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by Gretchen Damrosch D. 1969 Finletter (Created by)
""Our regular waitress, a tall lady with a great gray pompadour on the top of which rested a white cap with a black bow, was giving some directions to the hired waitress, who wore a different kind of cap and had a haughty manner. It seemed that at the last dinner party where she had hired out, she had started with the roast and the regular waitress had followed with the gravy. But Jenny, our waitress, was sticking up for her rights.
To OBSERVE the human race and be invisible oneself gives one a strange sense of power. It is especially interesting to study another generation and to observe its foibles. There should be more concealed doors and hidden balconies in the world.
My sisters and I watched dinner parties from the top of the stairs. It was a proscenium box and gave an excellent view of a series of good first-act entrances and exits. From our position we could see the front hall and its mirror, the center hall and its mirror, a section of the parlor if the portieres were pulled back far enough, the door and a bit of the dining room, and we had a clear view into the very congested pantry. "
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gretchen Blaine Damrosch Finletter was the daughter of famed Conductor Walter Damrosch and Margaret (Blaine) Damrosch. She and her three sisters grew up in New York City in a home dominated by pianos, rehearsals, and arias. Gretchen married Thomas Finletter in 1920. Mrs. Finletter published two books. The first, Top of the Stairs was published in 1946. The book recounted the life of the Damrosch family. Her second book, a novel called The Dinner Party was published in 1954.
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