Tea and Infamy: Thoughts on The Gilded Age

Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

Sunday night was the season finale of season three of HBO’s The Gilded Age, and what a fitting end to an excellent season of the show. The show has had a loyal following for the first two seasons, but the audience for this season continued to grow week by week, the storylines were compelling, and the show finally became Must-See TV. And the season finale had it all: proposals, glamorous balls, break-ups, genteel catfights, and danger. The stakes were high in this episode. The show added ‘Train Daddy’ and ‘Clock Twink’ to the lexicon. I’m still waiting for my The Gilded Age companion book (call me Julian Fellowes!) and Official Gilded Age cookbook. I would love to see an exhibition of the costumes, similar to the one they did for Downton Abbey.

I confess that when I first heard that Julian Fellowes (aka Lord Fellowes) was planning a series set during The Gilded Age, I was skeptical. If Shonda Rhimes couldn’t get a show off the ground set during that era, what were the chances that Julian Fellowes would be successful, and with NBC no less? Don’t get me wrong, I was a huge Downton Abbey fan, I have all the books, seen both movies, and I even went to the exhibition in NYC a few years ago before the pandemic. A show set in America in the 19th century, written by a Brit? I had my reservations, especially when I heard that the show would feature a storyline about the black elite in New York. Downton Abbey faced criticism for its lack of diversity, and when Fellowes added a black character, it was an American jazz musician, as if those were the only black people in Britain in the 1920s.

Well, I have to eat my hat because the show has turned out better than I expected. I applaud Lord Fellowes for recognizing the need to hire a historical consultant to assist with the portrayal of the black elite. I give him even more props for hiring not one, but three black women as Executive Producers on this show (Sonja Warfield, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Erica Armstrong Dunbar). These three women, with the input of Denée Benton, who plays Peggy Scott, have contributed significantly to the success of Peggy’s storyline as well as the show as a whole.

For anyone who hasn’t watched the show, The Gilded Age features three families: the Russells, who are new money; the Van Rhijns, who are an old New York family; and the Scotts, a black family living in Brooklyn. The main thrust of the first season was on Bertha Russell's efforts to break into New York society, despite being shunned for being new money. The character of Bertha is based on Alva Vanderbilt (later Belmont) and her struggles to become a leader in New York society. Season Three upped the stakes by focusing not only on George’s financial struggles but also on Bertha’s desire to see her only daughter married to the Duke of Buckingham. Peggy Scott meets the handsome Dr. Kirkland at her worst moment, when she’s sick with the flu, and Marian and Larry (who it’s clear were going to be endgame from episode one) finally get engaged.

I have been a massive fan from episode one. I only subscribe to HBO or Max when a new season of a show drops. Once the season is over, I cancel my subscription until the next season! After every episode, I listen to The Gilded Age podcast with Alicia Malone and Tom Meyers of The Bowery Boys to learn what is fact and what is fiction on the show. Even though I’m a native New Yorker and a massive history geek, I’ve learned a lot about my city that I didn’t know before the show. But even though I’m a huge fan, I still have thoughts, questions, and reservations about the show.

My biggest issue, and this has more to do with HBO, is that I wish the show had more episodes per season, ten instead of eight. Julian Fellowes is playing on a much bigger canvas than he was with Downton Abbey, with the Van Rhijn household and servants, the Russells household and servants, and the myriad supporting characters such as Mrs. Astor, Aurora Fane, Mrs. Winterton, and this season, Black Newport. Additional episodes would allow some breathing room for the plots. I would also love to see a Christmas episode or an episode where Bertha and Gladys go to Paris to visit Monsieur Worth and his atelier. I mean, if Bertha can afford to hire Stanford White to build her mansion on Fifth Avenue, she’s wearing Worth gowns. I’d also like to see the show be a little more Edith Wharton or Henry James and a little less Dynasty in the 19th century, although I do love the gorgeous gowns.

While the Gilded Age was a time of great wealth, it was also a time of great poverty. New York City saw a massive wave of immigration from southern and eastern Europe during this period. Marian mentioned working at a settlement house teaching English, but we only saw a brief glimpse when Larry showed up to confront her about her ‘Dear Larry’ letter that she left for him. I want the show to depict her working; perhaps there is a particular young woman she becomes close to, and she becomes too involved in the family's life. Maybe she could involve Peggy by asking her to write an article about working conditions in a factory.

This article brings up another point: where are the Jews? https://jwa.org/blog/risingvoices/where-are-jews-look-gilded-age

What is this show going to do with the character of Jack now that he has some money? Are they writing him off? Will he continue to work on inventions, maybe something to help Larry with the mines in Arizona? What is the plan for him? There was an inkling in the finale that he and Bridget, the Van Rhijns’ maid, might be romantically involved, but he’s now in a different social class than her. I fear that Jack is going to end up like Tom Branson, on Downton Abbey, a character whose potential (in my opinion) was wasted by the show.

I rewatched the pilot episode of the series last night to refresh my memory. The Russells have only been in New York for three years before the show starts. Where were they before that? This season, we finally got to meet Bertha’s sister (who is mentioned in the pilot episode), but she came to the wedding of Gladys and the Duke and was gone by the next episode. The show missed a real opportunity to delve into Bertha’s history. I understand the reason the show broke up George and Bertha (hopefully temporarily), but I don’t think it was earned. I’ve mentioned that Bertha is patterned after Alva Vanderbilt, who divorced William Kissam Vanderbilt and married Oliver Belmont. George Russell is not a weak man; he promised Gladys that she wouldn’t have to marry a man she didn’t love, but he went back on his word. It would make sense for Gladys to be upset with her father. George could have put his foot down at any time.

Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt were divorced by the time their daughter, Consuelo Vanderbilt, marched reluctantly down the aisle to marry the Duke of Marlborough, and he was an absent father at best. George is a very different animal. He may be ruthless in business, but he is a loving father. It would have made more sense for George to block the marriage to Hector, the Duke of Buckingham, leaving Bertha feeling embarrassed and humiliated that her grand plan failed. She could then have turned her attention to flirting with George’s business associates as he accused her of doing. Even the potential loss of George’s fortune could have been a catalyst. Now that Ward McAllister is persona non grata, now would be the time for the show to introduce Colonel William d’Alton Mann and Town Topics, which was the scandal sheet during the Gilded Age.

I know that Marian Brook has fans, but I’m not one of them. I’m sorry, but I find the character to be wishy-washy and very blah, and her relationship with Larry is just vanilla. Larry and Marian’s relationship woes seemed to come out of nowhere. One minute they were engaged, then Marian was breaking it off without even talking to Larry. Now they are at an impasse because Marian doesn’t trust him. That’s on Marian (as he pointed out) because Larry hasn’t given her a reason to doubt him other than not telling her that he was going with his friends to the Haymarket. If Larry had been a total playboy and he grew up because of his love for Marian, that would be one thing. She would have had no reason to doubt him. Sure, her father left her with no money and a lot of debt. Tom Raikes dumped her for a rich woman in the first season, and she got engaged to that guy in season two for some reason. She’s had terrible luck with men before Larry.

To me, anyway, the true heroine of The Gilded Age is Peggy Scott, not Marian Brook. I admire her ambition and convictions, that she’s making her way in the world despite her father’s objections to her pursuing a career as a writer. Peggy knows that she has few role models for her ambitions, but she’s going after them anyway. She’s been a great friend and support for Marian, and has a loving relationship with her mother, Dorothy. After two seasons of struggle and sadness, Peggy finally met a man who admired her for her mind as well as her beauty. And not only is he a doctor, but he’s single! Despite his mother’s objections to Peggy (she’s ambitious, she’s dark-skinned, her father was enslaved before the Civil War), he’s stood up for her. I’m looking forward to the wedding!

I love that this show is packed with theatre luminaries such as Kelli O’Hara, Ron Raines, Nathan Lane, Patrick Page, Andrea Martin, Laura Benanti, Michael Cerveris, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Douglas Sills, Donna Murphy, Simon Jones, and Katie Finneran, among others. With few exceptions, they’ve been used well, although I thought Laura Benanti and Andrea Martin were wasted. They could have done so much more with Larry’s relationship with Susan Blane in season two. He got over that relationship quickly!

I confess I’m not as interested in the downstairs aspect of the show as I was during Downton Abbey. I prefer the servants in the van Rhijn household simply because it’s smaller than the Russell household. I was mildly intrigued by Mr. Watson, George’s valet, played by Michael Cerveris. His backstory of once being well-to-do but losing everything and having to take a job as a valet was interesting, but I don’t care about the faux French chef and his romance with the Russells’ housekeeper. It’s too reminiscent of Carson and Mrs. Hughes. At least none of the servants on this show have been accused of murder or sexually assaulted.

I’m intrigued by Oscar van Rhijn proposing to Bertha’s nemesis, her former maid, Turner, now the widowed Mrs. Winterton, once her mourning period is over. Enid has money, and Oscar has class and social status. They both know what they are getting out of this arrangement. I look forward to seeing the look on Agnes’ face when her forty-something son tells her that he’s finally getting married. I suspect that Agnes probably knows that her son is not a ladies' man, as it were, but these things weren’t talked about openly in the 19th century.

My biggest pet peeve is that people pop up to Newport like they’re going to Brooklyn or Long Island. It took Marian and Peggy twelve hours to get from Doylestown to New York in 1882. It would have taken Larry at least six to seven hours to get from New York to Newport by train or steamship, so I doubt that people back then just popped up for a day or two. New York was just as hot and humid back then as it is now. Rich people tended to spend months in resort towns, not just a few days.

I wasn’t even sure what year it was in season three. I guessed 1884, but the show could give the audience some idea of what was going on in the world beyond the balls and parties. Looking up 1884, I discovered that there was an earthquake in New York in August 1884, the first roller coaster in America opened on Coney Island in June, there was a financial panic, and Grover Cleveland was running for President.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing what the show has in store for Season 4, and hopefully, we will get a Season 5 as well. I hope that this show runs long enough to get to the great blizzard of 1888.

Are you a fan of The Gilded Age? Spill the tea!

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Elizabeth Kerri Mahon is a native New Yorker, actress, and history geek. Pretty Evil New York: True Stories of Mobster Molls, Violent Vixens, and Murderous Matriarchs (Globe Pequot Press), her first foray into historical true crime came out in October 2021.

You can find her and more of her writing on substack at the link provided: Elizabeth Kerri Mahon | Substack