Mrs. Christy's Bridge Party

New York's old guard is about to learn that money talks louder than manners. When the Christys, wealthy newcomers with a shadowy past, throw an extravagant bridge party, the city's social elite faces a crisis: attend and legitimize the interlopers, or boycott and risk losing their place at the most coveted table in town. Mrs. Reginald Norman and her circle initially stand firm in righteous indignation, until curiosity and financial self-interest prove more powerful than principle. Bassett's sharp social comedy exposes the hypocrisy of a society that claims to run on breeding while quietly surrendering to whoever can afford the entrance fee. Written in the Jazz Age's early years, this is a period piece that reads like Balzac with better weather, capturing the moment when inherited status began its slow surrender to the checkbook. For anyone who delights in watching the respectable expose themselves.