The Bradley Martins to Give a Grand Entertainment at the Waldorf

TO ECLIPSE THE BELMONT BALL. The Bradley Martins to Give a Grand Entertainment at the Waldorf. New York Times January 14, 1897

It is announced that Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Martin have engaged the entire lower floor of the Waldorf Hotel, including the two ballrooms, for a ball on the night of Feb. 10, which, it is reported, is to surpass in lavish display, and perfection of appointment any similar function ever given in New York, not excepting the fancy dress ball given by Mrs. Oliver Belmont, then Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, in the Winter of 1882-3. The Bradley Martin ball is to be a fancy dress one, and the guests, who will number about 500, will be required to appear in costumes taken from prints and fashion plates of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.

Mrs. Bradley Martin has been credited for some years with the remark that "she would some day give a ball to surpass the famous Vanderbilt function" and it now looks as if her intention was about to be realized; Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Martin's last most notable entertainment was given three or four Winters ago at Delmonico's, where upward of 300 guests were invited to the most magnificent dinner probably ever given in New York, and afterward to remain and participate in a dance, during which the most costly and beautiful favors were given out. Mrs. Bradley Martin, whose daughter married the Earl of Craven, was Miss Cornelia Sherman, the only daughter of Isaac Sherman, a banker of this city, who left her a fortune of $7,000,000. She has for some years spent most of her time with her husband, who is a member of an old Albany (N. Y.) family, on a large leased estate in Scotland, "Bal-ma-caan".  

Click HERE to view all the New York Times articles relating to the ball before and after February 10, 1897. Start at the bottom for proper time sequence. 

After The Ball

F all the social events which have made New York society famous, both for lavishness of expenditure as well as for taste, none has attracted such widespread attention as the Bradley Martin ball, but lately passed into history. For many weeks prior to the affair social circles on both sides of the Atlantic have been agog with excitement, not unmixed with speculation, as to the ultimate success of the ambitious attempt on the part of the hostess, who had declared that it was her intention to make her ball surpass anything ever given in this or any other country.

Click HERE to read the full article recapping the ball(photos) first published February 21, 1897. 

MR. JAMES L. BREEZE AS CHICOT THE JESTER

 MR. JAMES L. BREEZE AS CHICOT THE JESTER

ECHOES OF THE BALL

ECHOES OF THE BALL

Society People Still Gossiping Over
Beautiful Surroundings and Pleasant Hours While Guests of
the Bradley Martins.

END JUST BEFORE DAYLIGHT.

Mr. and Mrs. Martin Left the "Waldorf
About 6 o'clock—Getting the Guests to Their Carriages—Clearing Away the  Evidences   of   the Ball—
Some  Guests  Excited Comment on Physical Effects—
The Police Criticized.

Click HERE to read the full story from The New York Times first published February 12, 1897.

BRADLEY MARTIN BALL

BRADLEY MARTIN BALL

Not so Many Guests Attended the
Function at The Waldorf as Had Been Expected.

THE SCENE IN THE HANDSOMELY
DECKED DANCING ROOM.

Those Who Took Part in the Exhibition Dances - Some of the Guests and  Their Costumes—The Supper and Decorations.

Click HERE to read the full story from The New York Times first published February 11, 1897, the day after the great ball.


Click on the Bradley Martin Ball "Label" to read all the articles relating to this famous ball.

Mrs. Bradley Martin's Costume

Mrs. Bradley Martin as Mary Queen of Scots

Mrs. Bradley Martin's costume was a surprise to many of her guests, when, upon going to the dais in the small ballroom to greet her, they saw their hostess as Mary Queen of Scots, in a gown copied from an old painting.

THE BRADLEY MARTIN FETE

Dressing a mannequin with the Fancy Dress Costume, the Infanta Margarita after Velasquez, worn to the Bradley-Martin ball in 1897 by Kate Brice, daughter of Senator Calvin S. Brice. Designed by Jean-Philippe Worth.***Miss Kate Brice was one of a few invites from the nations capital***

THE BRADLEY MARTIN FETE

Mrs. Bradley Martin as Mary Queen of Scots - NGC

The Waldorf Yesterday Given up to the
Decorators and to Rehearsals
of the Dances.

THE SEARCH FOR HEIRLOOMS.

All Outside Windows to be Boarded
Up—All the Spare Booms Secured
by the Guests—Arrangements
to Photograph the Costumes. The New York Times February 10, 1897

To-night will end the Bradley Martin ball agony, and everybody will have a chance to breathe and rest. But it will be a grand and dazzling affair. No doubt is expressed about that.

SOME CRANK SENDS A BOMB THE BRADLEY MARTINS HAVE A DISAGREEABLE SURPRISE

SOME CRANK SENDS A BOMB
THE BRADLEY MARTINS HAVE A
DISAGREEABLE SURPRISE.
As It Was Rudely Constructed and
No Damage Was Done the Matter Will Be Hushed Up. The New York Times February 10, 1897

An outgrowth of the preparations for the Bradley Martin ball that was not down on the programme was a rudely constructed bomb that was sent by some crank, and was received at the Twentieth Street house Monday.

WASHINGTON GUESTS OF THE BALL

WASHINGTON GUESTS  OF THE BALL.
Very  Few Invitations Were Sent to
the Nations Capital. The New York Times February 10, 1897

WASHINGTON,    Feb. 9.—The Bradley Martin ball has been talked of here with great  animation,   and at   the Washington Assembly ball at the Arlington last night there  was some anxious inquiry to learn who were the fortunate few Washingtonians  favored  with  invitations. According to the wise ones there were not a dozen requests sent here, and it is difficult to find any of the society people who can make a list of half a dozen.

THE STATELY SARABAND One of the Novelties to be Introduced at the Bal

THE STATELY SARABAND
One of the Novelties to be Introduced 
at the Ball. The New York Times - February 9, 1897

There is to be a novelty at Mrs. Bradley Martin's ball in the shape of a dance that nowadays is better known to readers of Court history and of poetry than it is to dancers. Several of the invited guests are rehearsing the "stately saraband."

THE BRADLEY MARTIN BALL A Wealth of Heirlooms, in Antique Jewels and Rare Old Laces, to be Shown.

THE BRADLEY MARTIN BALL

A Wealth of Heirlooms, in Antique Jewels and Rare Old Laces, to be Shown.

PRICELESS FAMILY TREASURES.

Dealers' Stocks and Household Stores Ransacked and Exhausted to Supply the Demand for Ornaments and Historical Accuracy. The New York Times - February 9, 1897

There is no estimating the value of the rare old jewels to be worn at the Bradley Martin ball.   All the jewelers who deal in antiques say they have been cleaned out of all they had on hand, and people still keep calling for old buckles, snuff boxes, lorgnettes, diamond or pearl studded girdles, rings, and, in fact, every conceivable decoration in gems.

BOSTON GUESTS AT THE BALL. Costumes Which Some of the Principals Will Wear.

BOSTON    GUESTS   AT   THE   BALL.
Costumes Which  Some of the Principals Will Wear. The New York Times - February 8, 1897

BOSTON, Mass., Feb. 8.~-Many rich Bostonians will attend the Bradley Martin ball in hired costumes. Invitations have been most plentifully showered on modern Athenians. Dozens of them are floating around on the upper crust of society, and not a few have found their way to people who are not especially well known from a social or any other point of view. They are mostly people with New York connections, who have a "pull", or men at Harvard, who, through an acquaintance with young Bradley Martin or some fortuitous circumstance of college life, have been honored with a card.

THE BRADLEY MARTIN BALL Preparations Nearly Completed for an Entertainment in Society Which Promises to be Historic.

THE BRADLEY MARTIN BALL
Preparations Nearly Completed for an
Entertainment in Society Which
Promises to be Historic. The New York Times - February 7, 1897

DECORATIONS AND COSTUMES.

Costume balls are not a novelty in New York, but in the prominence of the guests, the lavishness of its appointments, the broad scale of its plan, the beauty and brilliancy of the dresses to be worn, and the public as well as social interest and excitement it arouses, the costume ball to be given by Mrs. Bradley Martin at the Waldorf Hotel next Wednesday night will, it is expected, not only far surpass any previous event of the kind in America, but will even rival, if it does not excel, the famous fancy dress ball given at Warwick Castle, in England, in the Winter of 1895.

Society Events of the Week

Society Events of the Week The New York Times - February 7, 1897

Next Wednesday***Sunday February 10, 1897 - 116 years ago*** will see the Martin ball in the past, and the chronicler of the society-doings of the metropolis will then be enabled for the first time since this ball was announced to take place, to obtain what artists would call a correct perspective of the season's doings, and to devote some little time and space to other social events and incidents which are now so completely overshadowed by the coming entertainment as to afford little interest to even their participants. 

QUESTION OF PRECEDENCE. A Story Current in Social Circles Regarding the Bradley Martin Ball.

QUESTION OF PRECEDENCE.
A Story Current in Social Circles Regarding the  Bradley Martin Ball. The New York Times - February 5, 1897

  The old and dangerous question of precedence at a social entertainment has, if the gossip in city clubs and drawing-rooms can be relied on, nearly led to the withdrawal from participation in the coming Bradley Martin ball of' Mrs. Ogden Mills, the leader of that most exclusive set in New York society which Ward McAllister dubbed "the 150." The story runs to the effect that Mrs. Mills called upon Mrs. Bradley Martin soon after the latter had issued invitations to her ball, and informed her that she had arranged to organize one of the opening quadrilles which are to be such a feature of the ball, and that she expected it to be danced the first. Mrs. Martin is said to have replied that, she had promised the first quadrille to Mrs. Frederic Bronson. It is further related that at this point Mrs. Mills declared that she should not be able to attend the ball.

TALKED ON THE COMING BALL

TALKED ON THE COMING BALL.
Mr.   Gunton   Thinks   the  Rich   Should
Spend Their Money Here. The New York Times - February 4 , 1897

  "The Bradley-Martin ball" was the subject of President George Gunton's lecture last evening at the School of Social Economics, 34 Union Square.

  "The Bradley-Martin ball," said Mr. Gunton, " is about as prominent a topic of discussion these days as the making: of McKinley's Cabinet. The difference, however, is that we can not have much to say about the Cabinet, while we can have lots to say about the ball.

DECORATIONS FOR THE BALL

The "Old" Waldorf Astoria

DECORATIONS FOR THE BALL
Gorgeous Effects to be Created by
Small for Mrs. Bradley Martin,
RARE TAPESTRY AND FLOWERS.
They  Will  Be  Used  in Profusion—
Small Ballroom Will Have No
Set Piece—Canopies in
Large Ballroom. The New York Times - February 3, 1897

  Decorations for the Bradley Martin ball at the Waldorf will be under the charge of Florist Small(?). The entire scheme has been devised to meet the ideas of the hostess, and the floral dream, when realized, will be rich in profusion and exquisite in taste. Guests will enter through the private apartments of the Waldorf manager, Mr, Boldt, to the first floor of the hotel proper, passing through five of Mr. Boldt's rooms, where there will be no attempt whatever at decoration. Thence they will proceed to the corridors on the second floor, where fifteen rooms, including the Astor dining room, will be used for dressing apartments. 

Bradley Martin Ball - "Luxuriant Days of Rome and Greece"

                                                HARM DONE BY ALARMISTS 

                             THE RIGHTS AND WRONGS OF RICH AND POOR.

Rabbi Gottheil at Temple Emanu-El Argues Against Socialistic Ideas and Declares the Laborer Profits by the Extravagance of  the Wealthy.



                                                DR. PETERS  PROPHESIES RUIN.

He Likens the Present Era to the Luxuriant Days of Rome and Greece.

Click HERE to read the opinions first published in The New York Times - February 1, 1897 - one hundred sixteen years ago today. HERE to read the society news for January 31, 1897.

"These Bradley Martin Times"

   THE NEW YORK TIMES  - Published: January 31, 1897

SOCIETY EVENTS OF THE WEEK 

  Again the incidents and events of another week in the society world, which ordinarily would have been important and interesting, if not all-engrossing, in and by themselves to the devotees of gayety, have been completely overshadowed by the excitement and anticipatory agitation caused by the near coming of the great fancy-dress ball to be given by Mrs. Bradley Martin at the Waldorf on Feb. 10. The universal topic of conversation and discussion is this ball, its probable appointments and arrangements, and the costumes that will be worn individually and collectively by the guests. Although an attempt has been made to keep the costumes a secret by most of the men and women who purpose attending the ball, this has been found impossible, and through friends, servants, and the costumers themselves, many a cherished secret has been divulged. 

MUSICIANS ARE INDIGNANT. They Hear that the Marine Band Is to be at the Bradley-Martin Ball, and Condemn Dr. Rainsford.

  THE NEW YORK TIMES  - Published: January 30, 1897

  The members of the Musical Mutual Protective Union are very much agitated over a report that Mrs. Bradley-Martin has engaged, or will engage, the Marine Band of Washington to furnish music at her great ball, and that consequently they are not to get a single dollar of the great amount that that lady is to spend.

SOCIETY EVENTS OF THE WEEK - FROM CENTRE TO CIRCUMFERENCE

  THE NEW YORK TIMES  - Published: January 17, 1897

  January of the present year of grace will probably be a red letter month in the annals of New York society for some years to come from the gayeties it has already brought, and those which it promises to bring,. The dullness, so far as society entertaining and entertainment were concerned, of the Christmastide holidays, has been followed by a somewhat unexpected and unusual amount of gayety. This has not been confined entirely to one comparatively small and exclusive set, but other elements and sets of the now large and rapidly growing New York society world have also enjoyed an unusual amount of entertainment, so that the season has become a gay one to every person who considers himself or herself entitled to any position, or to whom any position is conceded, in New York society.