Winter was ball season in Gilded Age, New York, and as gilded ladies and gilded gentlemen readied their finest gowns and gloves,

for yet another night on the town, more invitations would roll in to exclusive glittering gala.

We've talked about so many of the most famous grand balls in past episodes, Alva Vanderbilt's 1883 ball, Mrs. Astor's

annual opera ball. But if you remember, there was one that topped them all. The great

costume ball thrown by Bradley and Cornelia Martin on February 10, 1897 at the Waldorf Hotel.

We have just passed the 128th anniversary of the ball,

and to celebrate, we are posting an encore presentation of my show with Rick Hutto,

the Bradley Martin Ball 1897, the Gilded Ages grandest party. And my guest should know,

his family is descended from Bradley and Cornelia Martin themselves.

So pour a glass of champagne,

and do enjoy this trip back in time to the ball.

Music Hello, I'm Carl Raymond, the host of the Gilded Gentleman History podcast, where we journey into corners light and dark of America's

Gilded Age, France's Belle-Ipac and England's late Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Caroline Astor didn't like being jostled, but jostled she was.

Sitting in her carriage, encrusted in diamonds, swathed in velvet and fur, and likely

accompanied by her son and daughter-in-law, she looked out onto Fifth Avenue as they approached

34th Street. Even for the Mrs. Astor, this was quite an event. Never before in her reign as Society Queen had she ever

attended a ball not given in a private home. The streets had become filled with other

carriages slowly proceeding along as they traveled down the avenue. They were about to join the

line in front of the Waldorf Hotel, but now

they were at a near standstill. It was the night of February 10, 1897, and New York's often

brutal winter season had delivered a snowy, stormy night, which didn't help clear the carriage

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