The Public Gossip of Town Topics: The Journal of Society (1885-1937)

Abstract

is responsible for a statement, in an interview had with her on her return from Europe last Saturday, that Mrs. Cora Potter gave her as her reason for not coming to America to play this season, that she (Mrs. Potter) did not want to be here while her husband, Mr. James Brown Potter, was marrying Miss May Handy, of Richmond, Va.. If Miss Marbury is correctly quoted, and if she correctly quotes Mrs. Potter, this is the first decisive information that the public has had that Mr. and Mrs. James Brown Potter are divorced. (Town Topics, Oct 19, 1899) 2Town Topics, published in New York City between 1885 and 1937 1 provided its readers with a combination of society news, financial advice, short stories, and theater reviews. Initially founded as Andrews' American Queen: A National Society Journal in 1879, 2 Town Topics was bought and then reinvented by brothers E. D. and Colonel William d'Alton Mann. Once overhauled and with William d'Alton Mann reigning as editor from 1891 onwards, the magazine's format remained basically unchanged over the course of its almost 40 years of publication, the only noticeable modifications being a continuous increase in advertisement (especially of the type that relied on photographs) and the addition of an illustrated cover page (in 1921, when the price was increased from 10 to 20 cents). Throughout this time, "Saunterings," Town Topics' society column, usually took up the first half of its twelve pages. Written personally by Colonel Mann, under the pseudonym "Saunterer," the column was the magazine's key selling point, as studies of New York's high society attest (see Montgomery; Homberger). The description of Town Topics for Adam Matthew's digital collection Everyday Life & Women in America, currently the only way of accessing the magazine outside of the New York Public Library, also considers "Saunterings" Town Topics' main attraction:Under Colonel Mann's leadership the periodical developed into a publication that offered gossip and society news on the much read and highly anticipated social pages. [… and thus] became a must-read for the wealthy members of the great