This may look like an old-fashioned scene to us today, but to a
contemporary viewer it would have seemed very modern. In this painting, there are clues that show how technology and urban American society were changing at that time. Electric lights and an elevator to the roof made this summer night entertainment possible. Before roof gardens existed, amusements of this sort were limited to public places for men only, and forbidden to “respectable” women. As vaudeville became an accepted form of entertainment, women could relax in the company of men.
