What was the fate of the girl who was the first in the world to jump out of the cake?
American Susie Johnson was the first to jump out of the cake, laying the foundation for such erotic dances. An amazing show took place in 1895. A company of famous men was delighted with a 16-year-old girl in a gauze dress, who, surrounded by live canaries, broke out of a huge fake cake.
The dessert was put on the table on the occasion of the tenth wedding anniversary of John Elliot Cowdin. But the wife of the famous polo player was not invited. The lavish dinner consisted of 16 courses and a huge amount of champagne served by two model girls. The brunette was serving red wine, and the blonde was serving white wine. Susie Johnson, dancing on the table, helped herself.
The backstory of the erotic dance on dessert
At the end of the 19th century New York was a huge anthill, engulfed in fever. The city was flooded with cash, supplied by shipyards, freight trains, numerous factories. Money has taken over the streets of Manhattan. Bright lights of electricity, huge crowds of people, hurrying carriages beckoned young girls from outlying states.
They flocked to Broadway, drawn by the promise of fame and fortune. Most of them became freelance models in the booming advertising industry. Less fortunate beauties ended up in the street or factory sex industry. Susie Johnson ended up in New York thanks to dreams of the Broadway stage.
It is known from publications in the yellow newspaper The New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer, that Susie grew up among the workers of the West Side. The model began her career with quite chaste portraits. Pretty soon she started to get naked. And here she is at the top of her career already dancing on dessert in front of select playboys in New York.
John Elliot Cowdin invited more than 30 guests to the dinner party, including the famous inventor Nikola Tesla, illustrator Charles Gibson, and architect Stanford White. By the way, it was White who came up with the trick with the girl in the cake.
Historical recipes for pies with live fillings
Western history has recorded many instances of a living person or bird appearing from a huge dessert. Confectioners entertained the idle elite in their own way. In the Middle Ages, pies were stuffed with live frogs, which then jumped right onto the table. An Italian cookbook dating from 1474 contains a recipe for a large live bird pie. When they were cutting treats, the birds flew free effectively.
The Duke of Buckingham and his wife excelled everyone. In 1626, they presented the monarch Charles I with a cake, inside of which was the famous midget, Sir Geoffrey Hudson. The King of England generously left the midget to serve at court. It is believed that the children's poem "Sixpence Song" tells about this story.
Public response to the story of the girl from the cake
The press described the scandalous dinner in great detail. The black and white illustrations depicted Susie Johnson surrounded by famous men. The list of guests, liver dishes and the cost of the event were made public. Elliot Cowdin shelled out as much money for dinner as a simple day laborer would have had to earn for six years.
The newspapermen hoped that poor Susie Johnson would wake up from the magnificent compliments, the amazing generosity of the respected gentlemen, and return home to her parents. Nothing of the sort happened. Midnight festivities with erotic dances on dessert continued in trendy New York studios. Susie Johnson often posed "under electric light". So journalists veiled called the sex work of provincial beauties.
12 years later, in 1907, The New York World again wrote about the dessert girl. This time, the headlines were filled with the name of the show's creator, who was Stanford White. The model imperceptibly faded into the background. More was written about the architect, who died at the hands of the angry husband of Evelyn Nesbit. A young woman told her husband that she had been raped by White. The subsequent events stirred up the stiff American society.
America's premier legal drama of the 19th century
The yellow press was the first to report the scandalous story of the rape that led to the murder. Stanford White was a respected member of society, and his company designed many of New York's landmarks. Journalists ruthlessly revealed to the public the secret side of his life. The story of the famous architect ended up in a tabloid novel and Hollywood scripts. It embodied not only the glitz of glamorous New York, but also the defenselessness of attractive working-class women.
Stanford White expressed sympathy for Evelyn Nesbit. He promised career assistance, full support for the girl and her mother. The 47-year-old architect has been married for a long time. He was not embarrassed by the age difference with a 16-year-old chorus girl. The playboy invited the girl to an apartment located on 24th Street. The luxurious apartment impresses with its glamorous interior. A velvet swing was attached to the ceiling of the upper floor. Subsequently, Evelyn was repeatedly invited to a luxurious apartment. On one of these evenings, White took the intoxicated girl into the bedroom and took possession of her. In the morning she woke up on bloody sheets, without clothes.
White unceremoniously told the girl that from now on she belongs to him. For a long time, Nesbit kept the incident a secret. She opened only to her fiancé Harry Thaw. By the way, her chosen one had a dubious reputation. The abuse of girls was mentioned. Due to his quick temper, he used his fists, he could splash boiling water.
Luckily, the groom didn't get mad at Susie. Harry Thaw became obsessed with the idea that Stanford White "spoiled" his fiancée. He decided to punish the offender on June 25, 1906. An event was held that day to mark the opening of the Madison Square Garden Theatre. Pursuing Stanford White, the young man wormed his way into the crowd. Harry Thaw didn't even try to hide after the shot was fired.
With the revolver still smoking in his hand, he publicly declared that he had killed the lecher who ruined the life of his beloved. Then this trial became the main drama of America. A member of the elite was involved in a scandal with sexual overtones. It is not known what fate befell Harry Thaw. Newspaper publications paid no attention to him. But the story of poor Evelyn Nesbit eclipsed even stock reports.
The trial did not bother the attractive provincial at all. At one point, Evelyn Nesbit became a star. Unlike other women of that time, she confessed to sexual abuse. The ambiguous questions of the prosecution did not undermine her dignity and honor. After the trial, the girl ended up in a psychiatric hospital. After overcoming addiction, she returned to the stage, took up teaching, and died in the 1960s.
Stanford White was buried in Long Island Cemetery. Numerous sights of New York daily remind of the amazing talent of the architect. Historian Simon Baatz devoted a book to the scandalous proceedings. According to him, Evelyn Nesbit became famous not for her acting talent, but for her high-profile rape case. At the same time, Stanford White went down in history as the creator of the architectural style of New York at the end of the 19th century.
What happened to the first cake girl?
Susie Johnson found her place in history. Girls jumping out of a cake have become a popular erotic show. The distraught members of the elite admired the beauties at corporate parties. It's no secret that a specific show is still in demand. Today, not only beautiful girls, but also guys jump out of fake cakes.
Historical archives have preserved few details about the fate of Susie Johnson. Newspapers in 1907 wrote about the marriage of the girl from the cake. The husband made a scandal when he learned about the dubious popularity of his wife. It was rumored that he filed for divorce.
However, the historian Simon Baatz denied the rumors, guided by the lack of evidence in favor of this version. At all times, the "yellow" press tends to embellish the facts. The first girl who jumped out of the cake, like many other attractive, insecure women, found her own family. Susie Johnson lived a long, prosperous life with a wealthy husband, a country house with a white fence, children and a dog. An obscure provincial from a working-class family got the American dream.
