History Main / TheGay90s

* Four of Creator/MaeWest's films: ''Film/SheDoneHimWrong'' (1933), ''Belle of the Nineties'' (1934), ''Klondike Annie'' (1936), and ''Every Day's a Holiday'' (1937).

* Creator/OrsonWelles' ''Film/TheMagnificentAmbersons'' (1942).
* Creator/VincentPrice's ''Film/HouseOfWax1953''
* Creator/CharlieChaplin's ''Film/TheGoldRush'' (1925)

No, not the "gay" [[HaveAGayOldTime you were thinking of]], nor TheNineties you were thinking of, for that matter.

You see, back in the earlier half of The20thCentury, people became enamored with the 1890s. It was where what we now recognize as [[ThatNostalgiaShow "decade nostalgia"]] was born, and The Gay Nineties became a popular setting for films of TheThirties, The40s and, to a lesser degree, The50s and The60s, by which time it was seen as that innocent age before the World Wars and the atomic bombs. This is the earliest decade which historiography regards as a distinct time period; prior to this, history is generally divided into "ages" or "eras" which lasted for a generation, or for the reign of a monarch. Since this reckoning of time by decades was retroactive, it didn't catch on until TheRoaringTwenties and [[TheGreatDepression the Dirty Thirties]], which is one reason why there is no widely-accepted term for either of the first two decades of the twentieth century - and thus why there wasn't for the first two decades of the ''twenty-first'' century, either.

According to nostalgic films set in this decade, back then everyone was a rich white person who wore {{Gorgeous Period Dress}}es, with every lady wearing ArtNouveau inspired dresses with GiantPoofySleeves and carrying a ParasolOfPrettiness [[labelnote: fashion tips]]Take note that the fashions in this decade no longer used bustles. The exaggeration shifted from the backside to the shoulders, leaving the skirts undraped in an A-line form, and giving the silhouette an hourglass look. Any fashion historian will tell you that the notion of everyone wearing bustles in the 1890s is like everyone wore [[TheEighties neon powersuits]] with [[ShouldersOfDoom gigantic shoulder pads]] in the [[TheNineties 1990s]].[[/labelnote]], and they all liked to hang out in ritzy places located in major U.S. cities (for [[BigApplesauce New York]], this was Delmonico's restaurant at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel). In fact, the "everybody's rich" stereotype stems from a conflation of this period with "TheGildedAge" (1876-1896), as the Gay Nineties were also marked by economic depression and much labor agitation (see [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1893 Panic of 1893]] on Website/TheOtherWiki), not to mention the UsefulNotes/SpanishAmericanWar. Even then, the term "Gilded Age" (as in, "coated in gold") was specifically meant to indicate that the good times were only a surface veneer, with serious problems lurking just beneath (as the Gay Nineties themselves later demonstrated). If you can find the graphic history book, ''The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible!'', you can see a sobering look at the real grimy realities of the era. It was particularly grim if you weren't middle-class and white; racism was blatant and commonplace and not only had the backing of the law, with the Supreme Court ruling in ''Plessy vs. Ferguson'' that racial segregation was legal as long as it was "separate but equal" (a condition which no civil government took seriously), but was defended with [[{{Technobabble}} pseudoscientific theories]] that lent a veneer of "scientific" legitimacy to pre-existing assumptions of [[WhiteMansBurden the superiority of the white man]]. Creator/MarkTwain's entire career involved him angrily mocking colonialism, imperialism and American Exceptionalism.

Historically, the 1890s was one of the more iconic periods of American history, leaving an impression every bit as indelible as TheFifties still does today. As a result, long after the actual decade had faded from memory (sometimes ''quite'' long after it faded), many of its tropes and stereotypes remained common fodder for depictions in the popular arts. This wasn't usually done without at least a bit of irony (usually only in satirical or {{Cloudcuckoolander}} works), but writers and artists returned to the Gay Nineties well so often that its conventions became even ''more'' stereotypical.

As was suggested earlier, TheFifties and later TheEighties and TheNineties eventually replaced the 1890s as the nostalgic period of choice, with the result that those decade's tropes largely replaced the ones mentioned above (resulting in [[TwoDecadesBehind Still the '50s or the '80s]], perhaps)?

See Also: RegencyEngland, UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain, TheGildedAge, TheEdwardianEra, TheRoaringTwenties, TheGreatDepression, TheForties and TheFifties, and also TwoDecadesBehind. Also see SteamPunk, which is usually set in a fantastical sci-fi version of this period.

* Whilst Literature/JeevesAndWooster is set in TheRoaringTwenties (or perhaps more accurately, GenteelInterbellumSetting), one story revolves around Sir Watkins Basset's CompromisingMemoirs (and the multitude of parties who desire the destruction thereof) of the various things he and other prominent personages did during The Gay Nineties. By the sound of it, he could give Bertie a run for his money any day of the week.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Planet 51}}'' is a movie set on an alien planet that's very reminiscent of TheFifties, but there's an alien boy who's dressed in an outfit reminiscent of Literature/LittleLordFauntleroy outfit [[HalfDressedCartoonAnimal without pants]].

* Illustrator John Held Jr., when not creating the iconic imagery of TheRoaringTwenties (he's currently the Trope Illustrator for that page), did woodcut-style art riffing on "the dear dead days" of the 1890s.

* It was pretty much a stock trope for ice cream parlors of a certain era. Up until at least [[TheEighties the 1980s]], [[http://www.swensens.com/ Swensen’s]] tried to evoke a Gay Nineties feel through the use of style and decor. The old Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours also [[http://www.happyitis.biz/Tidbits/stage_is_set.htm reveled in this trope]]-- and it looks like the [[http://www.farrellsusa.com/FutureProjects.aspx revival]] will use it too (along with some patriotic red-white-and-blue).

Art in this decade had shifted from the traditional, realistic, and impressionist movements to the innovative, modernizing, and expressionist movements. ArtNouveau had its full blossoming glory after the style spread in Europe, and the works of Creator/VincentVanGogh after his death, Paul Gauguin, Creator/AlphonseMucha, and others went into full display.

In Australia, the 1890s are among the most important eras of the country's history, politically, economically, and culturally. Australia's first art movement, the Heidelberg School, bloomed during this time. Bush Poetry also hit its stride here, most famously Creator/BanjoPaterson's ''Waltzing Matilda''. The decade's also seen as the beginning of a new chapter domestically: UsefulNotes/{{Melbourne}}'s [[GloryDays Golden Age]] since the 1860s came to a [[EndOfAnAge very sudden end]] in 1893, and the city saw no growth both economic and population-wise for over a decade. In its place rose UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}}, which was recovering from nearly a century of constant plague, kickstarting a rivalry between the two cities that only seems to have gotten stronger since. Sports-wise, the [[UsefulNotes/AustralianRulesFootball Victorian Football League]] broke off from the Victorian Football Association in 1896, growing into one of the most followed and watched leagues in the nation, and today is slowly encroaching into what is traditionally UsefulNotes/RugbyLeague territory. The most important thing that happened, however, was the Federation movement. The distance between Britain and the colonies, the economic hardships they were facing, and the threat of Russian/French/Chinese invasion meant that if the colonies were to remain divided, they would remain weak and eventually end up being conquered. Spearheaded by men such as Sir Henry Parkes and Sir Edmund Barton, the Constitution was drawn up during this time, and New Zealand and Fiji were asked to join. They declined, though jokes about them being Australian states are still being made today. Western Australia tried to keep out of it but to no avail.

Meanwhile, Germany's international presence changed dramatically as Kaiser Wilhelm got rid of the master politician, UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck, and set his country onto a recklessly aggressive stance that Bismarck strove to avoid, such as directly challenging Britain. And the Ottoman Empire, already beginning to split at the seams and having never quite recovered from losing Greece earlier in the century (in fact, political satire of the day referred to the empire as "the sick man of Europe"), showed its first signs of turning its Christian minorities into scapegoats, with widespread massacres that sent the first big wave of Armenian refugees to America and elsewhere (the next, even bigger wave coming during UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne).

Abroad, things were jumping internationally. In {{UsefulNotes/France}}, there was the Dreyfus Affair where Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French Army officer, was made TheScapegoat of a trumped-up treason charge. The controversy tore apart France as conservatives and the Army stubbornly refused to have Dreyfus' case retried no matter how much evidence about his innocence piled up, citing the need to uphold the "honor of the army" (which apparently involved covering up and defending the lies enabling a blatant MiscarriageOfJustice). Meanwhile, the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom found itself in its own version of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar with UsefulNotes/TheSecondBoerWar in [[UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica Southern Africa]]. It proved a frustrating fight against a savvy, well armed, and determined foe that finally required the British rounding up the civilian population in concentration camps to break the will of the enemy. At the same time, King Leopold II of Belgium was making a mint with his Congo Free State, a massive swath of Equatorial Africa as his personal property which was exploited to the hilt with ruthless colonial brutality enforcing his will, causing a death toll estimated to be 10 million Africans. It would inspire the Creator/JosephConrad novel ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', in which there was a very good real-life reason why Kurtz's last words were, "The horror... the horror..." Also, a French aristocrat by the name of Pierre de Coubertin would revive the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames for the Gay Nineties, which would be hosted in Greece (the site of the original Olympics).

Abroad, things were jumping internationally. In France, there was the Dreyfus Affair where Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French Army officer, was made TheScapegoat of a trumped-up treason charge. The controversy tore apart France as conservatives and the Army stubbornly refused to have Dreyfus' case retried no matter how much evidence about his innocence piled up, citing the need to uphold the "honor of the army" (which apparently involved covering up and defending the lies enabling a blatant MiscarriageOfJustice). Meanwhile, Britain found itself in its own version of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar with UsefulNotes/TheSecondBoerWar in [[UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica Southern Africa]]. It proved a frustrating fight against a savvy, well armed, and determined foe that finally required the British rounding up the civilian population in concentration camps to break the will of the enemy. At the same time, King Leopold II of Belgium was making a mint with his Congo Free State, a massive swath of Equatorial Africa as his personal property which was exploited to the hilt with ruthless colonial brutality enforcing his will, causing a death toll estimated to be 10 million Africans. It would inspire the Creator/JosephConrad novel ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', in which there was a very good real-life reason why Kurtz's last words were, "The horror... the horror..." Also, a French aristocrat by the name of Pierre de Coubertin would revive the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames for the Gay Nineties, which would be hosted in Greece (the site of the original Olympics).

This was also the time of the last great gold rush in the Klondike region of the Yukon. Thousands of prospectors headed north to strike it rich, and while the American town of Skagway, Alaska may have been wild, the prospectors in Canada quickly learned that they were in a very different gold rush, with the North West Mounted Police under the command of Sam Steele keeping a firm hand on their behavior. As such, it was the most orderly of such affairs in history and the legend of the Mounties was born.

You see, back in the earlier half of The20thCentury, people became enamored with the 1890s. It was where what we now recognize as [[ThatNostalgiaShow "decade nostalgia"]] was born, and The Gay Nineties became a popular setting for films of The30s, The40s and, to a lesser degree, The50s and The60s, by which time it was seen as that innocent age before the World Wars and the atomic bombs. This is the earliest decade which historiography regards as a distinct time period; prior to this, history is generally divided into "ages" or "eras" which lasted for a generation, or for the reign of a monarch. Since this reckoning of time by decades was retroactive, it didn't catch on until TheRoaringTwenties and [[TheGreatDepression the Dirty Thirties]], which is one reason why there is no widely-accepted term for either of the first two decades of the twentieth century - and thus why there wasn't for the first two decades of the ''twenty-first'' century, either.

You see, back in the earlier half of The20thCentury, people became enamored with the 1890s. It was where what we now recognize as [[ThatNostalgiaShow "decade nostalgia"]] was born, and The Gay Nineties became a popular setting for films of the 1930s, the 1940s and, to a lesser degree, the 1950s and 1960s, by which time it was seen as that innocent age before World Wars and atomic bombs. This is the earliest decade which historiography regards as a distinct time period; prior to this, history is generally divided into "ages" or "eras" which lasted for a generation, or for the reign of a monarch. Since this reckoning of time by decades was retroactive, it didn't catch on until TheRoaringTwenties and [[TheGreatDepression the Dirty Thirties]], which is one reason why there is no widely-accepted term for either of the first two decades of the twentieth century - and thus why there wasn't for the first two decades of the ''twenty-first'' century, either.

!!Examples;

* ''Film/{{Halloweentown}}'' balances the potential scariness of its MonsterMash inhabitants with a the cute, cheerful aesthetic of a small American town circa 1890. It has a cute little ice cream parlour, and guys swanning around in three-piece suits.

As was suggested earlier, TheFifties and later TheEighties eventually replaced the 1890s as the nostalgic period of choice, with the result that those decade's tropes largely replaced the ones mentioned above (resulting in [[TwoDecadesBehind Still the '50s or the '80s]], perhaps)?

With the 2017 death of Emma Morano, who was the last known living person born before 1900, there is officially no one left to be nostalgic about this decade. This is a ForgottenTrope and the fact that the name "Gay Nineties" was never changed should give you an idea [[OlderThanTelevision how long it's been dead]]. Of course, they still make films set in the 1890s, but the nostalgic version from the '30s and '40s is pretty much gone. In fact, some modern-day Hollywood writers seem to think ''any'' year not starting with "19" or "20" means "completely pre-Industrial Revolution." For example, see the entry on ''Film/TheVillage'' farther down this page. However, today's general unfamiliarity with the period works set in the 1880s or 1900s may make their setting indistinguishable from the stereotypical Gay Nineties.

* ''Film/TheVillage'' (2004) is supposedly set in 1897. It features a completely pre-industrial farming community where everyone dresses like it's 1797 and no one has heard of electricity, automobiles, or anything else that has happened in the past century. (Its rendition is closer to the America of ''Film/TheCrucible'' than that of ''Film/CitizenKane''.) It might seem that the filmmakers were not even familiar with Hollywood's idea of what the 1890s looked like. One could argue that this is justified because it is [[spoiler:not really 1897, but a "recreation" staged by the village elders.]] But since [[spoiler:the elders supposedly did do the research,]] one can only conclude that the filmmakers decided there wasn't really any difference between a century ago and two centuries ago. [[spoiler:Or that the village elders were [[FridgeBrilliance more concerned with maintaining a certain way of life]] than any historical accuracy]].

In Australia, the 1890s are among the most important eras of the country's history, politically, economically, and culturally. Australia's first art movement, the Heidelberg School, bloomed during this time. Bush Poetry also hit its stride here, most famously [[Creator/BanjoPaterson Banjo Paterson's]] ''Waltzing Matilda''. The decade's also seen as the beginning of a new chapter domestically: UsefulNotes/{{Melbourne}}'s GoldenAge since the 1860s came to a very sudden end in 1893, and the city saw no growth both economic and population-wise for over a decade. In its place rose UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}}, which was recovering from nearly a century of constant plague, kickstarting a rivalry between the two cities that only seems to have gotten stronger since. Sports-wise, the [[UsefulNotes/AustralianRulesFootball Victorian Football League]] broke off from the Victorian Football Association in 1896, growing into one of the most followed and watched leagues in the nation, and today is slowly encroaching into what is traditionally UsefulNotes/RugbyLeague territory. The most important thing that happened, however, was the Federation movement. The distance between Britain and the colonies, the economic hardships they were facing, and the threat of Russian/French/Chinese invasion meant that if the colonies were to remain divided, they would remain weak and eventually end up being conquered. Spearheaded by men such as Sir Henry Parkes and Sir Edmund Barton, the Constitution was drawn up during this time, and New Zealand and Fiji were asked to join. They declined, though jokes about them being Australian states are still being made today. Western Australia tried to keep out of it but to no avail.

* A brass band playing at a bandstand in a park or in the town square. [[Main/ACappella Barbershop quartets]] work too.

* ComicBook/ArchieComics did a few stories that featured Archie and the gang living in TheGayNineties. This seems to have been a [[AuthorAppeal fetish of one particular writer]]; Al Hartley. Check it out [[http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics210.html here]].

** Possibly a TakeThat to Hartley's story: An ComicBook/ArchieComics from the eighties has Betty pining for TheGayNineties and falling asleep, only to learn in her dream that it wasn't such a great time after all. When she awakes, she's happy to live in modern times.

* Jack Finney's ''Literature/TimeAndAgain'' (1970) is set in 1882, which is technically outside the time period, but it seems to fit the idea of TheGayNineties almost perfectly anyway.

* ''{{VideoGame/Fallen London}}'' is set in this decade as of 2012, since the game calendar moves in real time, just 122 years behind us; when the game originally opened it was set in the late 1880s. It does have quite a few features of the trope.
* ''Videogame/BioShockInfinite'': despite the main game taking place in 1912, Columbia was founded in the Gay Nineties, and it shows. There's even a singing troupe called "The Bee Sharps"[[note]]no relation[[/note]] whose tagline is "Columbia's Gayest Quartet". The game also deconstructs the concept, as it features [[DeliberateValuesDissonance some of the less pleasant parts of the Gay Nineties]], like blatant racism and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive ruthless robber barons]] running {{Company Town}}s that keep people in crushing poverty.

* ''VideoGame/TheYukonTrail'' has you as a prospector looking for gold in the Yukon in 1897, just before the GoldRush.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' featured a flashback to TheGayNineties with Mr. Burns taking a walk with his grandfather who was explaining to him the fine points of capitalism.

You see, back in the earlier half of the twentieth century, people became enamored with the 1890s. It was where what we now recognize as [[ThatNostalgiaShow "decade nostalgia"]] was born, and The Gay Nineties became a popular setting for films of the 1930s, the 1940s and, to a lesser degree, the 1950s and 1960s, by which time it was seen as that innocent age before World Wars and atomic bombs. This is the earliest decade which historiography regards as a distinct time period; prior to this, history is generally divided into "ages" or "eras" which lasted for a generation, or for the reign of a monarch. Since this reckoning of time by decades was retroactive, it didn't catch on until TheRoaringTwenties and [[TheGreatDepression the Dirty Thirties]], which is one reason why there is no widely-accepted term for either of the first two decades of the twentieth century - and thus why there wasn't for the first two decades of the ''twenty-first'' century, either.

-->-- '''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse''' cartoon, "The Nifty Nineties" ([[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1941]])

*** The WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse cartoon ''The Nifty Nineties'' (quoted above) and the WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck short ''Crazy Over Daisy''