The Gilded Gentleman

Butlers, it seems, know everything. They are privy to the goings-on above and below stairs, and, of course, they keep it  - mostly  - to themselves. Agnes van Rhijn's very British butler Bannister has become a show favorite as he manages the downstairs staff and to a certain degree life above stairs as well. Simon Jones, who plays the role of Bannister, is a veteran actor with an astonishingly impressive list of credits from stage, film and television. Jones has played roles in such productions as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Brideshead Revisited and Downton Abbey.  His past co-stars include Sir Laurence Olivier, Dame Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury, Lauren Bacall, among so many others.In this special episode, Simon Jones sits with Carl to talk about those roles, and of course that of Bannister on The Gilded Age.  This interview first ran in December of 2023.

One of the most anxiously followed storylines in HBO's "The Gilded Age" has been the love story between Oscar van Rhijn and John Adams. Adams (Claybourne Elder), who was born into a prestigious New York family as the descendant of a Founding Father, became a fan favorite as the couple navigated their complex relationship out of society's glaring view. Following the dramatic events of Season 3, actor Claybourne Elder joins The Gilded Gentleman, along with Greg Young of the Bowery Boys Podcast, to discuss his role and character, what filming the series was like and what the life of a gay man in the Gilded Age might have been like. 

Ever since the premiere episode of HBO's "The Gilded Age", viewers and historians have discussed just how close the fictitious character of Bertha Russell (played by Carrie Coon) may be to the real-life socialite steamroller Alva Vanderbilt.  There certainly seems to be similarities from Bertha and Alva's mutual unrelenting drive to claw a place in society - and then there was, after all, the fact that both women married their daughters off to British dukes. The Gilded Gentleman takes a look at Alva's own story -- we have so far, been given little of Bertha's -- in an attempt to understand just why she made the choices and had the attitudes to social structure that she did.  Alva Vanderbilt was complex, complicated, conflicted and endlessly fascinating as she navigated her life from a loveless marriage to a new role as a divorced woman and suffragette. Join us for this look at Alva's early life to see how it all began. An earlier version of this show ran in early 2022.

We all have our favorite characters on HBO's "The Gilded Age," and one fan favorite is certainly the maid-turned-social climber, the former Enid Turner -- now Mrs. Joshua Winterton. It's hard to forget her great entrance in Season 2 when she arrives on the arm of her much older (and very wealthy) husband to Bertha's jaw dropping disbelief.  Actor Kelley Curran, who plays the role of Mrs. Winterton, joins The Gilded Gentleman to talk about how she created the role of Enid, what her backstory likely could be, and what it was like filming some of Enid's most dramatic scenes. This episode was edited by Kieran Gannon.

Some called him the Gilded Age's biggest snob. Others thought he was a genius of social protocol and maneuvering through aristocratic circles.  Most famously, he acted as Mrs. Astor's right hand in sorting, selecting and assembling a group of New York's elite he was credited (erroneously) as naming "the 400".  Nonetheless his influence on who got in and who stayed out was significant - but just exactly who was HE?  Join Carl for this in-depth look at just who Ward McAllister (played by Nathan Lane in HBO's "The Gilded Age") was and how he climbed the social ladder - and most of all, how he committed one of Gilded Age society's greatest sins - he wrote a book and told all. Listen to other Gilded Gentleman shows tied to the HBO series including Black Newport, Playing Mamie Fish, Consuelo Vanderbilt and the Gilded Age’s Million Dollar Princesses and The Real Mrs. Astor. And listen to the Bowery Boys Podcast's Tom Meyers on the Official Gilded Age Podcast

Newport, Rhode Island has been an important center for the evolution of America's African heritage community. -- from its earliest days of the 18th century slave trade to the late 19th century years of the Gilded Age, Viewers of HBO Max's The Gilded Age follow the character of Peggy Scott and her family to Newport and into the center of its wealthy, thriving Black community in the late 19th century. Joining The Gilded Gentleman to trace this extraordinary history of Newport's African heritage community is Rhode Island's historian laureate Keith Stokes. Keith is a 9th generation Newporter and is descended from many of the major players that were trailblazers in civic government, education, medicine and science during Newport's Gilded Age.  The stories of the Astor and Vanderbilt families along with many others of the New York elite is only part of the story of Newport and its pivotal role in American history.  This episode hopes to reveal another.For more Gilded Age adventures, listen to the Gilded Gentleman podcast and the Bowery Boys podcast. You can also find Tom Meyers on the Official Gilded Age Podcast. This episode was edited by Keiran Gannon. 

The divine Mamie Fish, the eagle-eyed, sharp tongued social arbiter that regularly appears in the HBO series The Gilded Age, was indeed a real Gilded Age socialite,known for her incisive wit and no-nonsense comments on the glittering world around her.  In this encore episode, Carl sits down with actor Ashlie Atkinson who plays Mamie in the series and listener favorite historian Keith Taillon to talk about the real Mamie Fish and both what the real and fictional Mamie are really like. Visit the website for more information and subscribe to the Gilded Gentleman podcast for more amazing stories of the Gilded Age.This episode was produced and edited by Kieran Gannon.

During the late 19th century, nearly 200 wealthy young American women were caught up in marriages with members of British and European nobility. The goal was to secure aristocratic titles that would create a solid social position for the American family wishing to climb through the snobbery of Gilded Age society. The European gentlemen, meanwhile, wanted the American funds to shore up crumbling wealth and in some cases quite literally repair the ancestral estate.   But many of these forced marriages ended in sadness, divorce or even tragedy although some grew into true love matches.  Join Carl for this ENCORE episode as he unravels the social politics of some of the most famous Gilded Age Million Dollar Princesses including the model for The Gilded Age's Gladys Russell herself - Consuelo Vanderbilt who became the Duchess of Marlborough with her marriage to the Duke. .

Are you as bewitched and bedazzled with this season of HBO's The Gilded Age as we are? And have you been curious about how all the magic we see unfold in front of the camera actually happens?  Creative Producer Luke Harlan joins Carl for a look from the other side of the camera to explore how The Gilded Age is actually shaped, filmed and edited.  How is the script developed? How is a typical scene filmed? What is it like shooting scenes in those Newport mansions?  How do actors prepare for their roles?  Luke and Carl discuss all this and much more.Don't miss this unique look at the world of The Gilded Age from the other side of the camera. 

The Gilded Gentleman looks at one of the most legendary figures of the Gilded Age – Caroline Astor, or the Mrs Astor, the ruler and creator of New York’s high society in the early 1870s. Is she anything like the depiction on HBO's The Gilded Age?In collaboration with Southern social climber Ward McAllister, Mrs. Astor essentially created the rules for who was ‘acceptable’ in New York social circles.But she’s also known for her battles with family members — most notably with her nephew (and next door neighbor) William Waldorf Astor. What was behind her unusual motivations? And in what unusual way did she decide to cap her legacy at the end of her life?Carl is joined by Tom Miller, creator of the website Daytonian in Manhattan, documenting the history of New York City, one building at a time. This is a rerun of one of Carl's first episodes of the Gilded Gentleman, re-edited and re-mastered to honor her latest appearance on television.Visit the Bowery Boys website for more information and articles about New York City history.

The Gilded Age was by no means simply an East Coast phenomenon. Wealth, position and social structure evolved across the country as railroads and improved technology pushed the country west. Denver, Colorado, grew from a "tavern town" at the foothills of the Rockies to an important Western center for commerce and society. Social Denver was largely ruled by the Southern-born Louise Sneed Hill whose very different and modern vision for how society could work paved a path for much more -- including new and more modern roles for women. Author Shelby Carr Neuhauser joins Carl for the fascinating look into a true Western woman of the Gilded Age.This episode was edited by Kieran Gannon. 

The life of Frederick Douglass, the great 19th century statesman, orator, writer and abolitionist, is a triumphantly American story.He was born into slavery in the early years of the 19th century and died at the very height of the Gilded Age. His tremendous talents as a leader brought him out of slavery and into the heart of the Gilded Age as a player in the political worlds of Lincoln,  Grant and Hayes.Joining Carl on this episode is scholar and author Connor Williams who traces Douglass's life from his early years in enslavement through his emancipation and travel in and outside America and his role as an abolitionist and supporter of women's suffrage.This episode was edited and produced by Kieran Gannon.Connor has also appeared on the Gilded Gentleman podcast The Adirondacks and Great Camp Sagamore: Retreating to Nature in the Gilded Age

Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Stephanie Herdrich joins Carl for an in-depth look at how the career and personal life of Gilded Age artist John Singer Sargent evolved over his ten-year period in Paris from the 1870's to the mid 1880's.  Sargent is the subject of a major new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that focuses on this period beginning in his late adolescent years and leading up to the creation of his masterpiece -  the grand, imposing and scandalous portrait of Virginie Gautreau, known as  "Madame X". Stephanie discusses some of Sargent's greatest works during this period, as well as some of his most important professional and personal relationships, all of which contributed to a boundary breaking artistic vision. This show was edted by Kieran Gannon.

The Irish-born Augustus Saint-Gaudens came to this country as a small child and over the course of his career and life, reaching into the early years of the 20th century, became an artist that truly defined a look for America in sculpture.  His extraordinary natural talent grew into a master artist who was able to create lifelike depictions in marble and bronze that brought a realism never before seen in American sculpture. Saint-Gauden's style combines realistic imagery, allegory and architectural elements to create unique and very modern experiences for viewers. He's perhaps best known for his monumental casts of Civil War heroes from Admiral Daniel Farragut, General William Tecumseh Sherman and President Abraham Lincoln.Joining The Gilded Gentleman for this episode is Thayer Tolles, the Marica F. Vilcek Curator of American Painting and Sculpture at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Thayer is a noted historian, writer and specialist in Saint-Gaudens life and work. This episode offers a full view of Saint-Gaudens extraordinary life and a detailed look at some of his most famous works. Listeners can also visit the Saint Gaudens National Historical Park in Cornish, New Hampshire. 

With the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Gala on the first Monday of May and the new exhibition on John Singer Sargent and Paris, there is most definitely fashion in the air.  In this ENCORE episode with listener favorite Dr. Elizabeth L. Block we delve into the stories of some of the most important designers and couture houses of Belle Epoque Paris. This episode was based on Liz's first book, "Dressing Up: How American Women Influenced French Fashion". Don't miss LIz's news book "Beyond Vanity: The Power and History of Hairdressing" and our accompanying episode.

During the 19th century and culminating in America's Gilded Age, the public's deep fascination for all things Egypt led to "Egyptomania," a craze which affected design, style and cultural and social thought. As a result of wave of exploration and discovery, predominantly by French, English and American parties, the world gained a view into one of the world's most ancient cultures. Architecture, fashion and interior design were all influenced by the passion for this emerging ancient culture. In this show, Carl is joined by scholars and Egpytologists Dr. John Darnell and Dr. Colleen Darnell to delve into not only how an understanding of ancient Egypt was evolving during the 19th century but its social and cultural impact. Visit the Gilded Gentleman website for a list of all showsFollow Carl on one of his walking tours! Find out more information at Bowery Boys Walks

This week The Frick Collection will reopen its doors to the public after a renovation and restoration of nearly five years and a cost of $220 million dollars. Visitors will again see the elegant Beaux Arts mansion once occupied by Gilded Age industrialist Henry Clay Frick and his wife and daughter. They will also see the priceless collection of masterworks of art from the Renaissance through the 19th century, much of acquired by Frick himself. In this episode, a companion show to the Bowery Boys "House of Beauty: The Story of the Frick Collection", Carl talks with managing educator Caitlin Henningsen about her work researching the domestic staff who worked in the mansion, just who they were and what their roles in the household were. They also speak about how Frick thought about blending art with domestic space in several of his homes and what he wanted to achieve with this mansion before it became a museum after his death in 1919.  Caitlin and Carl also discuss, thanks to extraordinary archival records,  how the Fricks entertained in a grand Gilded Age style in the very dining room visitors see today.   Find PART ONE over at the Bowery Boys podcast House of Beauty: The Story of the Frick Collection

Between the late 1890s and early 1920s, over 2 million Jews from Eastern Europe made the long, arduous and unsettling journey to America to escape persecution and violence in their native countries. Many of these Jews were fleeing Russia, where a state sanctioned antisemitism forced many to escape for their lives.  This mass immigration was, in large part, the result of the efforts of three entrepreneurial men whose efforts insured escape for tens of thousands. -- Albert Ballin, the director of the Hamburg-America line; Jacob Schiff, the German born New York based philanthropist and financier; and the Gilded Age financial titan J.P Morgan, all insured methods of escape that would otherwise not have been possible.  So much of this story has not been told until now and it is through the research and writing of historian Steven Ujifusa that has finally brought the full story to light.  Steve joins The Gilded Gentleman table in this episode to discuss what exactly happened, the enormous difference Ballin, Schiff and Morgan all made in helping so many to escare. In addition, Steve shares his own story as well and how he was able to uncover little-known material to tell the larger story. 

New York's NoHo neighborhood, wedged between Greenwich Village and the East Village, holds the stories of many people and places that then went on to become deeply associated with the Gilded Age.  The Astor family began their dynasty here in both investment and real estate as did the well known Dutch-American merchant family the Schermerhorns.  Caroline Schermerhone who went on to become the famed Mrs. Astor grew up right here on Bond St along with many members of her family.  NoHo today still contains many remnants of its early 19th century glamorous past as well as sites where the tensions between the wealthy residents of the Lafayette Place neighborhood classed with the growing immigrant population just one street away on the Bowery. Master Bowery Boys Walks tour guide Aaron Schielke joins Carl for a look at this fascinating neighborhood which includes stories of the rich and famous as well as the macabre details of a dramatic and grisly 19th century murder that took place on Bond St in the heart of NOHO that remains unsolved to this day. 

Belle da Costa Greene is a truly unique historical figure. As the librarian of Gilded Age financier J.P Morgan's extraordinary personal collection of rare books, manuscripts and historical objects,  Greene was one of the most visible and formidable players in the art world of the early 20th century.  She sourced precious objects from major galleries and at auction not only in New York, but also throughout Europe with her deep expertise and drive.  As Belle competed regularly against other major collectors in this male dominated world and was covered regularly by the press, although much of her own personal story remained unknown or the subject of speculation. Belle was born into an affluent African-American family in Washington DC but upon moving North with her mother, she passed for white. With new research and curatorial insight, even more is now known about this exceptional woman and her role in creating one of the world's most important libraries and museum collections.   Carl is joined by Morgan Library and Museum curator Philip Palmer to discuss and delve into the world and life of Belle Da Costa Greene. This episode was edited by Kieran GannonVisit the Morgan Library and Museum and check out the Belle da Costa Greene exhibition (through May 4, 2025) And listen to the Bowery Boys podcast on the history of the Morgan Library and Museum