WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO WRITE A BOOK ON THIS CASE?

In the Notes section of my book I briefly discuss how it all started. Initially I was investigating the origin of certain late 19th century stereotypes for an American lit course I teach called “Daughters of Decadence.” Throughout my research I kept coming across the hypnotic face of Evelyn Nesbit. Like so many others, I became obsessed with her image and wanted to know more than what I thought I knew from having read E. L. Doctorow’s novel, Ragtime. It took on a life of its own so to speak from there as I began to sift through the fictions to try to uncover the facts surrounding the now infamous girl at the center of the case that “rocked civilization a century ago. This led to my tracking down the 6000 pages of original trial transcript, locating and interviewing family and friends of Evelyn Nesbit (even meeting Harry Thaw’s last lawyer) as well as reading through the thousands of newspaper articles written (the trial was front page news for two years running.) I began to piece together a vision of a culture in crisis, fed on excess, corruption, hypocrisy, and misplaced sentiment, where innocence was exploited and where the private was no longer guarded from the public. Suddenly I saw an uncanny relevance to Evelyn’s story for today’s society.

   

WHY WOULD NESBIT MARRY THAW? EVEN IF IT WAS FOR MONEY, IT SEEMS LIKE SHE COULD HAVE FOUND ANOTHER WEALTHY SUITOR.

That’s one of the prickliest questions I faced when I learned the circumstances of her relationship with Thaw, since in virtually all other respects she had a very intelligent and intellectually curious mind (which her beauty always overshadowed.) I came to the conclusion that her decision (which I call the worst mistake of her life in my book) was based on several factors – the most obvious being no formal education, no parental guidance, and a childhood of poverty versus what she perceived of as the comfort of the Thaw millions; added to that is the fact that Stanford White had already “ruined” her as far as any other legitimate suitors would be concerned within his considerable sphere of influence. And, like all practiced sociopaths, Harry had effectively cut her off from other avenues of choice. In addition, he promised,(and gave convincing evidence) of being able to curb his darker appetites and behave. My sense is also that if she couldn’t have Stanford White, she made the awful decision to marry the man obsessed with him, forming the perverse triangle that ended in tragedy.

DID NESBIT THINK HER HUSBAND WAS CAPABLE OF MURDER? DID SHE HAVE ANY KNOWLEDGE OF HIS PLAN?

Evelyn (and mostly everyone who knew her demented husband) considered Harry a coward at heart – his frequent violent outbursts more often than not took the form of threats to others; when there was any actual “fisticuffs” Harry usually ended up “getting the worst of it.” All evidence points to the fact that Thaw was willing to engage in sadistic games but only when acted out on young defenseless women and boys. When it came to acting out against men, he didn’t -- he hid behind his money and his Mother’s skirts. Until it was too late, I do not think Evelyn truly understood the depth of Thaw’s hatred and jealousy of White. She underestimated him and, for example, did not know that Thaw’s veritable network of spies and detectives had been trailing White all day on June 25th. If Harry had formulated what I consider a vague plan of murder in his twisted mind – she was not aware of it. One of the ironies in this case is that White would have escaped New York unharmed if he had left for business in Philadelphia as planned that night. Unfortunately for him, his son came to town unexpectedly which kept him in Manhattan. I don’t think Evelyn ever believed Harry was actually capable of personally and physically attacking such a vital, powerful man as Stanford White. Up until then, Thaw had always paid people to do his dirty work, especially when it came to investigating White’s suspected activities with young girls.

WHY DID SHE CHOOSE TO TESTIFY AT HER HUSBAND'S TRIAL AND EXPOSE DETAILS OF HER RELATIONSHIP WITH WHITE TO SAVE HIS LIFE?

That’s a complicated issue. I’m sure on one level she thought in her naivete that promises of money or support from the Thaws would be compensation for her public humiliation. Of course she figured (wrongly) that the Thaws would owe her “big time” for sacrificing her reputation to save Harry’s life – it seemed his only viable defense since the whole clan was “dead set” against an insanity plea in the first trial. I also truly believe that knowing Harry was crazy, coupled with whatever mixed emotions she felt for him, compelled her to testify rather than see him go the electric chair. She mentioned in one of her letters that the image of Topsy the elephant, whose horrible shuddering electrocution Edison had filmed on the boardwalk at Coney Island a few years earlier, haunted her.

WHEN DID NESBIT'S CAREER TAKE A DOWNWARD TURN? WHY WASN'T SHE EVER ABLE TO REVIVE IT?

It was a gradual slide that began soon after the second trial, which ended with Harry’s incarceration in Matteawan. It was clear almost immediately to Evelyn that once Harry was in the insane asylum, Mother Thaw had no intention of rewarding her for her salacious and scandalous testimony. At that point, Evelyn was still married to a lunatic incarcerated for who knows how long with no means of financial support. At the same time, a delusional Harry grew more and more resentful that she was not grateful enough for what he did “for her” – which was to ruin any chances she might have had for a “normal“ life since she was now and forever the “girl in the red velvet swing.” Evelyn soon sought comfort in drinking and began taking morphine for her neuralgia, both of which became full-fledged addictions, which in turn began to show in her once dazzling looks. There’s little evidence that she had any remarkable talents in terms of her performing ability, so her initial success in vaudeville through the teens and twenties was most likely rooted in the curiosity of the audiences. When their interests waned, so did her career. She eventually gave up the idea of performing altogether. Although in the decade or two following the murder she made the statement “The tragedy wasn’t that Stanford White died but that I lived,” she was able by her later years to view things through the lens of experience tempered by a keen sense of humor and irony. I call her the phoenix since she rose from her own ashes (including several suicide attempts) more than once, eventually acting as a consultant for the movie The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing starring Joan Collins in the title role.

WHY DO YOU CONSIDER THIS "THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY," RATHER THAN THE LINDBERGH KIDNAPPING OR OJ SIMPSON'S TRIAL?

The ”Great Harry Thaw Case” as it was ballyhooed at the time by Thaw family publicists, not only featured the first bona fide “spin doctors”, it really was a watershed moment for the new century that established so many firsts it had to be called “the crime of the century” at the time and still holds up for me. The murder of White set in motion a trial unlike any other before it -- with its expose of the corruption among the wealthy and the dark side of the American Dream (Horatio Alger turned on its head), the clash of classes and the end of the Victorian era, revealing shifting attitudes regarding sexuality, its use of alienists, its defense of a brainstorm and Dementia Americana, its creation of the sob sisters and a media circus that used every form of communication available at the time (film, books, music, etc.) to play the case in the court of public opinion. It set the tone for all subsequent celebrity “crimes of the century” and offered the modern model for virtually every other trial rooted in celebrity, scandal and sensationalisms that followed – Fatty Arbuckle, the Lindbergh kidnapping, Leopold and Loeb, the Manson murders, O.J. Simpson … the list goes on.

HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE "IT GIRL" EVELYN NESBIT TO PARIS HILTON AND BRITNEY SPEARS?

On the one hand, it’s hard to say how today’s generation of almost interchangeable young female celebrities (those with names like Miley, Britney, Lindsey, Mary-Kate and Ashley) compare with Evelyn, whose looks were unique for her day and established an archetype as the Gibson Girl. (I’d leave Paris off the list altogether since she’s just an heiress with no identifiable talent or iconic beauty.) All of today’s “it girls” are Hollywood “success stories” that are part of a disturbing and insidious collective cultural fantasy which seems to delight in watching young women crash and burn for its own titillation and entertainment. Sadly, Evelyn was the first of her kind once she took the witness stand, and yet her “It girl” status was almost like spontaneous combustion – her quick rise to fame and equally swift plunge into notoriety seems now incredibly naïve, unfortunate, and unplanned by comparison. Today’s young female celebrities seem far more calculated, cynical, and almost obsessive about exposing themselves to the harsh light of celebrity-fueled fame, unconcerned about whether they will land in rehab, jail, or a mental ward. On the other hand, like Evelyn, virtually all of today’s teen-aged femme fatales have been at least initially placed in harm’s way by a mother (or father) with dubious motivations and atrocious parenting skills. I say this very deliberately in light of those parents whose astounding lack of guidance and poor judgment seems apparent in the crass exploitation of their own children for mere profit or publicity. Evelyn may have been the first but she was not the last in a long line that very few can seem to escape successfully – Jodie Foster and Brooke Shields come to mind as two who did rise above circumstances – and of course they went to Yale and Princeton respectively. Somehow, I don’t see college in the future of the Lohan or Spears sisters.

WHERE CAN READERS PURCHASE YOUR BOOK?

It’s available through the websites for Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, and Penguin Books (among others) and is in bookstores as well. You can find it quickly on my website www.americaneve.com.

Evelyn Nesbit was the original “It Girl” in the early 1900s. But, her career took a downward spiral after being caught up in a scandal when her husband, Harry Thaw, killed her ex-lover, Stanford White. Author Paula Uruburu considers this case “The Crime of the Century” and spoke to Crimejunkies about her new book “American Eve.”