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. 

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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

Table Setting Etiquette of 1957

Flatware should always be laid in the order of its use, from the outside in, toward the plate. Spoons and knives (cutting edges toward plate) go to the right —forks to the left. An exception is the oyster or cocktail fork which belongs on the extreme right, outside the spoons.

Correct Table Settings 

Make sure, you have perfectly set tables for parties and entertainment!

Every successful hostess is an artist, for she blends into colorful harmony her guests, each of whom she makes feel specially honored with her tastefully prepared food, correct table settings and the cheerful Christmas atmosphere. Following these general common sense rules which prevail for all settings and all meals, the gracious hostess will always be assured the charm of perfectly set tables whether for the big family dinner, parties during the Yuletide season or gay holiday get-togethers. 

Flatware should always be laid in the order of its use, from the outside in, toward the plate. Spoons and knives (cutting edges toward plate) go to the right —forks to the left. An exception is the oyster or cocktail fork which belongs on the extreme right, outside the spoons. Pieces called for are butter spreader, fork, knife, cereal spoon (dessert), and, frequently placed on saucer, spoon for coffee (teaspoon). 

Should your menu include fruit, cereal and a main course with coffee, use a serving plate of medium size, placing a fork at the left. On the right next to the plate lay first a knife, next a dessert spoon for cereal and then a teaspoon. Have the edge of the plate and the tips of the handles of the silverware in line about an inch from the table edge. The bread and butter plate, with an individual butter spreader, is placed in its usual position at the tip of the fork. Coffee is poured and passed with teaspoon in place on the saucer. Try to serve breakfast in the brightest, most cheerful spot in the home. 

INDIVIDUAL PLACE SETTING FOR INFORMAL LUNCHEON: 

Usually a simple meal, luncheon can be be helped along with emphasis on the attractiveness of the table appointments. A colorful cloth of individual mats and a centerpiece of poinsettias will do much for stimulating the appetite. Pieces needed are butter spreader, fork, salad fork, knife, cream soup spoon, dessert spoon or dessert fork and teaspoon for beverage would be brought in after the main course has been cleared. At each place set a bread and butter plate and individual spreader, a goblet of water and a napkin. The salad fork and the luncheon fork are at the left of the service plate with the salad fork next to the plate. On the right is the knife and outside that, the soup spoon. A teaspoon should be placed at the extreme right if a fruit cup is to be served. The spoon or fork to be used with the dessert is brought in when it is served. Coffee may be served with the main course. For the dessert, and teaspoons should be ready to pass with it. 


SERVICE FOR THE BUFFET SUPPER: 

The buffet supper has become one of America’s most convenient and most popular methods of entertaining large numbers of people during the Yuletide. Guests happily adapt themselves to the gay informality and the fun of helping themselves to tastefully prepared food. For the buffet suppers the individual pieces are laid out flat in symmetrical form in a convenient place—all spoons together, all forks together, etc... Guests take the pieces they want. Individual pieces depend upon what dishes are served, but the hostess will usually place for each guest: Fork spoon for coffee (after dinner coffee spoon if demi-tasse cups are used)—dessert spoon or fork (or salad fork) for dessert, and possibly a knife. Serving pieces are placed on table beside each dish. 

PLACE SETTING FOR INFORMAL DINNER: 

A casual, pleasant atmosphere surrounds the informal Christmas dinner — leisure, relaxation, cheer, friendly conversation. A white damask-cloth is always correct and conventional. Fewer and simpler courses are served than at formal dinner. The bread and butter plate with butter spreader is at the left directly above the forks (dinner fork on outside and salad fork next to plate). At right next to dinner plate are the dinner knife, soup spoon (oval bowl or cream soup) and the spoon for fruit or fruit cocktail (orange or teaspoon). An oyster (or cocktail) fork may be substituted when seafood cocktail is served. The dessert fork or spoon is brought in with dessert.— By Raymond A. LaJoie, Central Press Association Correspondent, December 1957

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