James B. Brady's Successful Career

Born August 12th, 1856, James Buchanan Brady was raised in a poor working class section of New York City with very little money to his family's name. James Brady grew up working as a bellhop in his father's dingy saloon , with little food to eat, hunger was not an uncommon feeling in the Brady household. Brady resented his father as a child and did not agree with who his father welcomed in the saloon and the business they did together. Brady soon ran away, and within a few years he found his first real job as a equipment salesman for the New York Central Railroad Company. The life of a salesman suited Brady very well and would start his outstanding career as a charming, and ostentatious businessman. As a man Brady was a symbolic figure of the
“He developed into an extremely effective salesman, becoming very charming, affable and personable. Over the years he earned a reputation of being able to sell anything to anyone.”(Historyspaces.com). By the age of 23 Brady’s talents would catch the attention of a Railroad company Manning, Maxwell,and Moore and he would soon became a figurehead for the company and develop an extremely reputable career as a salesman. At often times Brady was referred to as the “Super-Salesman” , his success as a salesman and the investments he put into companies led him to a superfluous amount of money,and by the age of 30 he decided to retire. Brady did not need to worry about how much he spent on anything, and this carried him into a life of flamboyancy and
Brady became a very ostentatious man always wearing hundreds of diamonds on his clothes he soon picked up the nickname Diamond Jim Brady. It was said that “When strolling along Broadway in the evening it was estimated that he was wearing on his body approximately 2,500 diamonds.”(Historyspaces.com). Along with diamonds Brady adored food, him and Russell would have a plethora of food showcased on their dining table during every meal. The ironic part of his obsession with food was that as a kid struggling, he had no food and this could be why as a rich man he is obsessed with it now.One restaurant owner referred to Brady as “The best 25 customers I have ever had.” With every feast Brady would down a gallon of orange juice because he oddly did not drink alcohol. Brady could be a spokesperson for the saying “Go Big or Go Home.” Everything he did, he went big it was said that as he walked down the street beams of light would reflect off his diamonds and it looked as if he was glowing. “He sported a cane that had a 3 carat diamond embedded in the knob of its head. He wore what was considered the largest diamond rings in the city of New York.”(Historyspaces.com). Brady represented the dream of rags to riches, born a poor man and soon becoming one of the richest men in New York, but his flamboyant lifestyle led him to became more a symbol of the “Gilded