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Photos: NYC's Young Creatives Partying Down In The 1950s
By
Jen Carlson
Published May 21, 2013
Modified May 21, 2013
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By
Jen Carlson
Published May 21, 2013
Modified May 21, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
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In the 1950s, LOOK Magazine documented the Art Students Leagues' Dream Balls, held at places like Hotel Commodore and the Waldorf-Astoria. But it looked more like a high society gala held inside Warhol's Factory. The annual costume ball included the presentation of the queen of the ball (actress Deborah Kerr was crowned in 1954), costumes and props galore, and plenty of booze.
Click through and try not to even think of the "H" word, these young creatives were much more than that! One newspaper at the time called the balls: "The Greatest Event Since The Nude Descended The Stairs," adding that it was "a mad, moist, marvelous, magical, magnificent, mammoth, meaty, massive, monstrous, muscular. muliebrous, Machiavellian, multimolecular masterpiece."
Tagged
art students league
costume ball
dream balls
flashback
historical hipsters
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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