S1 Ep.9: “Let the Tournament Begin”  🔗 **Source:** [S1 Ep.9: “Let the Tournament Begin”](https://share.snipd.com/episode/3b9ec39f-9706-4746-bcc0-9fd002f72c4d) ## Highlights - **Social Gatekeeping in Gilded Age** - Social invitations depended largely on formal recognition by established elite figures. - Bertha Russell's initial exclusion demonstrated the power of Mrs. Astor's social gatekeeping. Transcript: Speaker 1 Attend. Speaker 2 So she stops by her home to drop off an invitation. Yeah, she's all dressed up in an open carriage with a driver and a footman in full livery dress. And she's then met by your favorite character, Hefty, the Astor's butler. We saw him up at Newport and here he is again and he is still not thrilled to see Bertha. Speaker 1 I love that Hefty because he's never thrilled about anything. Do you know if he was a real character, a real person? Speaker 2 Well, I haven't found any evidence of an actual Mr. Hefty, but there were several butlers who were well known by members of society. For example, Mamie Fish consulted with her English-born butler, a man named Morton, on all kinds of etiquette issues because he had served with English nobility. He wasn't afraid of correcting guests or even correcting Mamie herself. Speaker 1 Well, Mrs. Astor has obviously instructed our Hefty to tell Bertha that she's not at home. Understandably, this infuriates Bertha so she forbids Carrie from attending the ball or even dancing in the quadrill. Speaker 2 Yeah, that was a power play. Speaker 1 Yeah, so walk us through why Gladys was disinvited. ([Time 0:04:38](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c78faf91-83cf-4c80-ad9a-1c829e97406a)) - **Ada's Dance with Society** - Ada van Rhijn humorously embraces her societal dance invitation despite calling it "marching into hell and dancing with the devil." - This captures the playful yet tense social maneuvering within the elite circles. Transcript: Speaker 6 And Ada is giddy about the whole thing. Speaker 2 In fact, when she heard the news earlier, this might have been my favorite exchange in the entire episode. Agnes says, really? You are glad to be ordered to march into hell and dance with the devil? Speaker 6 To which Ada responds, I wonder sometimes if you don't slightly overstate your arguments. Yes, no one is forcing you to dance. ([Time 0:19:54](https://share.snipd.com/snip/939c29ac-3ff6-4fcb-ad63-8dce40564012)) - **Mrs Astor Debates Bringing Bertha Into Society** - Mrs Astor and her ally debate whether Bertha Russell should be admitted to their social world or kept outside it. - They fear excluding the new money families will push them to form a rival society that excludes the old guard. - Mrs Astor argues that Bertha’s children can make advantageous marriages without established society’s help. - Her companion urges her to invite Bertha now and claim the credit, but Mrs Astor worries the ball is happening too soon. Transcript: Speaker 3 But if I don't maintain standards, what is the point of me? Speaker 1 Of course. But what we need to determine now is whether Mrs Russell will support those standards or undermine them. Speaker 3 How can you ask? Speaker 1 You know I follow your lead to a sleevelish degree. Speaker 3 But you want to go to the ball. Speaker 1 We cannot hope to keep out the new people entirely, or they form their own society that would exclude us. Speaker 6 You know this. Yes. Speaker 3 And if it looks as if her children might make decent marriages... Speaker 1 They'll make decent marriages without our help. They're good looking and they smell of money. The sweetest Santa I know. If I were you, I'd bring him in now and gain the credit. But it's tonight. Santa, note to her this minute. And another to Agnes Van Ruy. ([Time 0:25:15](https://share.snipd.com/snip/df9d55d3-eaed-44d7-bebe-a6998d3b844b)) - **Donna Murphy on Mrs. Astor's Complexity** - Donna Murphy describes Mrs. Astor as a complex woman balancing old money values with changing social realities. - She illustrates the personal and societal tensions between old and new money in the episode's confrontation scene. Transcript: Speaker 3 Yes, I've really been enjoying listening myself. And I'm delighted to be here today. Thank you. Speaker 2 Thank you to you both. Gareth, let's start with you. You and Julian Fellows are longtime collaborators. And you're no stranger to producing period pieces, including, of course, Downton Abbey, the TV series, and films, including the upcoming Downton Abbey, a new era. And the Gilded Age TV series deals with some of the themes that we've seen play out on Downton. I'm thinking class, manners, the conflict between old money and new. And yet the Gilded Age is a uniquely American story. I'm curious what new collaborations did you need to form in order to be able to tell this American story authentically? Speaker 1 It's a really interesting question about the origins of the show, because we could see how Downton Abbey was becoming more and more popular in the state. And there's always been a sizable angophile audience for these, particularly these costume pieces. But of course, Downton Abbey just broke the banks, and it was the biggest foreign show ever to come into the states in terms of the sizable audience and its impact. And we became increasingly interested, of course, the fact that there was a sort of American equivalent. There was America had its own take on aristocracy. It wasn't like an aristocratic, traditional thing based on kind of centreins. It was based on large numbers of people all coming to the city over a period of 100 years or so, old money and new money and so on. The point was we were very interested in the fact that most American people didn't really know that there was this tradition in their own country. It's a European thing. It's a British thing. And we thought, how fantastic. If we could make a show for the American audience and say, it happened here too, you have also this same fascinating tradition. And of course, because of the technical difficulties of executing, to recreate that world really could probably only have been done by HBO with that sort of scale of a series, we could Introduce a domestic audience to a history they know nothing about and have so rarely been shown on screen before. Yeah, what kind of technicians did you have to surround yourself with in order to tell this American story very authentically? Well, I suppose the biggest question of all was, where were we going to make the series and how were we going to make it? Because again, you're a very interesting episode when you spoke with L'Oreal, location manager. There really is very little that remains. And you can't shut down a block in the Upper East Side and shut it down for three weeks and have forces and buggies going past. And so that's completely impossible. And it was always clear that we would have to recreate an entire block of the Upper East Side and these two mansions. And then we would have to combine with a huge construction. Obviously, Donner is very familiar with having worked on it many, many days, which is a lot of physical construction, lots of stone and timber up to about the first floor level. But then all of the upper parts of the building are assisted with CG and the whole street into the background is in CG. And then these two lavish mansions had to be built on sound stages. And then mixed in with that, we are bringing a design of Bob Shaw with Laurie and the directors that have selected these brilliantly well-preserved streets, particularly in Troy, New York, where you really do feel when you go around the squares of that really fascinating city that you're in a downtown that no longer exists in New York. You still have all of the cobalt streets and the railings and the old houses that haven't been modernized particularly. And it's this melding together of those real locations and of course, Newport, Rhode Island and everything that those houses had to offer. That combined with these lavish sets built by this extraordinary genius Bob Shaw and his team. And of course, with a great, big healthy dollar of visual effects, all of those things coming together a week we've managed to create as well. Speaker 2 It's incredible. Donna, in this episode, in episode nine, we finally see Mrs. Aster and Mrs. Russell in the standoff that we've all been waiting for. ([Time 0:26:46](https://share.snipd.com/snip/01af9599-4b60-43a5-9149-8c8cd6309e32)) - **Authenticity in American Aristocracy** - The Gilded Age show highlights America's unique version of aristocracy based on old and new money. - HBO's scale was vital to authentically recreate the vanished world of 1880s New York society. Transcript: Speaker 1 Authentically? It's a really interesting question about the origins of the show, because we could see how Downton Abbey was becoming more and more popular in the state. And there's always been a sizable angophile audience for these, particularly these costume pieces. But of course, Downton Abbey just broke the banks, and it was the biggest foreign show ever to come into the states in terms of the sizable audience and its impact. And we became increasingly interested, of course, the fact that there was a sort of American equivalent. There was America had its own take on aristocracy. It wasn't like an aristocratic, traditional thing based on kind of centreins. It was based on large numbers of people all coming to the city over a period of 100 years or so, old money and new money and so on. The point was we were very interested in the fact that most American people didn't really know that there was this tradition in their own country. It's a European thing. It's a British thing. And we thought, how fantastic. If we could make a show for the American audience and say, it happened here too, you have also this same fascinating tradition. And of course, because of the technical difficulties of executing, to recreate that world really could probably only have been done by HBO with that sort of scale of a series, we could Introduce a domestic audience to a history they know nothing about and have so rarely been shown on screen before. Yeah, what kind of technicians did you have to surround yourself with in order to tell this American story very authentically? Well, I suppose the biggest question of all was, where were we going to make the series and how were we going to make it? Because again, you're a very interesting episode when you spoke with L'Oreal, location manager. There really is very little that remains. And you can't shut down a block in the Upper East Side and shut it down for three weeks and have forces and buggies going past. And so that's completely impossible. And it was always clear that we ([Time 0:27:29](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1f2b7f9e-2153-422f-90ee-786839aa2242)) - **Generations Guide Production** - Gareth Neame draws on his multi-generational family experience in film to navigate production challenges. - This legacy provides perspective on managing a large historical series like The Gilded Age. Transcript: Speaker 1 And so I think a lot of the challenges I face to my career, I can remember my father and grandfather having the same sort of challenges and what they might have done. And I'm extremely proud to be the fourth generation of that film history. ([Time 0:40:21](https://share.snipd.com/snip/38c4d65d-ea2b-4c45-b100-42dceaa4bb1c)) - **Costumes Shape Character Identity** - Kasia Walicka-Maimone led an extensive costume operation, making over 5,000 original pieces for the show. - The costumes not only added beauty but also visually told the characters' unique stories through color and design. Transcript: Speaker 2 I mean, from the very first episode, they're obviously very essential to the look of the show. Tell us about the team that you worked with to bring these to life. How many people did it take to costume the show? Speaker 4 This operation really demanded participation of the best of the best that we have probably in the country and Europe of the best of design team, the best of makers to create this enormous Show. Speaker 7 The script is very clear and very demanding. Speaker 4 We created a team of people that helped me visualize this incredible story altogether, which created about 5,000 costumes, including extras. Speaker 1 Oh, my God. Speaker 7 Very small percentage of those costumes have been rented. Majority of those costumes have been built. Speaker 4 We are working with the best of makers in New York City. We're working with the best of makers in Europe. And we have a team that is an in-house team here in Brooklyn. So it's the design team. It's our wardrobe supervisor with her team of customers who are handling the show, fitting the show, who are maintaining the show and running the show during the filming. Speaker 7 Those people are just a phenomenal best of the best in the industry. Speaker 2 Making 5,000 costumes? It's incredible. In what kind of a time frame did you have like a year to do this? Speaker 4 We had probably about 8 to 9 months in that first period of preparation. We had to have majority of our costumes built at the beginning of the filming. But then we were shut down with COVID, which was a day before our first star date. And in some ways it helped us with the execution of this project, because as we were shut down, as we were shutting down, the shipments coming in from Europe. Then when we restarted, we had another probably 6 or 7 months. Altogether, the project was about a year and a half that we had for prep of this project. And in all of this, I must say, because I think because I was surrounded by such exquisite team of makers and design team and supervisors and ages, diaries, tailors, this, we actually Had a lot of fun making this show. We kept saying, if we don't have fun, this job is not adorable. The material was just so fabulous and so potent. ([Time 0:51:52](https://share.snipd.com/snip/27f8badc-403c-42be-8f0e-41ddec75861b)) - **Collaborate Closely With Costume Design** - Writers should collaborate with costume designers to align wardrobe choices with character development. - Attention to detail like color palettes deepens authenticity and narrative impact in period dramas. Transcript: Speaker 5 Well, I met Kasia when I was in New York, and we were standing by the monitor together and I was admiring her amazing work. I just think Kasia and her team nailed everything. And what's so funny is that the servants, Julian, told me they used to give the servants the fabrics to the servants as a Christmas present, and then they would make them sew their own Servant clothes. Speaker 10 Mericliss. I am. Can you believe that? Speaker 2 The characters, I mean, just looking at episode nine, Alicia and I were paying special attention to the costumes, and we're noting that it seems like characters have their own palette In some ways, their own color palette, right? Like I saw Ada was often wearing kind of orange, and Marion had kind of a light yellow with sort of floral patterns a lot, and Agnes was deeper. ([Time 0:55:05](https://share.snipd.com/snip/38d1637f-7025-4ca5-bf97-e977efc4ddcb)) - **Creating Bertha Russell's Gown** - Kasia describes the engineering challenge of creating Bertha Russell's flowing silver leaf gown. - It combined historical silk techniques with modern craftsmanship for dramatic staircase effect. Transcript: Speaker 2 We're hearing about it throughout the episode. Oh, the gown, you know, is coming from Paris. Now she's getting fitted. And then the big reveal as she's coming down her staircase. And we see this gorgeous silver leaf print, I think there's some kind of a thing. And white, what went into that this was then designed in New York I take in? Speaker 4 Yes, that was based on the historical gown. The gown was made by Katherine Marshall at Tricorn. She engineered, you know, the trick was like, how do you physically create this beautiful looks like effortless leaf pattern on a silk motive and we can't figure out how to make it, you Know, we had to use very different techniques that the makers at that period were were using. It was this giant engineering strategy that went into making that gown. Speaker 2 But it also had to flow down the stairs. Dramatic. ([Time 1:02:00](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7cf50d4b-42ff-4e8f-8031-36d144b6dc57))