A true story of glamour and tragedy
Review:
“American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the ‘It’ Girl, and
the Crime of the Century” by Paula Uruburu
DEC
6, 2023
This
book, published in 2008, isn’t new but neither is the story of love, loss,
betrayal and passion. Evelyn Nesbit’s connection to the Adirondack region is
through her stay at Chateaugay Lake in 1915, while hiding from hordes of
reporters during her husband’s second murder trial in New York City.
In
1900, when Florence Evelyn was 15 years old, she moved from Pittsburgh to New
York City with her mother (confusingly named, Evelyn Florence) and brother.
Painters, sculptors and photographers had already re-created her likeness so
often that her face was everywhere: magazines, advertisements, newspapers and
even in church stained-glass windows. In NYC, the trend continued. She was
slightly built, a “waif” who stood barely 5 feet tall, due mostly to
malnourishment her entire childhood. Her father died when she was 11 years old,
leaving a financial mess for her ill-equipped mother to untangle. Once her
neglectful mother realized her daughter’s beauty was a valuable currency,
Florence Evelyn became the family breadwinner until her mother remarried and
cut off all communications with her daughter.
Although
Florence Evelyn read every book she could find and dreamed of fulfilling her
father’s dream that she attend Vassar College, instead of attending high
school, Florence Evelyn worked in a department store during the day and posed
for painters and sculptors in the evenings. Her younger brother worked in the
same store while their mother dreamed of becoming a clothing designer. She
often left the children with family members for months at a time while she
searched for work with no results, and the family continued to live in poverty.
Even after moving to New York City for Florence Evelyn’s career, they fared
little better. She continued to work during the day, posing for artists. In the
evenings, she played the role of a Spanish maiden in the musical Florodoro, and
then she partied into the mornings. She was 16, with inconsistent parental
supervision. During this time, she changed her name to Eve Nesbit.
Men
began to notice the girl’s beauty. She became an obsession for countless, much
older, men. On a nightly basis, her dressing room was filled with flowers, love
letters and gifts from admirers she didn’t know or even care to know. Until
Stanford White, millionaire architect, made his entrance, Eve was uninterested
in the men who sought her attention. White was 46 years old, married and a
father. White kept up his carefully cultivated public persona as a patron of
the arts, but he privately preyed on young girls like Eve. She wasn’t the
first, nor the last. This is only the beginning of Eve’s story.
Even
if you don’t know the tragic story of Evelyn Nesbit, you can probably guess
some of what this young, vulnerable girl endured. But there is much more to the
fascinating story in Paula Uruburu’s book. I recommend reading the tale of the
“It” girl at the turn of the century. American Eve is a little bit like a
reality television show mixed with a melodramatic telenovella and a Bollywood
movie, but sadly true.
