Another Gilded Age Social Arbiter Rises

 

We at Etiquipedia are looking to find some other documentation for a Gilded Age Los Angeles “400” but have had no success to date. We are convinced many cities of the era emulated the New York’s society circle of “400,” —actually only 319 names were on the famous list—  but this is the first time we’ve seen a rival to Ward McAllister’s lofty, self-proclaimed perch, be presented or suggested in a news report.
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“Four hundred might be one of the only numbers that has a place in the dictionary. Its definition reads: ‘The social elite of a community.’ But it wasn’t until the late 1800s that ‘400’ had any real value. Before The Real Housewives of NYC, Mrs. Caroline Schermerhorn Astor dominated Gilded Age New York society, throwing the balls that everyone who was anyone attended. The problem was that her ballroom only held 400 people, and thanks to the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution, there were now many more than 400 high society millionaires in New York City. So she had to narrow down the list of invitees to the absolute most important and elite New Yorkers. She enlisted self-proclaimed society expert Ward McAllister to help her whittle down the numbers, and The Four Hundred was born. Those who made the cut included Roosevelts and Winthrops, among other famously fancy last name.” — Du Jour.com 

The Los Angeles “400” is Impressed!

The promotion of Lieutenant John A. Dapray to the position of paymaster in the army with the rank of major and the salary of $4800. per annum is greeted by the Los Angeles “400” with enthusiastic empressement. Perhaps there is no officer in the army who has won more laurels in leading a german victoriously across the deadly floor or in heading the grand march of a ballroom in its bold reconnoissance at the opening festivities of a soirée dansante. When he was here on the staff of General Miles, he was distinguished as a master of society etiquette, and by his exquisite conventionality in dress and his coolness and bravery in charging the social sideboard or the festive table, he was the cynosure of all eyes. 

He has passed the rubicons of several winters in Washington, and society there has acclaimed him as the conquering hero of its routs and social functions. It is not too much to say recognition of the young lieutenant's transcending merits by promotion to a height which in actual field service on the frontier of forty years rarely attains, will elevate him to the position of a dangerous rival to Ward McAllister. He wears an overcoat all bedizened with frogs and bullion, and that's something in his favor. — Los Angeles Herald, 1893

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia