King Lehr and the Gilded Age: With Extracts from the Locked Diary of Harry Lehr

Reads like a diary of sorts. Funny stories with the characters from The Gilded Age.

Bessie Drexel had no idea that her marriage to Harry Lehr would be one of the worst decisions that she ever made. He began his high-society career as Mrs. Caroline Astor's "wing-man", later moving on to Mrs. Styvesant Fish's friend & society adviser. Harry attended all of the parties, dinners, balls, luncheons, and other entertainment venues of the elite. His sense of humor was legendary. Women wanted to marry him, or wanted him for their daughters. Men knew that they must pass muster with Harry. He helped select the who's who. He set the rules for the elite. He created memorable gatherings - everything from the ultra posh, to the outrageous. To a young mother & widow like Bessie, he sounded like a catch - one who would accompany her to all the required social engagements in style, while making her laugh in the process.The only problem was, Harry had no money, yet possessed a tremendous desire to live as well as his posh friends. Bessie lived comfortably, as her family was the Drexel banking family. To Harry, she was the perfect catch. However, he did not love her, and advised her of that fact on their wedding night. The sting of knowing that her husband deceived her was difficult enough, but for this societal class, in the Victorian era, a woman simply didn't get divorced. Bessie's own mother would not receive a divorced person into her home, and Bessie worried that her mother's health could not tolerate the burden of knowing that her daughter's marriage was a sham. Years later, following Harry's death, Bessie used the opportunity to write a tell-all book about she & Harry's life together. Perhaps she found it therapeutic to finally get the story off her chest after nearly 3 decades of living a lie.The book is quite nice. Bessie's sweet personality comes forward, and her descriptions of a life that most of us will never know are well-defined and vivid. Harry was a monster. He verbally & psychologically assaulted Bessie throughout the duration of their marriage. Even when he displays a tender gesture to Bessie upon learning that her beloved mother has just died, he quickly follows it up with a nasty display of hostility. I believe that Bessie grappled with the dichotomy of her feelings toward Harry. While he treated her miserably in private, he was very attentive to her publicly. In a way, she almost pitied him - to the point that she chose to stay married, even after her mother's death. As I mentioned, Bessie was sweet. It wasn't in her nature to be horrible to him directly. Even her tell-all book gives him far more praise then he likely deserved.It does help to have an understanding of the main characters that made up high-society in this era prior to reading the book. As well, the more that a reader understands about how such a household is run, the function of each servant, the expectations of a wife in this station of life, and other such related matter, will help the reader comprehend some of what she describes. (a dabbling of French wouldn't hurt as well). All in all, if the lifestyles of the obscenely wealthy interests you, this is a wonderful companion book that does tell a few stories about the elite that they might not want told about them.

great story! interesting and entertaining

I have some weird obsession with the gilded age and can’t stop reading everything and anything about it. This was my first book that was written by someone who was actually a part of it. I felt like I was a spy on the wall observing it all. Granted, she is not the best writer but I didn’t expect that. She is not a proefessional novelist, she is just telling stories if her life. And you must keep in mind this was written in the 1930’s intended for an audience of that time. The author mentions people and events that at the time readers would be more acquainted with. I did a lot of google searches reading this, I wanted to know more about the people she mentioned.And I desperately tried to figure out who Mr. X was, but no luck.Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I’ve just ordered her second book and can’t wait to start it.(Other great books about the gilded age I have enjoyed…”Season of Splendor”, “Queen of the Gilded Age” and “Murder of the Century”)

Dully predictable, much of what is in this book has been quoted--over and over--elsewhere. It's protagonists, the author and Mr Lehr, lived an aimless life, she unhappy because she couldn't divorce the wildly homosexual Mr Lehr as her mother didn't approve of divorce, he striving for renown and social acceptance. All in all, it's a story of two terribly uninteresting people, recounted in the most mundane way.

I liked this book much more than I expected. I bought it as a companion to "The Glitter and the Gold" by Consuelo Vanderbilt--which I was motivated to read after finishing "Proust's Duchess--and they complemented each other well. I love the Gilded Age/Belle Epoque/Fin de Siecle period and it was interesting to see the overlap in characters and events from three very different perspectives. Interestingly, Elizabeth Lehr was staying with Consuelo and her second husband Jacques Balsan in the south of France when she heard about the death of her husband "King" Harry Lehr, which illustrates what a small world it truly was among the very rich back then. Elizabeth Drexel Lehr led a sad, albeit privileged life, but she chronicles the wealthy with a sense of irony and with some humor and wit thrown in, making this move along quickly. She hints at her post-Harry life, about which it would have been interesting to learn more, but there's enough here to make it a worthwhile read.

After seeing the portrait displayed at Newport, I wondered who this woman was in Society. I got this book as a result. It turns out she is an aimless, delusional, vapid, racist, and sad figure. Heck, the real life woman doesn't even look at all like the portrait.Because I want to finish what I started reading, I will finish this tiresome book. I have 100 pages to go. Wish me luck and perseverance!

A very badly written "memoir" about a society couple at the turn of the last century. Husby Harry Lehr, gay and apparently utterly charming, gave a dull and very rich lady, "a life" -- without sex. That was the deal. The milieu is fascinating and you wonder how many marriages like this continue today. The background is the foreground. It provides amusing sociology, for sure, but the book has no literary merit at all.

Item was as expected and arrived quickly and in good condition. Thanks!