Etiquette for Bidding “Bon Voyage”

Should the gift be given on the boat, or would it be better to give it prior to their leaving?

Q. We are to bid “bon voyage” to friends who are leaving soon for Europe and I wish to know if a fancy box of chocolates, with a “bon voyage” card attached would be a suitable gift, as it is for ladies. Should the gift be given on the boat, or would it be better to give it prior to their leaving?

A. The box of chocolates would be quite all right for the parting gift. It may be given to the steward on the boat, with instructions to place it in their state room, or it may be given to them prior to their leaving, either of which would be correct. The former, perhaps, would afford the greater pleasure, since it would then be received after the excitement of saying “goodbyes” and leaving friends behind- and the surprise “done up in packages” in the state room would be more enjoy able.– By Florence Austin Chase, 1929

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Wedding Fashion Etiquette of 1929

Usually children should wear simple clothes, but weddings are one time when they are dressed picturesquely so that they belong in the pageant of the wedding procession.

MEDIEVAL WEDDING DRESSES ARE ALWAYS EFFECTIVE

When Lucille Rogers was married she chose to dress her attendants in medieval costumes. For herself she chose a heavy satin in deep, deep ivory. The tulle veile matched it in shade. The dress was made with long bodice plain and tight-fitting. The skirt had a long train which hung in two panels. Her attendants wore dresses with ivory transparent velvet bodices and skirts of georgette. The georgette was in three flat tiers, the first being a light shade, the second darker and the third deepest of all, One maid had three shades of rose, another of yellow, another of green and the last of lavender. The bodice was cut low in the back and depending from the bodice was a large soft, two-looped bow, with ends which formed short trains.

The flower girls wore quaint dresses of washable fine voile. The dresses were short waisted and puff sleeved. The three tiered skirts were of pale pink, a deeper shade and then a soft rose.

At another wedding the ring bearer was in white satin with white satin pillow. His little blouse had a frill of soft satin at the neck. The little girl had a dress with a deep Bertha collar which was caught up on one shoulder with grosgrain ribbon. Both of these children were pictures. Their mothers had had sense enough not to curl the hair. It fell loosely and naturally, and did not have the frizzy look that hair so often has. Usually children should wear simple clothes, but weddings are one time when they are dressed picturesquely so that they belong in the pageant of the wedding procession. - Nancy Page By Florence La Ganke, San Pedro News Pilot, 1929

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Ordering Etiquette in Restaurants

“It is necessary to know what the main course is going to be before fixing upon the wine. Therefore, do not order wine until the main dish has been chosen by those at the table.”- Amy Vanderbilt 

Q. Dear Miss Vanderbilt: I would like to know if there are any specific rules on the order in which you order various dinner courses in a restaurant. That is, do you order appetizer, salad, main course, vegetable and potato way you would be served or is there a rule of etiquette to govern just how you state your order to the waiter? 

I have been told that the correct way is to order your main (meat) course first, then salad, appetizer and vegetable, but I have been unable to substantiate this is any books of etiquette. I would appreciate your help. -Mrs. E. S., Bridgeville, Pa.

A. You order the appetizer first, then the fish course if any, then the meat course. If separate vegetables are listed on the menu, you indicate which ones you would like. Otherwise, they are served automatically with the meat course. Although you don't order the meat first, you have decided on it before ordering the preliminary course or courses.

Recently there was a symposium for New York prep school boys at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York. They were instructed on how to order. It is important, they were told, that the choice of courses balance with another. You can see what would be wrong with herring with sour cream, followed by cream of asparagus soup, chicken fricassee, salad with Russian dressing and Washington cream pie. 

Also, it is necessary to know what the main course is going to be before fixing upon the wine. Therefore, do not order wine until the main dish has been chosen by those at the table. If you don't know too much about wines, never hesitate to ask the advice of the sommelier, or wine steward. He can't make, intelligent suggestions until he knows what your main course is.– 1965, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Gilded Age Office Gift Etiquette

It is not customary, but sometimes employers are moved to make a present to employees in appreciation of services in addition to the salary paid.

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS   

The matter of giving Christmas presents is one of individual taste. A stenographer is at liberty to give presents to her employer and those who are her companions in the office if she feels so inclined, but if she does not it would not be considered “a breach of etiquette.” It is not customary, but sometimes employers are moved to make a present to employees in appreciation of services in addition to the salary paid. If the firm or others in the office should offer the stenographer one or more gifts at the glad Christmastide she would be very rude if she did not accept such. – San Francisco Call, 1898

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Etiquette and Appreciation of Soup

What Have We Here? — A Gilded Age place setting with a French écuelle. An écuelle is a 2 handled bowl, generally with a cover to keep soup hot. The écuelle is perfect for a broth or light soup. A small round (bouillon) soup spoon sits to the right. – From the book, “Yesteryear… More of What Have We Here?: The Etiquette and Essentials of Past Times to the Mid-20th Century”

NEW YORK Every eater has a special set of gastronomic obsessions. One of my most persistent has to do with hot soup, by which I really mean hot ' soup. Anything less than a curtain of steam that obscures an eating partner across the table is to me soup that borders on the tepid, a soup that must be hurried through before it is actually cold and therefore inedible. 

Today one is generally served soup that ranges from barely tepid to very warm. Or which, at best, is Just a few degrees above body temperature, so that it feels hot to the lips but dies a chilly death by the time it reaches the back of the tongue. Nor do a few wan wisps of rising steam prove that soup is really hot. but merely that the liquid is somewhat warmer than the room in which it is being served. 

A combination of reasons Is behind this creeping tepidism that is understandable, if not excusable. For one thing, hardly anyone under 45 really knows what hot means when related to soup. At least two generations separate today's eaters from forbears who emigrated from Russia, Germany, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and China, where even today Microwave, like it not, hot soup is taken seriously. 

Ever frugal, wise old housewives served soup so hot that the preheated tureens added to the warmth of the room and one could thaw winter chilled hands by sliding them over the outside of the bowl. Finally, when eaten, these soups served as personalized central heating systems. Hot soup has also met Its demise partly at the hands of etiquette snobs who decry blowing on broth or slurping It from a spoon. Many restaurants deliberately serve tepid soup for economic reasons. If they are relatively inexpensive eating places that rely on turnover, they cannot afford to have chairs occupied an extra 10 minutes per seating by customers waiting for soup (or coffee, tea or cocoa) to cool. 

To work one's way through a bowlful of incendiary soup is to pass through several stages of enjoyment, almost Oriental In their subtle refinements. Start with a bowl of soup that is topped by a mushroom cloud of steam, a soup that is still atremble with its own inner heat, and you begin by inhaling a heady essence, as the scent pervades your nostrils long before its substance can touch your tongue. Soon you pick up a small amount on the tip of the spoon and between whispering sips and lightly exhaled, cooling puffs, you begin carefully to get a sense of what the liquid portion of the soup holds in store. 

These early sips must exclude solids, still too hot to handle in the throat. In a few minutes the soup is merely hot and larger mouthfuls can be handled, revealing liquid and solids in full-bodied splendor. After that, and eating ever more quickly, the warm soup is a luxurious comfort, full of taste but allowing freedom from caution. Now you can really consider the tastes behind tastes, the textures of solids, the herbs and pot vegetables that perfume the brew. As always when eating soup, intermittent bites of bread renew the palate to the subtleties of the liquid. – By Mimi Sheraton, New York Times News Service, 1979

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Etiquette for Feeding Romance

Comes now the silly season, or the romantic season, or the wonderful season, or the lyrical season, depending on where you stand in these matters. And it might be well, at this point, to look at some groceries with an eye to their R.Q., or Romantic Quotient.

... And Another Thing

Now springtime is approaching like a runaway choo-choo, and we'd all better get ready. Comes now the silly season, or the romantic season, or the wonderful season, or the lyrical season, depending on where you stand in these matters. And it might be well, at this point, to look at some groceries with an eye to their R.Q., or Romantic Quotient.

This is no new endeavor. Since people and food were invented, which was at about the same time, people have been interested in the romantic or - hopefully – aphrodisiac properties of what they eat.

But I bring sad tidings. If you have been depending heavily on Arabian skunk or Roman goose tongue or the brains of love- making sparrows - as did the ancients - you might as well forget it. They do no good. Nor, apparently, do the more personal parts of the poisonous puffer fish, no matter what the modern Japanese think. Nor does anything else.

And, to quote Mimi Sheraton. who has made quite a study of these things, and I wish all research projects were as interesting, “I have yet to find the food one bite of which will cause me to drop my fork and make straight for the bedroom.”

Still, it might not be without value (this is a phrase we scholarly writers like to use be cause it sounds more scholarly than “it might be valuable”) to consider what foods or dishes are definitely UN-aphrodisiac in their effect. On whoever is watching you eat, that is. And while I am no expert in matters of the heart, I once wrote an Etiquette Book in which I touched briefly on the less attractive aspects of ingesting food.

So let's plunge in.

Anything you must spit out some of, such as grapes or olives with pits in them, isn't particularly romantic fodder. You can, however, swallow the grape seeds, and I don't think they’ll hurt you any, even if your mother did tell you they'd give you appendicitis. At least, when you attack a piece of grappa cheese, the rind of which is solid grape seeds, you're supposed to eat them, else you display a certain lack of savoir faire. Next time, don't order it. 

Corn, of course, presents a nearly insoluble problem. When a girl eats it on the cob, her lipstick tends to meld with the butter, on the cob and around her mouth. (On the other hand, if one slices the corn off, one may arouse the suspicion that one’s choppers are not one’s own.)

A lady I know insists on drinking all her drinks except hot coffee through a straw, because she can shape her mouth so prettily around it.

Then there is the sound of spaghetti. This is a welcome sound to the chef who prepared it, for it is the sound of appreciation. But it is not a romantic sound.

Consider, too, the too-fat hamburger, dribbling bits of letutce and mayonnaise down the chin, to leave it smelling like a blue plate salad.

Consider, too, the potency of peanut butter, the scent of which carries three times farther and lasts six times longer than any- thing by Lanvin or Chanel. These are all gustatory truths which must be faced and grappled with.

And yet, to be honest, we must admit that whether or not spaghetti or corn on the cob or even peanut butter is romantic depends to a huge extent on who is eating them. Which is only one of the many lyrical facts about Springtime. – By Peg Bracken, 1965

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

How Fried Chicken Etiquette Changed

Etiquette for eating fried chicken has changed since the advent of the first “fast food” chicken offerings. Founded in Illinois in 1952, Chicken Delight came on the scene first. It grew rapidly with home delivery service and a memorable jingle, “Don’t cook tonight, Call Chicken Delight.” Due to Kentucky Fried Chicken also entering the take-out fried chicken market that same year, but with far fewer stores, and its subsequent widespread franchising of fast food restaurants across the nation, KFC overtook Chicken Delight in popularity by the 1970’s. KFC has since become a global phenomenon.

Hands off pieces of chicken! Unless of course, they are “nuggets.”

From the 1930’s: 

DEAR Mrs. Post: Is it incorrect, according to etiquette, to eat even the slightest bit of chicken in the fingers? I don't mean whether it is correct to take up what can be cut off the bone easily enough, but I am referring to the very small bones from which it is impossible to cut meat loose with knife and fork. Aren't good table manners to-day more lenient about these foods, especially if finger bowls are provided?

Answer: No, people are less lenient than they used to be. That is, if we go back to the descriptions given us by the writers of long ago, and as copied for instance in the moving picture of Henry the Eighth, who picked up a whole chicken in his hands and tore it apart, our table manners have become positively finicking. The only thing that could soil the fingers and is not tabooed by the meticulous are lobster claws. And when such lobster is served, finger bowls of hot soapy water should be provided at once. Perhaps, if this practice were followed when serving chicken, there would be no objection to taking the wings in the fingers. – by Emily Post, in Good Taste Today, 1937

 

From the 1970’s: 

According to Amy Vanderbilt, “Chicken must be eaten with fork and knife except at picnics. Bones are not put into the mouth but are stripped with the knife while being held firmly by the fork. Joints are cut if one's knife is sharp enough and it can be done without lifting the elbows from the normal eating position. Chicken croquettes should be cut with the fork only, as are all croquettes and fish cakes, then conveyed to the mouth in manageable pieces.”

From Today: 

According to Maura J. Graber, Etiquipedia© Site Editor and Director of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, chicken in the form of chicken “nuggets,” “tenders,”“Dino bites,” and the like, are all finger foods. Fried chicken which is designed for enjoying as a finger food looks positively silly when eaten with a knife and fork. That being said, one still has to follow basic table manners, however. There is no finger licking, lip smacking or stuffing one’s mouth to the limit allowed.

 

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Who Pours at Tea?

More etiquette for pouring at tea: If the hostess for a formal tea is pouring, she need not rise when guests come by the table to bid her farewell. She bows and perhaps offers her hand. If the hostess is not tied to the tea table with duties, but has friends pouring for her, then she should be sought out by departing guests who thank her for her hospitality.

Let Members Pour at Women's Club Tea

DEAR Mrs. Post: Our women's club is giving a large tea for approximately a hundred and fifty guests. Would you suggest that it is better at a tea of this size to let the hotel do all the serving, or do you think it more friendly to have members of the committee preside at the tea table?

Answer: At a tea for as many as fifty the details of serving are more often than not taken care of by the caterers, or by the servants in a private house. However, in your case, if sufficient members of the committee take turns at pouring, it should not be too tiring for any one of them, and there is no question that club hostesses at the tea table would create a more friendly atmosphere. In any case, all the other details of replacing used cups and saucers with fresh ones and replenishing sandwiches and cakes. and passing them will be taken care of by the hotel.– by Emily Post, 1937

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

A Gilded Age Philosophy of Etiquette

Though forks hadn’t started to appear on the tables of the United States until the 1830’s and 1840’s, like early mobile phone usage in the U.S., they soon took hold and were common place within a matter of just 15 to 20 years, as new technology always does. New etiquette was written for them too. By 1883, eating from one’s knife instead of a fork was discouraged in every book and publication of the day, as Granny would well know!

There is an 1883 philosophy in the requirements of good breeding, whether in the etiquette of the table, the street, the call or in the discharge of other social duties and pleasures. The requirements which polite society demands of its votaries are not mere arbitrary rules, but will be found to be invariably the result of a careful study of the greatest good and pleasure of the greatest number. 

Take, for instance, a very gross and marked example: Etiquette requires that the food shall be borne to the mouth on the fork and never on the knife. It is, evidently, most unclean, and, therefore, disagreeable to see a person thrust a knife into his mouth, and exceedingly trying to delicate nerves to see him in continual danger of involuntarily enlarging his mouth by an awkward slip of the knife.- From “Granmaw’s Kitchen” in Hilltop Messenger, 1967

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Folding Fan History

The kind of fan a Gilded Age or Victorian lady carried, depended on her social status. The well-dressed woman possessed a fan for every occasion and she was obligated to handle her fans properly. – Image source, Pinterest

Historical Background

The word “fan” comes from “vannis,” the Latin name for a tool used to winnow grain. and the earliest use of fans was around 3000 BC.

Japan is generally credited with inventing the folding fan. This important innovation was superior to rigid screen fans because the fan could become smaller and was easier to handle for everyday use. The folding fan could possibly have been derived from “mokkan” - thin, small slices of wood used for writing. About two dozen mokkan could be joined at one end. When the sticks are spread apart, they form the ribs of an open fan. By the 10th century folding paper fans (called “ogi”) were not only in use throughout Japan, they had traveled to China by way of Korea. The oldest surviving pleated Japanese fan is from the 12th century.

The fan in Japan symbolizes friendship, respect and good wishes. It is a gift that is given to people on special occasions. Fans were mostly used in social and court functions. Symbolically, the fan stands for many things. The Japanese believe that the handle of the fan symbolizes the beginning of life and the radiating ribs represent the many paths of life one can take in all directions.

Georgian (1714-1837) fans often represented the most exquisite "objets d'art" which were the perfect gift for a lady in an era which cultivated good taste, and connoisseurship of the hand-crafted object. Fans also had a particular place in the traditions of masquerade that developed across Europe in the past century, masking the faces of their owners, as part of an elaborate ritual of flirtation.

Upper class Victorian (1837-1901) ladies did not work and had the leisure to perfect their image. These ladies generally stayed at home in the mornings and visited freinds and neighbors for afternoon tea or socialized at other events. They changed their morning clothes for afternoon events and then changed again for the last meal of the day. 

Dinner attire was much more elegant with jewelry, exquisite fans and stoles. The folding fan became a natural complimentary object for a woman to carry where ever she went and fashioned basically required them. The kind of fan a Victorian lady carried depended on her social status. The well-dressed woman possessed a fan for every occasion and was obligated to handle it properly.

By 1865, fans were an indispensable fashion accessory for the emerging middle class; some of the grander fans were clearly for pageantry; more modest fans displayed the perceived delights of the Industrial Age - vibrant aniline dye colors, machine lace, gaudy prints and painted leaves.

In conclusion, few art forms combine function, decorative art, communication, performing dance, and ceremonial purpose as elegantly as the fan. It is ideal for demonstrating refined etiquette, practicing the “language of fans,” or just cooling yourself off. Since it is lightweight, it can be conveniently carried in a purse or pocket. And, of course, it is a must have item for the child who wants to give a “serious” make-believe tea party for her friends or dolls. This fan is also an elegant gift! —Historical Folk Toys, 2014

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

What Did Emily Say?!?

Ten years after her 1922, “Blue Book of Etiquette” was published, Emily Post had a radio program. As I build my Etiquette Museum, I have been acquiring all sorts of things to share with visitors. I purchased several original transcripts of her radio program and will be sharing some of them here on the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia. This below is one of many. It is from 1932.

What  EMILY POST said 

on the 

Du Pont Cellophane Radio Program

WJZ and NBC NETWORK                                            10.45 Α.Μ. E.S.T... 9.45 A.M. C.S.T.

11/22/32                      November 28, 1932

"GOOD TASTE" 

by EMILY POST

On this first morning I think I ought to give you some idea of the subjects that I mean to discuss at our meetings. First of all I shall probably talk about anything and everything that seems to me interesting because it seems to me that things that are interesting to me are likely to be interesting to you! But what I especially meant by saying that I wanted to make these gatherings friendly is that I shall try to explain frankly, as I would to any intimate friend, the reasons why we do this, or say that; why one thing is good form and another is not. I also want to note the modern changes not only in fashions, but in point of view. But at the same time I want to point out as we go along the principles underlying good taste that are unchangeable. By which I mean that best manners invariably spring not from rules of etiquette, but from kindness, which etiquette merely helps us to apply. 

And I am also going to talk about a subject that I myself love much, the personal appeal of a house, outside and in, upstairs and down. I've spent a great part of my own life trying to find out why one house or perhaps one room alone enchantingly invites us, why another says nothing to us at all, and I want to tell you what I've found out. It may sound formidable to suggest that we talk about the principles of classical beauty or of ethics or the ideals of culture, but as a matter of fact I want to talk about all of these and show that (to a practical degree at all events) they are not hard to understand. There are rules by which to measure beauty, just as there are rules for setting a table, speaking grammatically, or understanding the meaning of culture.

Speaking of culture reminds me of an advertisement I once read which said: "To eat an olive correctly, is to impress others as a person of culture." So I may as well add that this is not the sort of culture I have in mind. In fact, it is just this sort of olive-eating absurdity that has made the word etiquette lose all of its value. Rules of etiquette are not a lot of mumbo jumbo nonsense, learned by the few in order to make an impression on the many. The sole object of etiquette is to make the world a pleasant place to live in, to make contacts smooth, to oil the social machinery, and to point out to every human being in every civilized community, the ordinary principles of kindness and good taste.

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

New Webinar Date and Slots Available!

Our January Webinar filled up quickly! We have added a second date — March 14th, 8:30 a.m. PDT

Calling all Etiquette Enthusiasts! Celebrate a Century of Etiquette and Manners as portrayed by Hollywood in Period Dramas and Films 

🎥 🍿 🎬 🍿 🎥 🍿 🎬 🍿 🎥 🎬  

 We will be covering manners as they are portrayed in the film and television adaptations of famous works and novels

What’s wrong with this photo? You may have seen Henry VIII portrayed as a bone-slinging slob, but in real life, he was anything but! “So, far from rudely gobbling haunches, the king observed complex etiquette. True, there was at least one occasion when Henry threw sugar-plums at his guests, and, given the gallons of sweetened wine consumed, meals must sometimes have got out of hand. Yet the general rules of table were politer than our own. If Henry overindulged (and surely he did, his waist thickening to 54in after a jousting accident in 1536), he did so with aplomb. Hands were washed before, during and after every meal. He had a special finger-bowl – heated in a chafing dish – and a designated napkin to protect his fine ‘manchet’ bread roll. When he had eaten enough, he stood and washed his hands while an usher brushed crumbs from his royal person.” From 2009, Telegraph News

• Discover the authentic and inauthentic manners and etiquette in the film and television adaptations of famous works and novels.
• Discover the clever ways that etiquette is shown in Hollywood.
• How good manners are portrayed, and learn the subtle tools used to exhibit status or wealth.
• How etiquette and mannerisms have been used to create indelible roles and memorable characters. 

If you joined us in 2023 for our previous free seminar on dining etiquette in Hollywood, and found it entertainingly educational, you will find the deeper dive into the subject even more so! 

For over a century, motion pictures have enthralled, entertained and educated audiences around the world. Famous lines from hit movies, can immediately transport one back to the theater, to when they first heard the immortal words. “I’m the king of the world!” “There’s no place like home.” “I’ll be back.”… “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.“ “Here’s looking at you, kid.” “Houston, we have a problem.” "I have a head for business and a bod for sin."

All have resonated with movie audiences and pop culture for decades after the movies first arrived in theaters. Manners and mannerisms too, along with “etiquette lessons” seen in films, have affected pop-culture and moviegoers. I know this, due to the fact that so many of my etiquette class students over the last 35 years, young and old, have mentioned scenes from movies that left lasting impressions on them. 

The movies are numerous. In this webinar, we will be covering many of them. Which motion pictures got the manners just right? Which motion pictures got the manners wrong? Which motion pictures should have steered clear of teaching manners to the theater going public? Which movies equated good manners with snobbery? Which movies made etiquette appear necessary for a civil society to thrive? 

We will cover the films that have tickled us with their style in slyly teaching proper manners and mannerisms. We will cover the films which really got things muddled and were anything but helpful in teaching the theater going public that learning manners can be fun. 

From delightful to dreadful, and back to delightful again, we are going to discuss these motion pictures, which have most stuck with us while entertaining us at the same time. Sit back, grab your popcorn and enjoy our visit to the movies. No 3-D glasses will be required! 

We hope you’ll join us!

Maura J. Graber and Elizabeth Soós

Course Overview:

Join us for a unique opportunity to enhance your etiquette knowledge and have your questions answered.  Author, teacher and etiquette historian, Maura J. Graber will be joining Elizabeth Soós of Auersmont Etiquette for an online seminar in which they plan to enlighten, educate and entertain with the true reasons our dining etiquette rules exist, the history of the rules and the backstories behind them. 

Course Contents: 

This 2-hour course is designed for individuals of all backgrounds and professions, especially those in the field of etiquette! Attendees to this online seminar will discover how increasing one’s knowledge of etiquette can assist in making one more prosperous in business and social endeavours. We live in a world of many “Whys.” Why not join in the discussion?

Course Curriculum:

Take 1: Introduction

Take 2: A Century of Table Manners on Display in Hollywood

Take 3: Hidden Etiquette Lessons in Hollywood

Take 4: Confusing Utensils and Place Settings on Film

Take 5: Unusual Foods and Fine Tables Starring in Films

Take 6: Q & A

Questions Which Need Answers:

Please submit any questions you have about the etiquette shown in movies and in series, as the course will be tailored to address them. All questions must be submitted by March 1, 2026, via this link: Google Forms: https://forms.gle/Lfnpjw73vhd3qESy7

Here are some questions that will be answered:

• Why are the gloves not removed fully at the table on Michelle Pfeiffer‘s character in the film Age of Innocence?
• Why do so many women wear gloves in period dramas when they are drinking or eating?
• Do writers of period dramas or films ever just make up their own Etiquette? 
• How much etiquette do they actually stick to which is in etiquette books?
• What is one film that you can think of which shows incorrect etiquette throughout?
• What is one film or show you can recommend which gets all of the etiquette correct?

Certificates:

Certificate of completion - Digital certificate included.

Accessing Course Recordings for Review

Do you have a scheduling conflict? You can always watch it at your leisure another time. A link will be sent to you a few days after the seminar.

As a beginner, is this event suitable for me?

Beginners are welcome, and we hope that you enjoy the event. 

Event pricing.

Pricing will be set as AUD - Australian dollar.

Where are my course emails? And will I be notified about the course before it starts?

Please check your spam, or other folders that your email account might have forwarded to.  We send a series of emails via Humanitix every week leading up to the event.

Please note:

Gif's, video and photos credits: 20th Century Studios, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Home Entertainment, Walt Disney Pictures, Buena Vista Pictures, 21st Century Fox, CBS Media, Viacom, CBS Studios, Columbia Pictures, ITV, Focus Features, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Canva

Your Hosts:

Maura J. Graber - The RSVP Institute of Etiquette & Founder of Etiquipedia Etiquette Encyclopaedia

Elizabeth Soós - Founder of Auersmont School of Etiquette and Protocol in Australia

                     

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia