You Can't Buy Everything

According to a contemporary article in the Motion Picture Herald, May Robson's character is based on Hetty Green (1834-1916), known as "The Witch of Wall Street," because of her financial acuity and frugality. During her career she was the richest woman in the United States, and was also known as "The Queen of Wall Street." She also had a daughter, but just her son was portrayed in this film.

Hetty Green was born in 1834 in New Bedford, Massachusetts to the richest whaling family in the city with a Quaker upbringing. She learned business basics at the knee of her father and grandfather. At 13, she became the family's bookkeeper and later helped manage her family's business. She was "the richest woman in America" during the Gilded Age."

She was an early proponent of empowered women, believing "It is the duty of every woman to learn to take care of her own business affairs," and "A girl should be brought up as to be able to make her own living..." "Whether rich or poor, a young woman should know how a bank account works, understand the composition of mortgages and bonds, and know the value of interest and how it accumulates." She predicted the Panic of 1907, was a well-established financier and "was the only woman invited to the critical meeting with J.P. Morgan and the leading banking executives at the height of the crisis."

Despite Hetty Green's exceptional investment instincts, discreet generosity, and admirable character, most media reports from the era (and soon thereafter) characterized her thrift as evidence of miserliness. The Guinness Book of World Records named her the "greatest miser." Stories that were often cited include her refusal to buy expensive clothes, pay for hot water, instructing her laundress to wash only the dirtiest parts of her dresses (the hems) to save money on soap, and her habit of wearing a single dress that was only replaced when it was worn out. Yet many of these habits were considered abnormal mainly because the Gilded Age was a time of celebrating excess rather than hiding it. When Hetty Green's life is evaluated in its entirety and in the context of the time period, it is clear that media criticism grossly misrepresented her true character.

On the streetcar, the conductor removes the transfer tickets from his pocket twice between shots.