Bradley-Martin Ball

The Bradley-Martin Ball was a lavish costume ball at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City on the night of February 10, 1897. Cornelia Bradley-Martin organized the ball, with the intention of making it "the greatest party in the history of the city". Eight hundred socialites spent about $400,000 imitating kings and queens. Bradley-Martin's stated intention was to create an economic stimulus for New York City, which was at the end of the Long Depression which began in 1873 and included the Panic of 1893. The Bradley-Martins spent approximately $9.7 million in today's money to throw the ball. Across the country, preachers and editorial writers argued over the propriety of a party that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the end, the ball was a social triumph but created negative publicity.

In the three weeks leading up to it, New York society made the ball its one topic of discussion. The Commercial Advertiser exclaimed: "There is a great stir today in fashionable circles and even in public circles. The cause of it all is the Bradley Martin ball, beside which the arbitration treaty, the Cuban question, and the Lexow investigation seem to have become secondary matters of public interest." The Bradley-Martins drew fire from all directions, as newspapers criticized its extravagance and during their sermons, clergymen urged their congregations not to attend. One clergyman denounced the ball by saying: "You rich people put next to nothing in the collection plate, and yet you’ll spend thousands of dollars on Mrs. Bradley-Martin’s ball”. The guests included: Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor, known simply as Mrs. Astor, costumed as Mary, Queen of Scots, her son John Jacob Astor as Henry IV of France and his wife as Marie Antoinette , James L. Breese as the Duke of Guise, John Pierpont Morgan, Charles Childs as Lady Teazle, Hermann Oelrichs as a Dutch Bergomaster, Charles Post as Madame de Maintenon, Stanford White in a Court costume of black velvet and white satin, the artist Adolfo Müller-Ury as a Spanish toreador, Pierpont Morgan as Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and Hamilton Fish Webster as Maria Theresa of Austria.

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