The female lead of Downton Abbey, like Winston Churchill’s mother, is a rich American heiress that has married into the British aristocracy.
Part of the attraction of the British aristocracy for rich American heiresses like those featured in “Age of Innocence”, was that the stuffy formal restrictions of the British aristocracy at the time were so much looser and freer than the restrictions of the NYC high society they were escaping..
We’re all getting old, aren’t we? When my mother attended the opera in Chicago almost a hundred years ago, she enjoyed the crowded standing area, surrounded by working-class Italians cheering for the soprano, rather more than the expensive seats my Dad took her too when he was courting.
AFAIK, in the Northeast I don’t think there’s much of a formally structured “Bridgerton”-style “high society with galas and coming out parties and whatnot. Then again, other than a few wealthy friends, relatives, and classmates I don’t really travel in the same circles as the mega-rich.
Maybe the closest thing to that is how the wealthy tend to travel in the same circles and live in the same neighborhoods. Same fancy private schools. Vacation homes in The Hamptons were mentioned. Private social clubs like the NY Athletic Club or Ivy League affiliated clubs like the Harvard Club or Cornell Club still exist. Memberships in country clubs. Stuff like that. Many of these are by invitation only or are prohibitively expensive for most people. I’ve been in some of those places for one reason or another. They tend to strike me as almost anachronistic holdovers from the turn of the last century.
I thought it still existed in the higher-class parts of the south (Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas).
I’ve had occasion to go to The Country Club for curling events. Rumor is that they turned Tom Brady down for membership because he’s new money.
Metropolitan is an excellent and funny (IMO) film from 1990 about debutante season in Manhattan. Perhaps such things have changed in the past few decades. I wouldn’t know.
I liked that along with Whit Stillman’s other films.
You can relax! Brady and Giselle were finally admitted after 2 years. What I read was they turned them down not so much for being “new money” as fears their high profile nature might bring attention to the club.
That does beg the question though about what constitutes “high society” in this day and age. Apparently there are a lot of very exclusive golf clubs that even the very rich have a hard time getting into. There are obviously still networks of highly influential and wealthy people and families that attend all sorts of exclusive social events. I would imagine it’s a lot more subdued than the conspicuous opulence of the Gilded Age. Perhaps more like Billions or Succession.
Your linked caused me to go down a rabbit hole that led here…
I was the Houseboy at a sorority at Berkeley back in the 70’s. Went to several debutante balls in San Francisco as a “safe date.” All those folks are still around, they’re just very discrete.
As a kid, I remember reading books that mentioned debutante balls, but it never occurred to me to expect one, nor did I know anyone who had one. I suppose I mentally consigned them to the “olden days” since I know even my mom didn’t have one.
After Jeff Bezos bought a $37.5 million waterfront estate in Seattle in 2019, he purchased 3 nearby homes to house his “staff”, so apparently the servant thing is still going on, though Bezos has been accused of not treating some well.
I’m descended from shtetl trash, so being on the Dope is a way to hang out with my betters.
Where are you that there’s only one country club?
Back when it was founded, it pretty much was the only country club in thr country, for golf, at least. Ever heard of Francis Ouimet, an amateur who stunned the golf world by winning the U. S. Open in 1913, or the 1999 Ryder Cup, when the U.S. team staged a huge comeback to beat the Europeans? Those were both at The Country Club.
I’m a little conflicted whenever I go there. It was probably a haven of snobbish exclusivity back in the day, although everyone I’ve met there has been great. I’m only ever there in the winter, though.
Thank you for the clue. For anyone else wondering, @Robot_Arm is apparently referring to a Brookline Massachusetts place called “The Country Club.” Not the least bit confusing to continue with that name.
sorry, “discrete” means ‘individual’, I think you meant “discreet”
TIL! Thanks, I never realized there were two of them, despite having seen them in context forever. Brains are shit sometimes!