MNY381614: Group portrait including Edmund Lincoln Baylies (seated centre) and Ruth Payson (Mrs. E.L.) Baylies (standing third from right) at the James Hazen Hyde Ball, New York, January 31, 1905 (silver gelatin print) 88:James Hazen Hyde (1876-1959) American millionaire socialite who inherited majority shares in the Equitable Life Assurance Society; His opulent New Year's Eve party of 1905 had a c18th French motif and filled two ballrooms at Sherry's Hotel; Equitable subsided into chaos later that year after Hyde was accused of being too frivolous to run an insurance company;, Byron Company (fl.1890-1942) / Bridgeman Images