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| photo illustration by Mark D. Ruffner |
Marjorie Merriweather Post was the heir of C. W. Post, the founder of Postum Cereal Company, and at his death she became the wealthiest woman in America. Mrs. Post was a shrewd businessperson in her own right — she saw the future of frozen food and championed it, eventually forming the General Foods Corporation.
Mrs. Post was a gracious hostess, but also one tough cookie. The stories of her quest for perfection abound. I was recently going through some old magazine clippings (from the days when photo magazines were huge in format) and came across this photo of Mrs. Post, inspecting her table before a party for the French ambassador.
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| Life magazine |
"Mrs. Post, who has a passion for perfection, gives a searching scrutiny to the table setting, the final step in this all-important ritual — which began right after breakfast. Three cloths of rare old lace were spread and stitched together to make one. When the job was done, not a seam or thread showed. Mrs. Post would not tolerate this any more than she would having the table itself off center. The centering was achieved with the aid of a special spotlight in the ceiling. Then out came the measuring sticks for the really intricate part of the operation [the opposite page apparently showed servants centering the place settings with measuring sticks.]. At precisely 7:30 p.m., after the florist had left and every object on the glittering table had been positioned to the centimeter, eight footmen and two wine men lined up for final briefing. At exactly 7:45, Mrs. Post herself appeared for this final last look. At 8:30, when the French ambassador led the 26 other guests into the French Regency paneled dining room, it seemed a shame to disturb such sheer symmetry by eating."
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| Life magazine |
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Dear Mark, What can I say? All this opulence and attention to detail can make a person very nervous...yet, I would have liked to have been invited.
ReplyDeleteDear Gina,
DeleteYes, though I too have an attention to detail, this degree of striving for perfection would be a little offputting. My Walter Mitty mind desperately wants someone to come into the room at exactly 8:29 and dance the length of the tabletop!
yes -and the current exhibit is all about this! this month there are a series of lectures on different ways of 'running an estate' and I hope to make it to a few of them.
ReplyDeleteIn her collection on display in the butler's pantry a number of dollar-store finds are mixed in with 18th century Russian china as well - she was a perfectionist but not a snob (in that way at least!). I'm so lucky to live mere blocks from Hillwood!
Hi, Stefan,
DeleteYou are indeed lucky to live near Hillwood, a marvelous place to tour. My sense of MMP is that whether she was buying a Fabergé egg or a crocheted closet hanger, she enjoyed a good deal.
They measure place settings at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle dinners too, so I think it was quite commonplace in days of yore. And in the case of the former two, the Queen as consumate hostess, inspects the dinner table after it has completed. A bit like here, actually!!
ReplyDeleteDear Columnist,
DeleteI do seem to remember documentary footage of preparations for a state dinner at Windsor Castle, and seeing the measuring sticks coming out. Since Mrs. Post was at one time married to an ambassador (Joseph E. Davies, the second American ambassador to the Soviet Union), perhaps such a royal dinner was her inspiration.
Hello Mark, Attention to detail is certainly the key to successful entertaining, but I think that Mrs. Post overdid it a little. Such obsessiveness might have ended up making guests somewhat uncomfortable. I am reminded of stories of Dorothy Rodgers who supposedly arranged things just so, then if a guest moved an ashtray a few inches, she would move it back.
ReplyDeleteNow that I am aware of this high standard of hospitality via your blog, be forewarned--if I am ever lucky enough to visit you in Florida, I am bringing my compass and protractor to check every angle!
--Jim
Hello, Jim,
DeleteI would welcome a visit from you, though the dinners I serve my guests are always at restaurants. (But you would be able to measure the drinks and hors d'oeuvres on my coffee table.)
My mother, who raised three active boys, had no patience for the Dorothy Rogers type of housekeeper, whom she always referred to as "nasty-nice!"
It all seems so old fashioned but I recently saw a piece on 20/20 where David Muir was sent to butler school where they measured each piece in a place setting. So apparently somewhere in world, this formality still exists.
ReplyDeleteHi, Steve,
DeleteIt occurs to me that Mrs. Post's introduction of frozen foods contributed to the evolution of fast foods, which in turn were a factor in the demise some of the niceties of dining that she cherished. How ironic.
Dear Mark,
ReplyDeleteI had not heard of the formidable Mme. Post before and having read your blog I have spent some time wandering through her family, via the Internet: The people she was related to!
I do like that elegant blue evening dress she is wearing in the photograph you have included: Chic but not overpowering and the perfect velvet glove for her iron will...
Kirk
Dear Kirk,
DeleteYes, Mrs. Post was well-connected to influence through marriage, but was also herself formidable. She was also an interesting study in contrasts because she did have some simple pleasures. But it is her quest for perfection that I find interesting. I remember a guide at Hillwood mentioning that once a year Marjorie Merriweather Post would have each cobblestone in her long driveway individually scrubbed and then revarnished. That was typical of her attention to detail.
I'm old enough to remember when the Life magazine article came out---and how completely over-the-top the attention to detail seemed to my ten-year old brain (not that I didn't want to immediately begin measuring the distance between plates at my mother's table). I'm older now.
ReplyDeleteDear Dilettante,
DeleteI have duly updated the posting to show proper credit to Life magazine — thanks!
I had a similar experience when I was about ten, reading an American Heritage article on the pre-eminent 19th-century carriage maker of New York. He was a crazed perfectionist who slashed woodwork with a pen knife if he saw any flaws in it, and he mixed unique colors for clients like the Rothchilds. It inspired me to repaint my bicycle in my own signature blue.
Mrs Post's quest for perfection extends to her wonderful posture. Haven't we all become so round shouldered or does age make me more aware of this ?
ReplyDeleteDear smr - You are quite right, and I suppose it goes to show that perfectionists are invariably toughest on themselves.
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