First Course: The Frappé Fracas

Continued from Part 1.

“A new and amusing feature of life in this Republic is the war between Chicago and Mr. Ward McAllister.”
—New York World, April 16, 1893

The first champagne cork flew across Chicago Society’s nose on April 9, 1893, in the pages of the New York World. Ward McAllister set out to establish the ground rules—his ground rules—for hosting New York elites when they visit the World’s Fair that summer.

“Mr. Ward McAllister has given careful attention to the question of how New York society will be treated in this Western metropolis,” the paper informed its readers. “He is disposed to think that fashionable persons of this city need not fear anything but the best treatment at the hands of Chicagoans.”

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Ward McAllister on Chicago

“There are really a great many fine people in Chicago. I prophesy that the visit of New Yorkers there will result in mutual benefit. New York society has hardly a proper conception of what Chicago is. A number of our young men have already begun to make investigations as to the wealth and beauty of the Chicago women, with the result that they are now more anxious to go to the Fair than ever. I have personal knowledge that the society women of Chicago are well dressed and cultivated. They will do their best to entertain New York society, and they will have plenty of money to do it with. There is a great deal of wealth in Chicago and a wealthy man who has made his own money gives evidence of the possession of talents which New Yorkers hold in great respect. Chicagoans will see a new phase of life in New York dinners carefully prepared by best artists. Old champagne, which one never sees outside of London and New York, Burgundies of 1878, Haut Brion claret of 1870, which now brings $10 a bottle in Paris, and Madeiras unknown to the West will be used freely to demonstrate how advanced New York society is in the matter of proper dining.

Chicago is beginning to view New York as it does Paris. The time will very soon arrive when New York will be regarded by all interior towns as the place where people must go for enjoyment. Here we have fine hotels, a cosmopolitan population, art, literature and all the latest amusements in greatest variety and a society equal to that of any on earth. Consequently the contact of New York and Chicago society during the World’s Fair cannot help but open the eyes of our Western Natives to our superiority. I do not wish to belittle Chicago using the word superiority. Fifteen years ago Lady Sykes [1] declared that the society of New York was charming, because it was so small that one could preserve his individuality in it, a thing which he could not have done in London. But New York society was then 100 years behind that of London. In the same way the society of Chicago is behind that of New York, but there is no reason why it should not eventually catch up. Chicago is moving in the right direction and should be encouraged in every way.

One great gain in the visit of New Yorkers to Chicago will be the reinvigoration of Newport.[2] Hitherto Chicagoans have kept clear of Newport, on the ground that it would take too much time to establish themselves there in a desirable social position. That possibly was once the case. But after this year, when the best persons of both cities have met and entertained each other, Chicagoans will feel that they will not be out of place at Newport, and I contemplate a general stampede to that famous watering place in the summer of ’94.

I do not think that New York society persons will be inclined to hold aloof from the social element of Chicago. Possibly they will take pride in showing how clever they are at entertaining. Chicagoans will make every effort to see that we have a good time. There are plenty of big houses there and a good deal of emulation among the various millionaires to gain a favorable position in the eyes of society of the East. Mr. Pullman’s ballroom in the attic of the Chicago house [3] will do him good service. When the Chicago people come to New York they will be entertained by our society people, for it is the rule in society that there must be reciprocity in entertainment.

The fact that a man has been brought up in the West does not mean that he is not capable of becoming a society man. [4] I could name over many men and women who have been forced to spend a large part of their early life in the West, but who have nevertheless established themselves in a good position in Eastern society. When they get a taste of New York and Newport they are satisfied to spend the summer here instead of going to Europe. It has been the custom of Chicago and other Western people to go abroad during the summer, but when after the experience of the World’s Fair, they see how very charming people there are in this country, they will be induced to remain here during the holiday season.

I see that the newly elected Mayor of Chicago [5] has announced that visitors to the Fair need not fear lack of hospitality. It may be a little rough, he said, but it will be genuine. In reply to this I may say that it is not quantity but quality that the society people here want. Hospitality which includes the whole human race is not desirable. Pope says [6] that every generous motion is elastic, and that at first it may include a friend, a parent, a neighbor and then the country and last the human race.

I should suggest that the Chicago society people import a number of fine French chefs. [7] I should also advise that they do not frappé their wine too much. Let them put the bottle in the tub and be careful to keep the neck free from ice. For the quantity of wine in the neck of the bottle being small it will be acted upon by the ice first. In twenty-five minutes from the time of being placed in the tub it will be in a perfect condition to be served immediately. What I mean by a perfect condition is that when the wine is poured from the bottle it should contain little flakes of ice. That is a real frappé. [8] It is a mistake to frappé too much. It takes the flavor and body from the wine. Champagne should not be left in the refrigerator for an hour before being served, as that takes away its freshness. In serving it for one who likes it cold the wine should be cooled sufficiently to form a bead on the outside of the glass into which it is poured. Then it looks very beautiful and is in perfection of condition.

I might also say that the white fish of Lake Michigan which are considerably eaten in Chicago are not appreciated by New Yorkers; yet we esteem their black bass and their prairie chickens, also their Western venison and wild turkies. We all know that the best beef comes from Chicago, so you see that there is plenty of native food which they may provide at their dinners.

There will be many restaurants in the World’s Fair grounds [9] and I expect that these will be favorite places of resort for our society people. They will go from restaurant to restaurant until they have visited those of all nationalities. It will be the custom to give luncheons at various restaurants each day. Our fashionable people will be especially interested to learn how cooking is done in various countries, such as Japan, China, Turkey, and so forth. The question of cooking is always an important one.

Those New Yorkers who put up at the hotels will drive out to the grounds every morning in coaches. A number of New York young men have signified their intention of running a daily coach between the hotels and the exhibition, which will give them an opportunity to perform an actual service. New Yorkers will also hire various kinds of turnouts by the month. They will pass the morning and possibly a portion of the afternoon at the Fair and then they will drive back to the city. They will not trust themselves to the temporary structures which have been created for the accommodation of guests at the Fairgrounds, and which will be torn down after the Exhibition. [10] As soon as they get back to the city they will dress for dinner and prepare to be entertained or to entertain others. Those who have rented houses for the season will of course have the advantage in giving dinners and dances, but the others will not be far behind, as it has become the custom of late for New Yorkers to give dinners at restaurants, a habit which is much in vogue in Paris.

Continued in Part 3.

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NOTES

1. “Lady Sykes” refers, perhaps, to Christina Anne Jessica Cavendish-Bentinck, wife of Sir Tatton Sykes, 5th Baronet.

2. “reinvigoration of Newport” McAllister does not miss the opportunity in this interview to promote Newport, Rhode Island, as a place for Chicago’s millionaires to summer. He is regarded as the main force that originally brought New York’s wealthy elite to summer there and is credited with livening its social scene with fabulous picnics. See William G. McLoughlin’s Rhode Island, A History (W. W. Norton & Co., 1978).

3. “Mr. Pullman’s ballroom” George Pullman’s Second Empire-style mansion, built in 1872, stood at 1729 South Prairie Avenue, on the corner opposite the Glessner House (today a museum).

4. “a man has been brought up in the West” Many of Chicago society’s most notable citizens had emigrated from the East. George Pullman, Philip Danforth Armour, and Lyman J. Gage came from Upstate New York; Charles L. Hutchinson and Marshall Field hailed from Massachusetts; Ferdinand Peck was born in Rhode Island, Timothy Beach Blackstone in Connecticut, and James Deering in Maine.

5. “newly elected Mayor of Chicago” Democrat Carter Harrison won the April 4, 1893, election and would be inaugurated on April 17 as the “World’s Fair Mayor.”

6. “Pope says” Alexander Pope’s fourth epistle from his philosophical poem “An Essay on Man” (1734) addresses the natural order God has decreed for man.

God loves from whole to parts: but human soul
Must rise from individual to the whole.
Self-love but serves the virtuous mind to wake,
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake!
The centre moved, a circle straight succeeds,
Another still, and still another spreads;
Friend, parent, neighbour, first it will embrace;
His country next; and next all human race;
Wide and more wide, the o’erflowings of the mind
Take every creature in, of every kind;
Earth smiles around, with boundless bounty blest,
And Heaven beholds its image in his breast.

7. “French chefs” Mr. McAllister’s advice seems to have found its way into in the script of the HBO drama The Gilded Age (Season 1, Episode 2) when dinner guest Anne Morris (Katie Finneran) asks her host: “Your chef is French?” Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) offers the haughty reply: “Isn’t everyone’s these days?”

8. “That is a real frappé” Wine frappe seems to be a lost delicacy, its surviving decedent being rather uncouth “wine slushies.” This passage advising on how to ice champagne comes directly from McAllister’s 1890 memoir Society As I Have Found It.

9. “restaurants in the World’s Fair grounds” The principal restaurant concession at the World’s Columbian Exposition was held by the Wellington Catering Company, which offered a variety of establishments in the main exhibition halls, ranging from first-class fine restaurants to second-class hotel-style eateries to third-class lunch counters and self-serve buffets.

10. “temporary structures which have been created for the accommodation of guests at the Fairgrounds” Scores of hotels went up in the neighborhoods around Jackson Park (there were no accommodations on the fairgrounds) to house the many hundreds of thousands of visitors visiting Chicago to see the Exposition. Many structures were built quickly and allegedly with poor construction. The “fashionable set” instead stayed in downtown Chicago at one of the luxury hotels such as the Palmer House Hotel and the Auditorium.