{"product_id":"duet-in-diamonds-the-flamboyant-saga-of-lillian-russell-and-diamond-jim-brady-in-americas-gilded-age-9780399109065","title":"Duet In Diamonds the Flamboyant Saga Of Lillian Russell and Diamond Jim Brady in America's Gilded Age","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDuet In Diamonds the Flamboyant Saga Of Lillian Russell and Diamond Jim Brady in America's Gilded Age\u003c\/strong\u003e by burke, john. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780399109065.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the Jacket: Duet in Diamonds by John Burke. The Gay Nineties, the age of red plush, ten-course dinners and lobster palaces. Of the many celebrities and famous personalities of that gaudy, glittering, opulent era, two stand out as the most colorful and most flamboyant: Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell. James Buchanan Brady, born above his fathers waterfront saloon, began his career as a Broadway bellhop and railroad ticket taker. Thanks to his publicity talents, he became a salesman nonpareil, propelling his showmanship first as a superseller of railroad equipment and subsequently as a steel-car magnate, amassing a fortune of $12,000,000. Born Helen Leonard in a small Iowa town, Lillian Russell became the queen of the musical stage with a phenomenal voice capable of hitting eight high Cs in one performance and by general acclaim \"the most desirable woman in America.\" They met-appropriately enough-at a dinner table. Jim’s meals were gargantuan affairs: He customarily began his dinners with six dozen oysters, followed by several tureens of turtle soup, several massive steaks \"smothered in lamb chops,\" a brace of pheasants, several other assorted courses, all washed down with a gallon of orange juice and topped off with a five-pound box of chocolates. To the end of his life, Diamond Jim was devoted to Lillian, showering her with diamonds, a gold-plated bicycle, literally spending millions on her. Their appetites for rich food, the diamonds with which they emblazoned themselves-Brady had a different set of jewelry for every day of the month and a cane with a three-carat diamond embedded in the ferule-made them exemplars of an epoch of gilded ostentation that has vanished forever. Their story is exciting, absorbing, and exotic-and in DUET IN DIAMONDS that story is told in a lively, anecdotal style that evokes a bygone era and two of its most celebrated figures. Illustrated, 286 pp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"G.P. Putnam's Sons","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45113700220981,"sku":"ByrdShop_0399109064","price":90.8,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780399109065_b2ef6b52-77b8-4c25-a981-9102c408ba29.jpg?v=1781175088","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/duet-in-diamonds-the-flamboyant-saga-of-lillian-russell-and-diamond-jim-brady-in-americas-gilded-age-9780399109065","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}