Prodigal Days: The Untold Story of Evelyn Nesbit

by Evelyn Nesbit

The memoirs of Evelyn Nesbit, the showgirl caught in the middle of the 1906 murder trial of Stanford White and labeled "The Murder of the Century." Evelyn's husband, Harry K. Thaw murdered New York's then most famous architect, Stanford White on the the roof top of Madison Square Garden on a hot June night in 1906. The "seduction" of 16-year-old Evelyn Nesbit by Stanford White and her later marriage to Harry K. Thaw would result in a vengeful murder trial covered by newspapers around the world.

Genres: True Crime, Memoir, Biography, History, Autobiography

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Florence Evelyn Nesbit (December 25, 1884 – January 17, 1967), known professionally as Evelyn Nesbit, was a popular American chorus girl and artists’ model whose liaison with renowned architect Stanford White immortalized her as "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing."

In the early part of the 20th century, the figure and face of Evelyn Nesbit was everywhere, appearing in mass circulation newspaper and magazine advertisements, on souvenir items and calendars, making her a cultural celebrity. Her career began in her early teens in Philadelphia and continued in New York, where she posed for a cadre of respected artists of the era, James Carroll Beckwith, Frederick S. Church, and notably Charles Dana Gibson, who idealized her as a “Gibson Girl.” She had the distinction of being an early “live model,” in an era when fashion photography as an advertising medium was just beginning its ascendancy.

As a stage performer, and while still a teenager, she attracted the attention of the then 47-year-old architect and New York socialite Stanford White, who became her lover and dedicated benefactor. Nesbit achieved world-wide notoriety when her jealous husband, multi-millionaire Harry Kendall Thaw, shot and murdered Stanford White on the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden on the evening of June 25, 1906, leading to what the press would call “The Trial of the Century.”

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[David Grassé · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Evelyn Nesbit's second autobiography telling the story of the White/Thaw shooting in which she played a principle role. She was older when she wrote this, and had better insight into what occurred, and also was much more forthcoming about her own struggles in the wake of the trials.

[Suzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating, but biased, personal account of the events. At times, Evelyn seems like an unreliable narrator, either intentionally lying in an unconvincing way or by giving her honest perceptions that are almost certainly not accurate, but I think those moments will likely be obvious to anyone who has studied the case. Regardless, getting to read her perspective on everything that happened to her before, during, and after the case was absolutely fascinating. I'm so glad that she wrote her memoirs.

If any of you, like me, have trouble tracking this book down (it's on Amazon for an absolutely absurd amount of money), I recommend using the Internet Archive. It's available there in its entirety for free.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The full story of Evelyn Nesbit's life has never been told. Nor will it be. Like all notorious women, she took most of her secrets with her to the grave. If only she hadn't been quite so pretty or had gone to Vasser as her father had wished. Sadly, Father met an early end and Evelyn was much, much too pretty.