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The Edwardian Debutante: How Women Entered Society Before the Great War
Edwardian Promenade ^ | 12-05-2013 | Camille Hadley Jones

Posted on 04/09/2017 1:14:10 PM PDT by NRx

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For those with an interest in history and the arcane customs of a world now long gone.
1 posted on 04/09/2017 1:14:10 PM PDT by NRx
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To: NRx
There was a throwback to the bal blanc in the movie Jezebel, where Bette Davis' scandal was wearing a red dress, and Henry Fonda forced her to engage in one dance before leaving.
2 posted on 04/09/2017 1:26:29 PM PDT by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: NRx

“When I met you in the restaurant you could tell I was no debutante”


3 posted on 04/09/2017 1:26:53 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: ifinnegan

Blondie! :-)


4 posted on 04/09/2017 1:31:00 PM PDT by WXRGina (Repeal and DON'T replace!)
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To: NRx
The lead photo is NOT, repeat, NOT a debutante!

That is the actress and pinup girl Evelyn Nesbit, who wound up in a messy love triangle that culminated with Harry Thaw (her husband) shooting architect Stanford White dead at the Roof Garden cabaret in NYC.

"Stanny White died, but my fate was worse. I lived."

- Evelyn Nesbit Thaw

5 posted on 04/09/2017 1:34:43 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
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To: AnAmericanMother

I noticed only the polar bear’s toothy grin.


6 posted on 04/09/2017 1:38:57 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("I prefer to think of myself as ... civilized." ~Jonathan Q. Higgins)
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To: NRx

I really like this stuff, and I enjoyed the article.

That being said, it glosses over much of society in a way which (I feel) feeds into the Leftwing meme of “oppressed women”.

Most women worked. Most women had jobs. Factory girl, milk maid, parlor maid, whatever. The idea that being a debutante and then a “wife” was your sole career option is just ridiculous.

Very few women were ever debutantes. Most women had ordinary lives. The trope that women were oppressed and forced into extremely constricting roles by a patriarchal society is an error.


7 posted on 04/09/2017 1:41:09 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Abortion is what slavery was: immoral but not illegal. Not yet.)
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To: AnAmericanMother

Yes,I knew that picture looked familiar.


8 posted on 04/09/2017 1:43:14 PM PDT by Dr. Ursus
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To: NRx
Interesting article. Thank you.

Nowadays "Coming Out" means something entirely different.

9 posted on 04/09/2017 1:44:28 PM PDT by Churchillspirit (9/11/2001 and 9/11/2012: NEVER FORGET.)
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To: NRx
Thanks for posting. Very interesting. You can just see them at the ball. Kind of like the Titanic scenes. Those days are gone.

Wonder what the hard core feminazis think of this?

10 posted on 04/09/2017 1:45:17 PM PDT by Art in Idaho (Conservatism is the only Hope for Western Civilization.)
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To: NRx

"Ware dem debyootants be at?"

11 posted on 04/09/2017 1:46:59 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: NRx

I enjoyed this article and hope you post more! I like reading about those times, and all strata of society. From Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life as a pioneer’s daughter to the life of the American aristocrats. It is interesting thought that from lower to upper levels, it was understood that honorable young men and women obeyed societies rules. I think our society was much safer and more stable as a result.


12 posted on 04/09/2017 1:53:27 PM PDT by boxlunch (Pray for Donald Trump and his administration! Disband the DMC! (Democrat Media Complex).)
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To: ifinnegan

Blondie. Great song.
Hurry up

Hurry up

Hurry up and wait


13 posted on 04/09/2017 1:57:01 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: boxlunch

I was doing some family history stuff, I noticed that women married between 16 and 18, in more civilized times.


14 posted on 04/09/2017 2:01:49 PM PDT by Little Bill (VN 65 - 68)
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To: Tax-chick

LOL. She had a very distinctive face, and she was “the” girl at the turn of the previous century. Charles Dana Gibson based the “Gibson Girl” on her.


15 posted on 04/09/2017 2:02:59 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
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To: AnAmericanMother
Exactly and I'm so very glad that I decided to read the posts, before I posted the same thing.

Have you read the books about her (THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING and AMERICAN EVE and PRODIGAL DAYS:THE UNTOLD STORY OF EVELYN NESBIT ) and/or have you seen the movie ( THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING ), with a very young Joan Collins?

16 posted on 04/09/2017 2:07:10 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: ClearCase_guy

Agreed.

Though they hint at American style with the chaperone discussion. However, I for one think chaperones are a good idea - unless you’re over 18, maybe.

Women - and children - had to work, in some way. Only the wealthy generally didn’t work a “job”, getting $, or even tending to back-breaking details of homemaking.


17 posted on 04/09/2017 2:08:13 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
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To: boxlunch

Well..........to some extent you are correct; however, there was a LOT of sub rosa goings on. I don’t want to go OT and ruin this delightful thread, so send me a FRmail, if you’d like a book list that would enlighten you to some of the tawdry/under the radar stuff and some books that deal with the more “normal” and benign stuff. :-)


18 posted on 04/09/2017 2:12:35 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: NRx

When I first started teaching in the late 60s and early 70s in the South, I found that some of my female students (age 18+) talked about their debutante balls and coming out parties. I don’t know if that is still common. But in the Hispanic community the quinceañera is similar. Cubans in Miami make a big deal out of it and try to outdo one another with how lavish they are.


19 posted on 04/09/2017 2:13:35 PM PDT by DeFault User
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To: AnAmericanMother

IIRC,the movie, “Ragtime”, was about the Thaw - Nesbitt story — loosely, I expect. Very interesting, in any case.


20 posted on 04/09/2017 2:14:16 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam ("If we cannot control our tempers, what has grace done for us?" Charles Spurgeon)
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