Bright Young Things Of The 1920S

The Bright Young Things of the 1920s Thank you to FOREO for sponsoring this video. Picture the scene, you arrive at a swanky London townhouse, hand your invitation to the butler, and are granted entry into a scene of swell chaos. Chinese lanterns hang from antique chandeliers, and colorful silk scarves are draped The room is wall to wall with beautiful people, dressed in eye-catching costumes and daring makeup. They're all getting spifflicated while they dance the Charleston. Trumpets blare, drums beat, and a piano plays a ragtime tune you can't help but wiggle to. Someone hands you a crisp champagne and absinthe cocktail, and tells you that you're glad rags, which of course match the evening's theme perfectly, are simply divine, darling. You have entered the world of the Bright Young Things. In the 1920s, the young aristocrats of Britain swirled up a frenzied party scene. They threw out their parents' conventions in favor of cold drinks, hot jazz, sex, fame, self-expression, and dancing the night away. Everything old and establishment was out. Everything exotic and modern was in. The press, who hung on their every outrageous act, dubbed them the Bright Young Things. Let's discover the essential ingredients for a smashing BYT party. Find out why they were so eager to shake up the status quo. Spill the booze on the group's famous members, and enjoy the refreshing taste of the Bright Young Things of the 1920s. Between 1914 and 1918, the world cowered under the shadow of the First World War. 70 million young people went off to fight. 9 million soldiers and 7 million civilians never came home. In January 1918, just as there was a glimmer of hope that the war would end, the planet was struck by one of the deadliest pandemics in history, the Spanish Flu. 500 million people were infected, and as many as 100 million died. While most illnesses prey on the elderly and infirmed, this influenza was especially deadly to the young and strong. With 1 in 20 people on earth dead from war or disease, the armistice on November 11, 1918, and the end of the Spanish Flu in December 1920 came as massive reliefs to the world. Young people, hit especially hard by both horrific events, felt their mortality not as an abstract concept, but as something real and tangible. They felt lucky to be alive, when friends, neighbors, parents, brothers and sisters might not be, and this sense of mortality empowered them to question the status quo, and consider how they really wanted to spend their brief time on earth. The British upper class in particular was facing unprecedented challenges. A century earlier, the Industrial Revolution dealt them a hard blow, as common people abandoned farms for factories. The land earls and barons had charged rent on for centuries was suddenly far less valuable. To keep with the times, peers were forced to open up their drawing rooms to nouveau riche industrialists. In the late 1800s, many English lords married American heiresses for an infusion of cash to save their dilapidated estates. The Great War and the poor health of army recruits laid bare the cost of the nation's vast wealth inequality. The people voted for change, and Prime Minister David Lloyd George formed a liberal coalition government. They increased the inheritance tax on estates worth over £2 million to 40%. This revenue funded major improvements in the UK's social safety net, but it also crippled the ancient aristocratic way of life. All over England, historic manors had to be sold off to pay death duties. In the best case scenario, families like the Crawleys of Downton Abbey found innovative ways to keep their estates. Many landmark houses were opened as tourist attractions. In the worst case, nobles were left impoverished and had to work for a living. All this instability seriously affected the children of the upper class. While they might still expect to inherit a title, they could no longer count on a London townhouse, a country pile, and a pile of cash to go with it. So they wondered why on earth would they follow their parents' old-fashioned expectations, that they behave themselves, follow the profession they wanted, and marry a fellow noble of their parents' choosing, probably a cousin. The Bright Young Things was, at its core, a movement of youthful rebellion and social evolution. They also just wanted to get drunk, party, and forget about the doom and gloom of life. All of these themes were excellently explored in the drama series Downton Abbey, where the character Rose McClare is undoubtedly a member of the Bright Young Things. As with many new waves, it started with young women. Every summer since 1780, upper class ladies in their late teens and early twenties were brought to London to be debutantes. They were presented to the king and queen each May during Queen Charlotte's Ball at Buckingham Palace. After curtsying in their white gowns and ostrich feathers, they were considered out in society. This meant their calendars were jammed full of polite garden parties, stuffy balls, and nights at the opera, the tried and true venues for aristocratic husband hunting. Bored of all this snobbery, a group of girls used their free afternoons to have a bit of fun. They chased each other around the city on public undergrounds and buses, mixing with the common people. The chases evolved into scavenger hunts. As they were all well connected, the artifacts they sought included things like the prime minister's pipe or a pair of stays worn by a West End actress. They made up elaborate riddles and even got them printed in the paper. More debutantes joined in, and soon the boys brought out their motor cars, packed them full of friends, and raced around London. During the war, factories had been commandeered to build tanks and weapons. But in the 20s, automobile production boomed. Wealthy young men bought high-speed toys, which didn't come with the safety features we're used to today, like airbags and seatbelts. It was all seen as a big game, and London was their playground. Passengers and drivers were often passing bottles. The drunk driving was not considered nearly as outrageous as the fact that women were drinking in public. Evelyn Waugh was repeatedly ticketed for driving the wrong way on roundabouts. In July 1924, the Daily Mail ran headlines, Chasing Clues, New Society Game, Midnight Chase in London, 50 Motor Cars, The Bright Young People. After the dark war years, bright became the adjective of choice for advertisers, politicians, and journalists. Now the group had its name. They were also, more flippantly, called the Bright Young Things. The fast set soon got bored of being chased by police, so they moved their antics indoors, and threw wild costume parties. This was nothing new. The rich have been enjoying masquerade balls since ancient times. Dressing up was essential to medieval Twelfth Night, the blowout party at the end of Christmastide. Henry VIII met Anne Boleyn while she was dressed as the Virtue of Perseverance at a mask. And Queen Victoria and Prince Albert held a costume ball in 1842, in which they dressed as King Edward III and Queen Philippa. But the Bright Young Things turned the duds up to eleven, making them bigger, bolder, and sexier than ever. They gave themselves total creative freedom to use vibrant colors, unusual materials, flashy headdresses, and wild accessories. Gender norms were out, and androgynous style was in. Anything that would get a rise out of their friends and a photo in the paper was fair game. But of course, you had to fit the party's theme. Those chic and lucky enough to be invited to a BYT party would receive an invitation, with only an address, time and date, and what to wear. There were cowboy parties, ancient Greek parties, famous character from history parties, dress like an American parties, inferno parties, pajama parties, and whatever else they could dream up. At one event, guests dressed as babies and drank booze out of bottles. Several young ladies arrived in giant prams. Another party was held at St. George's Baths. Guests danced and swam all night to a live orchestra and admired decorations, great rubber horses and flowers, early versions of pool floaties. When the police arrived in the early morning, revelers tried to get them to take off their uniforms and jump in the water. Instead, the coppers chased them off, and they walked home in their wet swimming costumes as Famed dressmaker to the queen, Norman Hartnell threw a circus party. He was dressed as the ringmaster, while live wolves, horses, and a dancing bear entertained 250 guests disguised as fairground characters. While their Victorian grandmothers merely pinched their cheeks before entering a The BYTs went all in on makeup. Entrepreneur Max Factor did makeovers on celebrities like Jean Harlow and Clara Bow, then sold the same products to an eager public, who wanted to recreate the glamorous faces they saw on the silver screen. Lipsticks and glosses drew Cupid's Bow lips. Eyebrows were thinly plucked, lashes were darkened with kohl, and cheeks were brightened with blush. The BYTs loved everything innovative when it came to beauty. If they were around today, they'd be lining up for the FAQ 202 by Foreo. It's the new generation of LED face mask. You simply apply the FAQ primer to a clean, dry face, then secure the mask with the headband. Select programmed treatments from the app. The LED mask uses eight different light wavelengths to tackle signs of aging and other skin concerns. It's ultra lightweight and wireless, so you can enjoy your treatments while relaxing or doing chores. Regular use re-strengthens layers of the skin and boosts its natural healing process. For a complexion even a bright young thing would envy. Try FAQ 202 and Foreo's other fantastic bestsellers. Click the link in the description and use my code 30teatime for an extra 30% off almost all of Foreo's products, including already discounted items. And now back to history. While the BYTs looks were outrageous, their behavior was over the top. Revelers made shocking public displays of affection and frolicked in the streets getting up to all manner of tomfoolery. At a Mozart-themed party, ladies and gentlemen in 18th century wigs, britches, and panniers were photographed borrowing a jackhammer from a group of street workers. At another shindig, celebrants danced across the counters of Selfridge's department store. When they grew bored of the jazz clubs and cocktail parties of London, those who still had country estates invited their friends round for exclusive weekend house parties. Stephen Tennant threw a bash at Wilford Manor. He greeted his guests in leopard pajamas and had them wear fancy dress all weekend. Sexual politics were shifting massively. The war had taken the lives of so many young men that the sex ratio was imbalanced. Women felt they had to be more beautiful and daring to compete for male attention. But they also had more opportunities for education and work. They were no longer in desperate need of a husband. In 1918, the UK finally gave women the right to vote. Many young ladies took this as an opportunity to party right along with the boys. These trendsetters were called flappers. They cut their hair short, wore makeup, and threw out restrictive corsets in favor of scandalously short skirts and even trousers. They reveled in pleasures deemed unladylike, like drinking, swearing, smoking, driving, and casual sex. In their mother's day, even a hint of premarital sex was enough to ruin a girl for life. But in the 1920s, Marie Stopes and others were advocating for reproductive rights. Birth control in the form of diaphragms and condoms were allowing women to postpone marriage and children. The it girl of the moment was Elizabeth Ponsonby. She was an early leader of the group and became famous for extravagant pranks. She once threw a party during which she and a friend, dressed as bride and groom, were toasted by their guests and even blessed by a priest. But it was all a fake wedding. London was scandalized by the mocking of a sacred institution, and Elizabeth had to skip town until the outrage blew over. She was the model for Agatha Runcible in Vile Bodies. The bright young things were a refuge for LGBT people. At the time, gay sex was illegal and harshly punished. The UK didn't think lesbian sex existed. But in this unique moment in history, homosexuality and unconventional gender identity had a glimmer of acceptance. Fancy dress was an to break the rules of gender. At an impersonation party in 1927, Stephen Tennant dressed as Queen Maria of Romania, and actress Tallulah Bankhead appeared as tennis player Jean Beratra. Many men behaved in a camp, effeminate manner, wore makeup and flamboyant clothes. The it boy of the BYTs was Stephen Tennant, the youngest son of the Earl of Glenconner. He was thin, androgynous, and wore his hair in a Marcel wave, sometimes glimmering with gold dust. He claimed to spend most of his life in bed. His room was papered entirely in silver foil. When he went out, dressed in embroidered silks, makeup and earrings, reporters hounded him. He was a muse to several artists, including Cecil Beaton. He was the toast of London, and a rock star before that was a thing. Stephen had a long term affair with poet Siegfried Sassoon, then casually broke his heart. He was the inspiration for Cedric Hampton in Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate, for Stephen Sebastian Flynn in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, and for the Honourable Miles Malpractice in Vile Bodies. All of that sexual inhibition required some lubrication. BYT parties were flooded with alcohol. The well-heeled students at Oxford University were not allowed to go to local pubs, so they started the tradition of BYOB, or Bring Your Own Bottle, parties. Usually a fine French Bordeaux they had nicked from their dad's cellar, but once they graduated to bright young things in London, stuffy burgundies served by the butler were out, and American cocktails were in. Liquor was first distilled in India 2,000 years ago. The distillation process, which results in more concentrated alcohol, slowly made its way to Europe. While Westerners were drinking the hard stuff straight, Indians made it palatable by mixing in fruit juice called punch. British soldiers brought the Indian tradition back home in the 1800s, and it became popular in secret drinking societies, often at universities. But it was the Americans who invented the cocktail, an individual drink of liquor mixed with juice, tonic, flavoured syrups, and or bitters, of which there are endless iterations. With the expanding availability of refrigeration, crisp concoctions became a craze. In 1917, Mrs. Clara Walsh of St. Louis threw the first cocktail party at her home for 50 guests. It was a hit and was covered in the newspaper. Cocktails became even more popular in 1920, when the 18th Amendment outlawed alcohol in the United States. Beer and wine had too much volume, so only hard liquor was worth smuggling. Boats arrived by night, filled with whiskey from Canada or rum from the Caribbean, and bathtub gin and moonshine were distilled illegally. Underground bars called speakeasies served up these illegal libations in all sorts of creative concoctions to cover up the bad taste. Many of America's talented bartenders took their skills to Europe, where they could whip up cocktails at the Ritz or the Savoy without fear of federal prosecution. The December 1934 issue of Esquire magazine lists the most popular cocktails of the time. Old Fashioned, Dry Martini, Champagne Cocktail, Planter's Punch, and Daiquiri. A particular favorite amongst the bright young things was called Death in the Afternoon, a mix of gin, champagne, and absinthe. This liqueur made from hallucinogenic wormwood gained popularity in France in the late 1800s. It was associated with Bohemian culture and inspired numerous artists and writers. If one had a particularly rough night, one might start the next morning off with a cocktail called a Corpse Reviver, a mix of cognac, apple brandy, and sweet vermouth, perfect for breakfast. For some, drinking wasn't enough. Drugs were consumed at many BYT parties. Their parents could have all the cocaine they wanted. This narcotic stimulant, which helped them dance all night, was used in many medications in the late 1800s. But by the 1900s, its harmful effects were widely known. In the 1920s, the Dangerous Drug Act made possession illegal in the UK. It also criminalized hashish, then known as Indian hemp, and heroin, which made its use all the more appealing to the most reckless BYTs. Brinda Dean Paul was the daughter of a baronet. She grew up in a convent, then left to dance in cabarets in Berlin. She tried to get into the She made her way back to England, where she quickly fell in with the BYTs. Brinda longed for fame. She was a skilled self-publicist and loved causing a sensation. After a painful miscarriage, she was prescribed morphine and became addicted. She got into other hard drugs, like heroin, and sold off her family heirlooms and resorted to theft to feed her She reportedly lived on brandy cocktails and salted nuts for years. She was frequently in and out of rehab and prisons, and was dubbed the society drug addict. The soundtrack to all the drugs and sex was the precursor to rock and roll, jazz. Born in New Orleans from the roots of West African music, this fresh, energetic, and very danceable sound moved around the country, where it was either condemned as devil music or hailed as one of America's great original art forms, or just a really good time. During World War I, popular band leader James Reese Europe joined up with the 369th Infantry, aka the Harlem Hellfighters. Europe the Conductor introduced Europe the Continent to jazz, and it was love at first listen. The Bright Young Things couldn't get enough records by Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Bessie Smith, and Duke Ellington, shipped over from America. Actual musicians heard the word and sailed over to England to entertain these wealthy patrons in person. With them came fresh, outrageous new dances, like the Lindy Hop, Charleston, Black Bottom, and Foxtrot. The BYT's manner of speaking was unique. Their upper-class drawl, acquired from years of correction from governesses and Oxford dons, was peppered with American jazz slang and camp mannerisms. They over-emphasized everything, and upped their pitch so they could easily be heard over a gramophone. Everyone was darling or dearest, and everything was divine. Here is some BYT lingo to sprinkle into your next conversation at a party. Bo, boyfriend. Blotto, extremely drunk. Bogus, fake or insincere. Glad rags, fancy clothes. On a toot, binge drinking. Sheba, a desirable woman. Chic, a desirable, usually rich man, aka a man about town. Spiffy or snappy, dressed stylishly. Spifflicated, drunk. Swank, swanky or ritzy. Luxurious and upscale. Swell, anything awesome. Even members of the royal family were getting in on the fun. David, Prince of Wales, was a man about town and was often spotted at swanky BYT parties with his long-term mistress, Freda Dudley Ward. The British government spent a lot of time covering up the heir to the throne's many affairs and exploits, and his parents had serious concerns about the future of the monarchy. His younger brother, George, Duke of Kent, was often in his company. He was bisexual and had affairs with musical star Jesse Matthews, writer Cecil Roberts, cabaret star Florence Mills, socialites Poppy Baring and Ethel Wiggum, and novelist Barbara Cartland. He had a 19-year relationship with playwright Noel Cowart. The pair once walked through the streets of London in drag and were arrested on suspicion of prostitution. The BYTs behaved intentionally provocatively and recklessly, driving too fast, drinking, and spending too much money, largely as a way to get back at their parents and society at large. But the press was right there to print it all. Newspapers had been big business for decades, but after the war, several intentionally shifted away from serious news and instead focused on human interest stories, gossip, and scandal. The public couldn't get enough of the They became celebrities and a cast of characters to be photographed, talked about, and exploited, and many of them loved it. BYTs were eager to see their name in print and enjoy the notoriety. They did need to be careful who they told their darkest secrets to, as many of their own were Aristocrats hard up for cash often made extra pen money by attending grand parties, and around midnight, finding a private phone and calling in all the details to their editor in time to make the morning edition. Patrick Belflore, later 3rd Baron Kinross, wrote a regular column for the Daily Express under the pseudonym Mr. Gossip. Nancy Mitford, the eldest of the six outrageous Mitford sisters, picked up extra cash writing a gossip column for the magazine The Lady, which her grandfather happened to own. Hold your tea, Lady Whistledown. It was the artists and writers in their midst who immortalized this moment in time. Unlike many other BYTs, Cecil Beaton came from the middle class. He had attended second tier schools and felt looked down on by Eden and Oxford alums. But if he was going to run with the rich kids, he needed cash flow. He submitted photos of his friends to Tattler, and was soon hired by Vogue and Vanity Fair. He had an incredible eye for glamour, and set his subjects in sumptuous fantasies. The public lived vicariously through these images in glossy magazines. Cecil was also talented in primitive retouching, something his image-obsessed acquaintances adored. Evelyn Waugh was also an outsider, and though he loved to get drunk with the BYTs, he never felt a part of them. But he was witty and fun, the only real requirements to join the club. He got a lot of material for his books. In 1928, he wrote Decline and Fall, and followed it with Vile Bodies. The latter is the basis for Stephen Fry's fantastic 2003 film, Bright Young Things. Both novels took a critical look at the excesses of the era, and predicted its downfall. In 1930, Evelyn left the party early to travel the world. So, how did the Bright Young Things party come crashing down? The late 1920s saw a period of mass unemployment and economic decline in Britain, but the BYTs kept drinking and dancing. 1931's Red and White Ball was the party too far. Elegant people in ruby bracelets and white silk pajamas feasted on lobster, strawberries, chicken, and lemon pudding. Along with the typical debauched antics, Brenda Dean Paul was busted for drugs. Accounts of the extravagant event hit the papers at the same time unemployed workers went on a protest march from Northern England to London. Slightly depraved young people having a marvelous time, oblivious to the suffering of the common people, was increasingly seen as distasteful and out of touch. No longer the darlings of the press, the Bright Young Thing movement died out. Most of its original members had moved on with their wives anyway. Stephen Tennant left London and moved to his country manor, where he lived as an eccentric recluse until 1987, when he died at the age of 80. Elizabeth Ponsonby never received the memo that the party was over. She kept painting the town with less and less reputable people. In 1940, she was working as a nightclub hostess when she died of alcoholism at 40. After years of drug use, Brenda Dean Paul died in a psychiatric hospital in 1959, age 52. The Prince of Wales became King Edward VIII in 1936, but he wanted to party more than rule. He abdicated to marry his latest mistress, Wallis Simpson. His brother George died in a plane crash during World War II. Evelyn Waugh continued to write about his glamorous youth, and after World War II, the public was once again interested in the escapism of glamorous parties and beautiful people. In 1945, Waugh published Brideshead Revisited, which explores themes of homosexuality, and was made into a film in 2008. Evelyn remained close friends with Nancy Mitford, who also published novels about her wild youth, including The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. The former was turned into a series in 2021. Cecil Beaton continued to be one of the most sought-after photographers and party guests in the world. When he was in his 70s, he hung out with the Rolling Stones, members of yet another great youth movement. But the bright young things did it first. A special thank you goes to my channel member, Teresa Locks, and my patrons, Brandy Ray and Madison Starrett. If you enjoyed this video, please like, subscribe, comment your thoughts, and check out my other history videos. 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