Etiquette Tidbits from the 1930’s

       

A gilded age, combination olive serving spoon and fork, circa 1880. – “If there is no olive spoon on the serving plate, the dinner guest may take olives with the fingers.”

Water and beverage glasses at the dinner table should never be more than three-fourths full. – 1937

Never extend or “crook” the little finger when holding a tea or coffee cup. – 1936

The word “personal” should never appear on an envelope. The notation "please forward’’, however. is perfectly correct. – 1937

A young woman who sends flowers to a person who is ill should include her visiting card, writing a brief message above the name-line. – 1937

When a man is not sure whether the occasion calls for a tuxedo or full dress clothes, he should wear the swallow-tail. – 1937

Sport clothes now are considered standard dress for auto travel. – 1938

During bidding, a bridge player should not call his partner’s attention to the score. The host or hostess at a bridge party should explain all rules of progression before play is begun – 1938

If there is no olive spoon on the serving plate, the dinner guest may take olives with the fingers. – 1938

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

1930’s Etiquette Advice

Like all advice, etiquette advice should only be given when it is requested. Make certain to learn the specifics of what wants to know prior to giving said advice.

6 Hints on Etiquette 

It is not advisable to permit children to attend formal dinners. They are too restless to endure the process of serving leisurely courses. – 1937

Though popularly used, the phrase “Pleased to meet you” is not in good taste. “I am delighted to know you” is the preferred acknowledgment. – 1937

If her next dance is promised, a young woman waits for her partner to come to her. – 1938

When playing bridge, one should not touch his cards until the deal is completed. – 1938

Never introduce two persons unless you are quite certain the introduction will be pleasing to both of them. – 1938

Stationery used for business letters should have dignity and quality- White paper is considered the most desirable. - 1938

From the “Grab Bag” feature in the Imperial Valley Press, 1937 and 1938

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Etiquette of the 1908 Bridge Table

No one should venture to entertain at bridge, nor accept a bridge invitation, who cannot play the game more than passably well. Don’t go out into public until you can do more than “play at the game”! It is not enough that the hostess provide only four well-matched players, cards and a score pad and pencil. 

Before the evening or afternoon game starts, there are several things that the thoughtful hostess must attend to before she can be assured of a perfect party. 

❤️♣️♦️♠️♥️♣️♦️♠️♥️♣️♦️♠️

Above– A bridge table luncheon place setting for 1955, complete with ash tray, matches and cigarettes. Cigarettes, ash trays and a lighter or matches, were proper at place settings from the 1940’s and 1950’s, They were likely found at most all card tables in 1908, though the proper place setting manuals and etiquette books did not mention them as “requisites” until the 1940’s. 

How to Cover a Bridge Table

It is said that the etiquette of bridge must be as strictly adhered to as must the very rules themselves, and one of the most important etiquette laws is that the table at which the game is played shall be of correct height and size and in perfect keeping with the furnishings of the room. No longer is the cheap wooden table with its dull felt cover permissible, but, fortunately, an attractive bridge table is an easy matter to make at home, and to have the card table in keeping with the style of room there need be no added expense to be considered.

The newest bridge tables are less than a yard square and made of the lightest pine wood so as to be easily portable. A square yard of material will therefore cover the table completely, and this cover may be either brocade, heavy corded silk, panne velvet, tapestry, chints, or felt of a shade corresponding to the color scheme of the room. For a country house a bright French chintz is attractive, while a good piece of tapestry is smart for a library or den. Brocade for a handsome French period room is most frequently made use of, while panne velvet in soft shades of green, pink, and blue is often used and makes a delightfully soft cover and one that is excellent to play on. The felt is still preferred by numbers of card enthusiasts, but the light colors are now generally preferred, although with a dark background it is unquestionably easier to distinguish the cards one from an other.

To put on the cover is an easy matter. The material is first stretched tightly over the table and then cut so as to leave about an inch beyond what is necessary to turn in to prevent fraying. The brocade, felt, or whatever the material chances to be, is then nailed to the wooden rim with large thumb tacks or brass-headed nails, or, if desired, the material may be drawn down underneath the edge of the table and fastened there with small tacks.

Gilt tables are extremely pretty, and on any white wood the gilt can easily ba painted. Silver is also sometimes used, but unless peculiarly in keeping with the furnishings of the room is not so effective as the gold finish. White enamel paint is most attractive for a morning room, while mahogany varnish is easily applied, if that will look best in the room, Mahogany and marquetry tables can be made up to order, but must not be ex pected to masquerade as antiques, for the modern bridge is quite unlike the card table used when whist flourished in the days of Thackeray and Dickens. Perhaps the most fashionable furniture of the moment is the golden-brown English walnut, and there are bridge tables to be had in this wood just as the design of the Louis XIV., XV., XVI. and the Empire can be copied in the legs of the bridge table if so desired for a room as an example of that special period.– The New York Times, 1908

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Keep Elbows Off the Table!

“You never can tell from where you sit 

Where the grapefruit's juice is going to hit 

so bring along your towels and goggles,”

advises Miss Hazel Clark, the pretty Los Angeles bridge player, 

who is shown here demonstrating how to whiten elbows... but not how to sit properly at the table. 

Lean Arms on Table 

The Little Hemispheres Are Rather Elusive... but if that age-old decree of social etiquette that one should never put his elbows on the table has been proven all wrong. Also now popular idea that a grapefruit's only social usage is that of a morning appetizer, or as one of the innocent concomitants of salad or cocktail, has been proven fallacious. Nowadays, in really smart society, you plaster your elbows brazenly upon the festal board. Furthermore, you plaster them in your grapefruit! A whole one to each guest. Cut it in half to be sure, and one part is employed by each elbow for a parking place. Elbows inspired the new fad. 

Elbows are highly important parts of the anatomy in these days when women's sleeves are usually short or absent altogether. Some one discovered that the juice of grapefruit is softening and bleaching when applied to the elbows, and so efficacious that it seems as though the gods of feminine beauty designed it for arm angles. Someone else discovered that the way to combine business and pleasure is to play bridge with the aforesaid elbows resting in the damp, stinging nests of grapefruit. It is said to be difficult to get onto the knack of it at first. The little hemispheres are exceedingly elusive. With the expanding scope of the new fad it is said that all grapefruit-bridge players will arrive at a party equipped with their own towels and goggles.– Miss Hazel Clark, 1922

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia©️ Etiquette Encyclopedia