Gay Nineties

The Gay Nineties is an American nostalgic term and a periodization of the history of the United States referring to the decade of the 1890s. It is known in the United Kingdom as the Naughty Nineties, and refers there to the decade of supposedly decadent art of Aubrey Beardsley, the witty plays and trial of Oscar Wilde, society scandals and the beginning of the suffragette movement.[1][2]

For the Canadian band, see Gay Nineties (band).

Periods in United States history
 
Colonial period 1607–1765
American Revolution 1765–1783
Confederation Period 1783–1788
Federalist Era 1788–1801
Jeffersonian Era1801–1817
Era of Good Feelings 1817–1825
Jacksonian Era1825–1849
Civil War Era 1850–1865
Reconstruction Era 1865–1877
Gilded Age 1877–1895
Progressive Era 1896–1916
World War I 1917–1919
Roaring Twenties 1920–1929
Great Depression 1929–1941
World War II 1941–1945
Post-war Era 1945–1964
Civil Rights Era 1965–1980
Reagan Era 1981–1991
Post-Cold War Era 1991–2008
Modern Day2008–present
Timeline

Despite the term, the decade was marked by an economic crisis, which greatly worsened when the Panic of 1893 set off a widespread economic depression in the United States that lasted until 1896.

Etymology

The term Gay Nineties itself began to be used in the 1920s in the United States and is believed to have been created by the artist Richard V. Culter, who first released a series of drawings in Life magazine entitled "the Gay Nineties" and later published a book of drawings with the same name.[3] The phrase does not derive from the modern usage of the term gay, referring to homosexuality, though a gay bar in Minneapolis, Minnesota uses the phrase as its name.[4]

History

Novels by authors like Edith Wharton and Booth Tarkington documented the high life of the "old money" families. By the 1920s, the decade was nostalgically seen as a period of pre-income tax wealth for a newly emergent "society set". The railroads, the agricultural depression of the Southern United States, and the dominance of the United States in South American markets and the Caribbean meant that industrialists of New England seemed to have been doing very well.

It was also the name of a nostalgic radio program in the 1930s, hosted by a prominent composer of popular songs of the 1890s, Joe Howard, as well as an 1890s-themed New York cafe, "Bill's Gay Nineties", during that same period.[5] From the 1920s to the 1960s, filmmakers had a nostalgic interest in the 1890s, as can be seen in the films The Naughty Nineties, She Done Him Wrong, Belle of the Nineties, The Strawberry Blonde, My Gal Sal, The Nifty Nineties, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Hello, Dolly!, and Heaven Can Wait.

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See also

References
  1. "The Naughty Nineties: Literature and Social History". Where Can We Go. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  2. "Rags and Pieces by Scott Joplin (1895-1905)". Perfesser Bill Edwards. Archived from the original on June 6, 2009. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  3. Culter, Richard V. (1927). The Gay Nineties: An Album of Reminiscent Drawings. Doubleday, Page & Company.
  4. "Gay 90's - Minneapolis Bar and Restaurant". Gay 90's. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
  5. "Bill's Gay Nineties - The History". Bill's NYC. Archived from the original on March 30, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
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