This is a short video (9 minutes) of the filming of a scene in the HBO TV series "The Gilded Age" shot in Washington Park, Troy, NY, June 2021. More info: www.hbo.com/the-gilded-age
In June 2021, I had the incredible luck of living in downtown Troy during the shooting of scenes from Julian Fellowes film series, "The Gilded Age." The 9-part historical fiction TV series is about the Astor 400, "the only people worth knowing in Gilded Age society", with attention to 19th century detail that will rival Fellowes’ “Downton Abbey.”
The Gilded Age is a term used to describe the prosperous years in American history post Civil War. Unprecedented growth in technology and industrial activity gave way to greed and corruption. Wealthy tycoons, bankers and politicians created extraordinary wealth at the expense of the working class. The elite grew rich through the monopolies they created in the steel, petroleum, and transportation industries, according to Britannica. Notable tycoons included John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Leland Stanford and J.P. Morgan. Fellowes' new show is described as 'a sweeping fictional epic of the millionaire titans of New York City,'
One day I was able to shoot video of the crew filming an elaborate outdoor scene in Washington Park, a block from where I live. It was exciting to have a front row seat to view all the film set technology and the carefully choreographed movements of 19th century dressed actors and horse-drawn carriages. The costumes, particularly the lady's dresses, were gorgeous. There was incredible attention to clothes and period set details. The crew covered the blacktop road with dirt and occasionally sprayed it with water to keep the dust down.
What makes the video of the street scene especially interesting is the multiple layers of activity all happening simultaneously. There is the cameraman and film crew in the foreground, pedestrians on both sides of the street, two lanes of horse-drawn carriages and in the background an actress entering a house.
The important part of the scene for the storyline is the lady in the pink dress in the background showing the servant her invitation to a social event (4:57, 5:41).
To give the video a Victorian feel I used music from the Spare Parts CDs, "The Civil War Ballroom" and "The Regency Ballroom."
Starting at 2:30, it's fun to watch Lambie (the fellow in the red T-shirt), managing the street traffic by giving hand signals to carriage-drivers and pedestrians who are waiting for his cue to enter the camera's view.
To see how much effort went into refashioning downtown Troy into a 19th century New York city film set, watch Gilded Age Troy: • Gilded Age Troy
Set designers for The Gilded Age TV production turned the clock back by covering the modern, asphalt streets with truckloads of dirt and dressing up building facades with 19th century awnings, doorways and period-appropriate shop windows. The video includes photos of: horse-drawn carriages, building exteriors, signs identifying businesses, entertainment posters, a flower shop and elaborate window displays for tobacco, confectionary products, women's hats, women's and men's clothing, shoes and boots, silverware and china. The photos were taken in May 2021.
In the photos below, you can see how downtown Troy was turned into a 19th century film set.
Gilded Age Filming in Troy
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Gilded Age Film - Shops
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Gilded Age Film - Posters
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Gilded Age Film - Carriages & Horses
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Troy Architecture
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What Washington Park (Troy, NY) looked like before (and after) the Gilded Age film crew occupied it - • Walking to English Cou...
More about the film: www.hbo.com/the-gilded-age
What is the Gilded Age Film About (from hbo.com/the-gilded-age)
The American Gilded Age was a period of immense economic change, of huge fortunes made and lost, and the rise of disparity between old money and new.
Against this backdrop of change, the story begins in 1882 - introducing young Marian Brook, the orphaned daughter of a Union general, who moves into the New York City home of her thoroughly old money aunts Agnes van Rhijn and Ada Brook. Accompanied by Peggy Scott, an accomplished African-American woman, Marian inadvertently becomes enmeshed in a social war between one of her aunts, a scion of the old money set, and her stupendously rich neighbors, a ruthless railroad tycoon and his ambitious wife, George and Bertha Russell.
In this exciting new world that is on the brink of the modern age, will Marian follow the established rules of society, or forge her own path ?