Just Gossip About the Philadelphia Charity Ball: Stories from the Thomas Hart papers about Philadelphia Society’s Event of the Year

The Thomas Hart papers thrust beholders into the vibrant world of early 20^th century Philadelphia high society. The creator, Thomas Hart, was a lawyer, but that is largely beside the point of this collection, which mostly represents his organizational involvements. He served on countless boards and held numerous leadership roles in dozens of Philadelphia-area organizations. The collection provides excellent insight into many of these organizations, including the Eagle Island Gunning Club, the Junior League, Penn’s Mask & Wig Club, the Philadelphia Club, the Society of Colonial Wars, the State In Schuylkill, and, most notably for our purposes today, the Philadelphia Charity Ball, Inc., for which Thomas Hart served as director and president in the 1920s and 1930s.

The Philadelphia Charity Ball, Inc. is an organization with a two-part mission: “to raise funds for non-profit organizations and to inspire the young people of Philadelphia to make philanthropy a central part of their lives.” (Philadelphia Charity Ball)

At least in the 1920s, it was also a quintessentially high-society event where sons and daughters (mostly daughters…) of Philadelphia’s upper crust were put on display, showing off their grace, poise, and talents in over-the-top performances, proving their worth as debutantes. The balls were intentionally exclusive, described in 1925 as, “the most important social events on Philadelphia’s social calendar, [for which] we find one rule is firm and lasting. The exclusiveness of this organization has caused its name to travel far and wide. Strings are pulled every year, political influence and wealth are used to procure the much coveted invitations to become subscribers, but all to no avail.”

These performances, and the goings-on of the ball in general generated an intense amount of interest. In the collection, there are dozens of clippings from gossip columns, magazines, and newspapers detailing the performances, the event, the fashion, and, of course, the scandals.

In 1925, the ball was headlined by a performance taking attendees back to Philadelphia’s first Assembly Ball at Hamilton’s Wharf in 1748. Society girls, including Miss Peggy Hammond, Miss Caroline Buck, and Miss Vivienne Bartlett donned their powdered wigs and colonial dresses and performed traditional dances hoping to transport attendees back to 1748.

The ball itself in 1925 was said to start around midnight, being preceded by elaborate dinner parties held by Philadelphia’s elite. These dinner parties are where most of the drama and scandal seem to occur. In 1925, the talk of the town came from Mr. and Mrs. John Barnes’ party held in honor of debutante Anita Wetherill. Reporting on this event broke the shocking news that hugging occurred in the ballroom! The rumors spread so far that an anonymous debutante was forced to counter them in an account given to the The Philadelphia Record, “I saw no people hugging each other at all, and as for the liquor it was reserved perhaps for the older people, but not a drop was given out downstairs.” I was surprised to see that the hugging was a bigger scandal than the presence of alcohol during prohibition, but I digress.

While 1925 was steeped in tradition with relatively tame gossip, 1926 was decidedly more colorful and contained not only a scandal, but true crime!

The performance, Splash Bang, was a color-driven pageant given by four groups: one in yellow and blue, one in purple and orange, one in red and green, and finally, one in black and white. The groups each represented one of the four beneficiaries of that year’s ball and danced separately before combining into a “scene of exceptional brilliance.”

The standout of the night was Miss Natalie Emlen Hutchinson, who was so skilled at dancing she was given her parent’s consent to pursue a career as a professional solo dancer. According to one article, Hutchinson had been studying dance for several years and was hoping to enter a career rather than enter society. In another hard-hitting news article, she is described as a “slim, graceful, dark-haired girl with clear complexion, and is popular among the younger set.”

Extensive coverage was given to the attendee and debutante style, for example, “Miss Margaret Sill, an attractive debutante this season, wore a frock of red chiffon embroidered in rhinestones, and silver slippers and stockings.”

However, there was one story that couldn’t be topped by the performance, the fashion, or even the pre-ball dinner parties. There was a band of thieves at the 1926 Philadelphia Charity Ball, making off with the property and cash of Philadelphia’s elite! The thieves gained entrance to the debutante’s dressing rooms during the evening’s performance and stole well over $1000 in the form of coats, dresses, jewelry and a significant sum of cash.

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This event was the apex of a string of cloakroom thefts plaguing high-society events that year, and was believed to be the work of “an organized band of thieves specializing in such robberies.”

While there were several victims, none were affected quite like Miss Virginia Lee Hoodless, who was left without her $800 squirrel coat, Miss Virginia Freeman, who lost a $300 cloak, and Miss Clarissa White, who was relieved of a suitcase containing an evening gown, a pair of shoes, a pair of stockings, a bag, jewelry, and some cash at a total estimated value of $215. For context Misses Hoodless, Freeman, and White were respectively robbed of 2024’s equivalent of around $13,000, $5,200, and $3,700.

While I have chosen to talk about some anecdotes from the Philadelphia Charity Ball in the 1920s, the strength of the Thomas Hart papers lies in the breadth of information documented about various organizations. Those interested in any number of Philadelphia-area organization are encouraged to explore the finding aid to see what they might find.