Masquerade (56 page)

Five Points, the area where the Scarpellis live, at one time was a neighborhood for the middle class. But when they had water problems because of an underground spring, the area was abandoned to the poor. It was the first American slum. In 1880 there were 37,000 tenements that housed nearly 1.1 million people. More than 100,000 lived in rear apartments unfit for human habitation. “In a room not thirteen feet either way slept twelve men and women, two or three in bunks set in a sort of alcove, the rest on the floor.” (
How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York
, by Jacob August Riis). Most people worked more than twelve hours a day, and there were thousands of homeless children on the streets. In the summer months three to four babies would suffocate in the airless tenements every night. Mulberry Bend was one of the worst stretches in the slums, and in 1896 it was demolished to be turned into Columbus Park. Chinatown and Little Italy encroached, as did federal buildings to the south.

The character of Anders Svensson is inspired by Jacob Riis, a photojournalist who used his talents to elicit social change in the slums. In his book mentioned in the previous paragraph, he said, “One half of the world has no idea how the other half lives.” In this book you can see his photographs of the dead horse and the children, the grandfather baby-sitting a child on the ground, and the back tenements as I describe in
Masquerade
.

In Chapter 10, Lottie is upset when she gets horse dung on her shoes. She was used to having crossing sweepers in England, who kept the manure off the streets so women wouldn’t soil their gowns. Sounds like a good idea.

In Chapter 10, Mrs. Tremaine mentions Thorley’s House of Flowers. This was a real store that catered to the rich. They were the first to use the long white box full of long-stemmed flowers packed in tissue. The exterior of their building was also an attraction, as it was decorated top to bottom with plants and flowers.

The New York social season was divided into two main seasons: winter and summer. The winter season began November 15 with the opera season and included debutante coming-out receptions in December, and then balls and other society parties after Christmas. During Lent there were quieter get-togethers and charity functions. In spring there were a flurry of weddings before people went to their summer residences in Newport and the Adirondacks, which each had their own distinct social calendar of events.

In Chapter 12, Lottie and the Scarpellis attend mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 263 Mulberry Street. This is
not
the massive St. Patrick’s (built in 1879) most people know about in New York City. The older church was called “St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral” or “Old St. Patrick’s.” Old St. Patrick’s was used in two
Godfather
movies. It was the setting for the baptism scene in
The Godfather
, and also a scene where Michael Corleone receives an honor in
The Godfather, Part III.

Marble Collegiate Church, where Lottie takes refuge in Chapter 11, still stands on the corner of Fifth Avenue at Twenty-ninth.The church bell has tolled at the death of every president since Martin Van Buren in 1862. Norman Vincent Peale was their pastor for fifty-two years.

Appearing in Chapter 12, Ward McAllister was a social advisor to the elite of New York City during the Gilded Age. He created the phrase “the Four Hundred.” He declared this to be the number of people in NYC that mattered. He is quoted as saying, “If you go outside that number you strike people who are either not at ease in a ballroom or else make other people not at ease.” His patroness was Mrs. William Astor, and he helped her become queen of New York society. He was largely responsible for making Newport, Rhode Island, a vacation mecca for the rich. His downfall came when he published his memoirs:
Society as I Have Found It.
The old rich didn’t like their privacy invaded, and he died in disgrace while dining alone at the Union Club in 1895.

The Ladies’ Mile stretched from Ninth to Twenty-third on Broadway and was
the
place to window-shop, and see and be seen. Men were not used to buying their clothes in a department store, so to entice them and allow them a quick job of shopping, many stores placed the men’s departments on the first floor. Stores also catered to women by offering customization of clothing and accessories, changing colors and trim to please the customer. The clothing Conrad purchased for Charlotte is outfits from an actual 1886 Bloomingdale’s catalog.

Mentioned during Charlotte’s shopping spree, “Congo” and “Palestine” are colors that came into being in 1883 and have since been declared obsolete and even replaced by “a rich burnished coppery gold” and “a pink mauve” in the
Dictionary of Colours
issued by the British Colour Council. Who knew there was such a thing!