"The Upper Crust: An Informal History Of New York's Highest Society" 1970 CHURCHILL, Allen (SOLD)

"The Upper Crust: An Informal History Of New York's Highest Society" 1970 CHURCHILL, Allen (SOLD)CHURCHILL, Allen [290] pp. Prentice Hall, Inc. 1970 12 1 4" x 9 1 4" VG VG Scroll Down for (10) Additional Scans: In this gossipy, name filled and lavishly illustrated volume, Allen Churchill chronicles the families, fads, and fortunes that made New York, New York what it was. From the days of the English governors one of whom used to wear his wife's dresses to underscore his resemblance to Queen Anne New York's High Society has been an inexhaustible

CHURCHILL, Allen

[290] pp.

Prentice-Hall, Inc.

1970

12 1/4" x 9 1/4"

VG/ VG

Scroll Down for (10) Additional Scans:

In this gossipy, name-filled and lavishly illustrated volume, Allen Churchill chronicles the families, fads, and fortunes that made New York, New York what it was. From the days of the English governors--one of whom used to wear his wife's dresses to underscore his resemblance to Queen Anne--New York's High Society has been an inexhaustible fount of glamour and fascination. Included in this impertinent potpourri are the mansions of Millionaire's Row (one, on the corner of Fifty-second Street, cost three million [1880s] dollars); the "Bouncers" and "Shoddies" who assaulted Gotham Society with cash as their sole weapon; the origin of "The Four Hundred", how Manhattan reacted to two Princes of Wales; The Bradley Martin Ball, which nearly started a riot; the Vanderbilt-Marlborough wedding which was denounced by the press, and much, much more. In every era, Churchill examines the awesome and often eccentric personalities that made Manhattan's blood run blue: James Cordon Bennett, who was horsewhipped by his fiancée's brother and had to leave the country; "Commodore" Vanderbilt, the first of the great dynasty founders; Caroline Astor (THE Mrs. Astor); the rapacious Jay Gould; Ward McAllister, whose decline from social grace brought the public's scorn down on an entire era of brittle, gilded life. Finally, Churchill examines the rush for the celebrity-ridden wilds of Café Society that "killed" High Society, and details some of its more astonishing death-throes. But even if Society is dead, this book--always informative, often hilarious, usually indiscreet, and illustrated with over two hundred old prints and photographs--should stand as its definitive epitaph.