Formal Dinner Party Etiquette Film With Emily Post (1947)

Famous etiquette coach Emily Post presents and narrates this film on how to behave properly at a dinner party. The film starts out with Mrs. Post in her garden in Edgartown, Massachusetts, wearing a floral dress, pearls, white gloves, and hat, talking about how most people feel unsure of their table manners at a dinner party. Having touched upon social anxiety, the film then moves quickly into genuine Emily Post etiquette. At a formal dinner party Post instructs diners on how to eat awkward foods like soup (sip straight from the bowl), spaghetti, asparagus, and sticky desserts. These tricky dishes can be quite a challenge to proper dinner etiquette. Post shows the audience which utensils to use for each course, how to deal with “unwanted morsels,” and how to carve dinner entrees. Some examples of bad manners are also shown in an effort to keep the intended male audience from persisting in any bad habits they might already have. Classic Emily Post quotes punctuate this florid film about dinner party etiquette.