the theater that in 1890 Alexander Graham Bell picked her voice to carry the first long distance phone service message between NYC, Boston and Washington D.C. Diamond Jim Brady was born in 1856 to a modest family in NY City and never married. At a young age he worked first as a bellhop and then finally doing jobs with the railroads. As a salesman for Manning, Maxwell, and Moore, a railroad supply company, he was tremendous, and in his lifetime made millions through those sales. His nick name “Diamond Jim” came from the fact that he always dressed to impress and jewelry with diamonds were a big part of that wardrobe. His jewelry collection was estimated to have 20,000 diamonds and 6,000 other precious stones. He owned 30 matched sets of jewelry, one for each day of the month. His number one diamond set contained a 25.5 carat diamond ring. Brady was quoted as saying “If you are going to make money you have to look like money”. His reputation for eating large amounts of food at one sitting was well known and people began to think his appetite was as big as his bank account. From an early age Brady loved the theater and met Lillian Russell in her early years as a stage performer. He always sent her the biggest floral arrangements on opening night and usually hid gifts of jewelry in the arrangements. Lillian loved the attention and Jim loved being in the presence of such an admired performer. They traveled to Saratoga with others and sometimes together to spend time in rented homes or the cottages of the big hotels. The cottages were in the courtyard area of the United States and Grand Union Hotels. Although the main hotel was patrolled by house detectives who followed the rules of morality of the day, the cottages served as an area where couples not necessarily married to each other could spend time together. On at least one occasion they rented the house at 23 Greenfield Avenue in Saratoga Springs for the summer instead of a cottage at a hotel. They both visited the dining room at the Canfield Casino and Lillian loved having renowned Chef Jean Columbin prepare her crepes Suzette table side. Lillian and Jim Brady loved the mutual attention and discussion that was shown them when together in Saratoga. The old time socialites just referred to her as “That woman”. I think they both fed off each other’s fame and totally enjoyed their time together. One of the many stories of Lillian and Jim’s friendship involved a bicycle. It is said that Jim gave Lillian a bicycle that was covered with diamonds. This is true, but it gets better. Lillian began to ride the new invention, the bicycle, in Central Park in NY City. She finally pressured Brady into riding and he found that he really enjoyed it. In typical Brady fashion he bought not one but 12 bicycles. He didn’t stop there. He asked Tiffany’s to gold plate the 12 bicycles. When Tiffany’s refused the job Brady took the bicycles to a shop owned by William Mock. Mock gold plated the bicycle frames and plated the spokes of the wheels in silver. In addition Lillian’s bicycle had her monogram in diamonds on the handlebars. When the tandem bicycle made its debut in NY City, Brady in typical fashion had a triple seater bicycle built and he and Lillian and Dick Barton rode in Central Park. That was the style of Jim Brady. If someone had one thing he made sure he had two, or more. Even though the people on the street wondered and gossiped about the relationship that really existed between Lillian Diamond Jim the truth is they were just great friends. Jim had fallen in love with Edna McCauley and hoped that she would someday marry him. At the same time Lillian was seeing Jesse Lewisohn and I think she hoped that they too would marry. Jesse became ill and needed to change his lifestyle with less drink, gambling and late nights. Brady offered him use of his manor in New Jersey to rest and recuperate. Edna was already at the manor and would,
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as a friend, be willing to help him during his stay. After many months of a very busy schedule, Brady went to the manor to see his friend Jesse as well as his mistress, Edna. Upon arrival he learned that Jesse and Edna had fallen in love and that they were planning to get married. Brady took the news very hard and went into a very depressed period. Lillian handled the news a little better but still spent more time with her career to get through the bad times. It was after this event that Diamond Jim made a formal proposal of marriage to Lillian. She told him that she appreciated it but that they were friends and it needed to stay that way. They continued to see each other as friends and Lillian eventually married for her fourth and last time in 1912. They remained as good friends until the end. The end would come soon enough when Brady died in 1917. A wonderful couple who loved life and especially the life and friendship that shared every summer in Saratoga Springs. SS
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