men had new female competition. But as is often the case, the more things changed the more they
remained the same. And still haven't changed today. Women might work alongside men but they weren't paid as much.

One of the few places a woman could earn as much as and often more than her male counterpart, was in the theater. Talented actresses and singers were in great demand. Retired actresses became managers, opened their own theaters, took companies “on the road.” And though they were disrespected by the “genteel” classes, especially the women, many were hardworking, moral people.

The rich were known to invite entire casts to perform for their guests in Newport, building theaters for the performance on the grounds of their “cottages,” while the Manhattan theater remained dark, and losing money, during their absence.

Of course the double standard was very much alive and so while the divas might be entertained with a glass of champagne on the veranda after the performance, there was nothing unusual about some of the lesser actresses picking up a little extra work down on the yachts of the rich husbands of Newport.

On the following day, life went back to normal with the men retiring with their cigars to the Newport Reading Room. The society women taking their daily carriage rides or shopping in one of the boutiques along Bellevue Avenue. The actors, after too little sleep, piling onto the train or steamer to return to the city, to spend their days in rehearsal and their evenings in performance.

Others were moving into the twentieth century and they were moving there together. It wouldn't be too odd to see Laurette Ballard standing side by side with a working-class woman as they marched for contraception, and to meet again protesting for the right to vote. Strict societal lines continued to break down.

Inventions made life at home easier. Sewing machines, telephones, ovens, and carpet cleaners, not to mention the flush toilet, left more leisure time available to all classes and women joined in the craze for sports: tennis, golf, yachting, riding.

Even the most respected ladies could be seen riding a bicycle. Fashionable split skirt cycling outfits were all the rage. Female cycling clubs were formed. But as usual, there was a huge outcry against this sport. Doctors, still mostly male at this time—though that was rapidly changing also— warned of dire injuries that bumping over the road could incur.

Of course, what they really feared is exactly what happened. Once the “weaker sex” tasted a bit of transportational freedom, they weren't content to stop there. In another year, the automobile became the only way to travel.

While the rich still invited a select few into their inner circle for an evening's fun, the rest of the country began “going out.” Pubs and boardwalks, fairs and circuses, moving pictures and museums, baseball and horse races.

In 1891, the first Ferris wheel appeared at the Chicago World's Fair and though it was dismantled, other Ferris wheels appeared making the circuits of watering holes and fairs.

And as with any time of great change there was a huge backlash of fear and anger. In the same year that Alfred Nobel set aside his estate to establish the Nobel Peace Prize, French captain Alfred Dreyfuss was falsely accused and convicted of treason. Oscar Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison for homosexuality, just months before the first US Open Golf Tournament and four months before the first American auto race.

1895 was a transformative year and the reason I chose to begin the Newport Gilded Age mysteries during the time.
There was no turning back, the “modern” man and “modern” woman were on the ascent.

And I like to think of Joe and Deanna leading the way.

For more about life in Newport during the Gilded Age, go to shelleyfreydont.com.

Shelley Freydont
is the author of several mystery series, including the Newport Gilded Age Mysteries (beginning with
A Gilded Grave
), the Celebration Bay Mysteries, and the mysteries featuring Lindy Haggerty and Katie McDonald. She is also the author of several novels under the name Shelley Noble, and her books have been translated into eleven languages. Visit her online at
shelleyfreydont.com.

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