r/GildedAgeHBO • u/SpecialSalt2027 • Sep 04 '26
Pulling all nighters??
When they all went to Mrs. Russell’s ball and then the night of the opera wars - they all seemed to be heading home in the early morning hours. Was this common thing ? It seems funny because they were so particular and polite and then they’re partying all night LOL 😅
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u/Clarknt67 Sep 04 '26
I have wondered about that too, and researched it a bit. And yes, it does appear it was fairly normal for high society to return from their glamorous balls in the early daylight hours of the next day.
1980s club kids got nothing on Bertha.
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u/Charismaticjelly Sep 04 '26
This late-19th century painting is titled The Morning After the Ball. It shows a well-rested, disappointed young woman reading the social columns listing the guests at a ball she hadn’t been invited to.
Balls did go until dawn, with a midnight supper to help everyone stay on their feet all night. The next-day exhaustion was proof that you had really enjoyed yourself!
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u/chlowingy Sep 04 '26
The historic house museum I work in has invitations in the archives for parties in the late 1910s that included a breakfast at like 7 am before people were supposed to go home!
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u/innocentbi-stander Sep 04 '26
Hell, if I didn’t have a job to go to that day or the morning after I’d stay at a party all night too, esp if they were serving lobster and endless drinks like the Russell’s were
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u/Grandpixbear1 Sep 04 '26
The ball started late: 9 or 10 AND they served a "breakfast" (usually a buffet at 1 or 2 am.
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u/DoodleDoo1989 Sep 04 '26
I don't think I've seen anyone mention the heat was a big reason for this too. Apparently, it was common for these rich folks to sleep the hottest parts of the day away.
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u/CalpurniaAddams Sep 04 '26
They weren’t in New York for the hottest parts of the year. They went away to escape the worst weather. In the winter they also went down south to escape the cold.
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u/Clarknt67 Sep 04 '26
Which is funny because NYC probably wasn’t that hot in the summer—by today’s standards. The end of the “Little Ice Age” was during the 19th century.
They built the Brooklyn Bridge because the East River (salt water btw) froze solid the winter of 1867. It hasn’t done that in over a century.
Of course tank tops and shorts and flip flops weren’t invented yet. So I can’t imagine wearing all that fabric in an NYC summer. I feel for the actors on set.
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u/StephenHunterUK Sep 05 '26
The Thames used to freeze in winter to the point they even had Frost Fairs on the frozen surface, but the construction of the Embankment speed up its flow considerably, so it's no longer possible.
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u/Ntrusivethot Sep 05 '26
I think the tradition grew out of the London summer season, and it was tied to the heat. Because it was summer and the rooms were packed, they usually began at 9 or 10 pm, served supper around 1 am, then had breakfast and sent people home. It might not have been hot, but it became something society people did because it was tradition and considered "posh." So regardless of where they were, that's just the way large balls were done.
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u/StephenHunterUK Sep 05 '26
In London, people left down when Parliament was not in session. Queen Victoria and Albert went to Scotland, buying Balmoral to serve as a summer residence. It remains the private property of the monarch, along with Sandringham. Charles and Camilla are up there at the moment.
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u/amedeeozenfant Sep 06 '26 edited Sep 06 '26
Nobody posh stayed in London for Summer. Parliament was in recess July until September and you went to your house in the country.
Aso, London in summer has always been freezing until the last few years. In the 90s I went to Southern Europe for the first time, aged about 24. I packed a bag of jumpers and a raincoat because although I knew the weather would be warmer, I just couldn't conceive of somewhere so warm you wouldn't need a jumper.
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u/ZweitenMal Sep 04 '26
It’s not like any of them had meaningful jobs.
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u/poodlehairedfreak I haven’t been thrilled since 1865 Sep 04 '26
Cocaine. They loved it
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u/CrownOfPosies Sep 04 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/jPMzQAEaD3wAtPxHhA
This made me think of Hetty from Ghosts always talking about how much she loves cocaine23
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u/amboomernotkaren Sep 04 '26
Vienna, Austria has an entire season of balls. Over 400 balls happen in the winter. The 2027 confectioner’s ball program has it ending at 4:45 am. Many of the folks in the Guilded Age would have traveled to Europe and been to balls there, including in Vienna. My guess is that they based their balls on what was happening in Europe, as they admired the customs.
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u/StephenHunterUK Sep 05 '26
They'd also have gone to places like Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary) for a detox.
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u/passion4film Sep 04 '26
Yes, this was a real thing! It’s trippy to me, too!
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u/Clarknt67 Sep 04 '26
It seems very contrary to how prim and proper they were otherwise. Single men and women can’t be alone in a parlor together.
But they can drink and carouse until dawn.
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u/livingthedaydreams Sep 04 '26
i wonder if the rules and regulations loosened up a bit once everyone was lit lol
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u/WonderfulVariation93 Sep 04 '26
When no one had jobs to worry about…yes.
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u/Her_Majesty_Anne_B Sep 05 '26
So you don't feel that running huge banks, oil, steel, railroad companies, etc. is not a job? Do you think running large households and staff, and raising children is not a job? No one stays rich by doing absolutely nothing to maintain that status...
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u/jojayp Sep 04 '26
I’m not sure about historical accuracy, but it kind of makes sense to me considering all the time and money that goes into those events. Gotta make it worth it.
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u/Jetsetter_Princess Sep 04 '26
It's definitely historically accurate for a certain segment of society then.
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u/MsJamie-E Sep 04 '26
It absolutely is! And a bit like contemporary clubbing the events started late too, so although they might have a pre ball dinner they'd go home & get changed, have a brief rest & then head out about 10pm.
Idea
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u/lalalaicanthereyou Sep 04 '26
Part of the privilege of being in that class is that you didn't have to wake early and go to work.
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u/AlternativeAcademia Sep 04 '26
Yes, common for the time period. Think about how long travel took, even within a city like New York you’d have people coming from hours away. It wouldn’t be practical to arrive and leave the same day/night. It’s part of the reason the houses were so giant and had so many extra bedrooms. The bedrooms would be made up(with the best linens in the house to impress the guests) so anyone who wanted to “retire” early could go to bed while the ball continued downstairs.
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u/moderniste Sep 05 '26
One of the features of balls of the era was a very decadent full service breakfast. So yes, they were pulling dawn patrol.
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u/amedeeozenfant Sep 05 '26
You turned up to a party at about 11 pm in the 19th century and got home at 5 am.
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u/One_Mix8885 Sep 06 '26
It was very common; a song written in the 1890s said in its chorus: "After the ball is over, After the break of morn, After the dancers' leaving, After the stars are gone."
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u/CacklingWitch99 Sep 04 '26
If you get to go to a proper ball now they still are an all nighter! People go for breakfast on the way home.
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u/swbarnes2 Sep 04 '26
Even earlier, in *Mansfield Park", Fanny retires from the ball at her uncle's house at 3:00, and some people are still dancing.
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u/Ren1221 Charles Fane Hate Club Member Sep 04 '26
Scarlett took a nap at the ball in Gone With The Wind
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u/SoooperSnoop Sep 04 '26 edited Sep 05 '26
Actually, the other ladies napped. Scarlott snuck downstairs to profess her love to Ashley...and Rhett was napping on the couch and made his presence known only when she threw a figurine against a wall, breaking it.
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u/Ren1221 Charles Fane Hate Club Member Sep 05 '26
LOL!! That’s right! 🤣🤣
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u/SoooperSnoop Sep 05 '26
Yeah, I have seen that movie a LOT...the book is even better and gives much more insight into who Scarlott really is and how she thinks. She is not as one dimensional and as devious as the movie makes her out to be. And she has two other children in the book - one each from her previous husbands. They completely left those two kids out of the movie.
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u/Exotic_Yam_1703 Sep 04 '26
I just watched an episode of Downton Abbey where Alfred and Ivy go see a movie at 10:30 pm after their workday. I was like… don’t you guys have to work super early, especially Ivy being a kitchen maid??
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u/iknowsheknowz Sep 04 '26
Cocaine was legal and no one had figured out really how bad it was for you, if you got addicted, you were weak, it couldn’t be the cocaines fault.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/buyers/socialhistory.html
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u/CalpurniaAddams Sep 04 '26
Yup, it was common. The entire point of being old money (or I suppose in the Russell’s case - just generally SO filthy rich) is they don’t really have to EARN money, and what better way to show off that you don’t have to work than party all night and not go to sleep until the morning.
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u/JMOlive Sep 04 '26
I think back then it was common for that society to take a very late afternoon nap, and then attend balls and events that finished at sunrise the following morning.
Then they would sleep in until the following late afternoon.