We’ll gather in the
drawing room at eight o’clock.
-Robert Lord
Grantham of Downton Abbey, to Carson, the butler
Gather in the drawing
room???
Unlike the fantastical food fests and decorum orgies that
take place on PBS peek-a-boos into lavish English country houses, no one seems
to gather anymore. It’s sad. The truth is there’s also a dearth of drawing
rooms in the twenty-first century.
Not so in PBS world! Let the recession continue to limp along
unsteadily toward an unsure future, let worlds continue to collide, let the deteriorating
infrastructure of our city continue to jolt my car out of alignment on any
given day and play havoc with the motor mount at regular, dispiriting intervals-
it’s just one big Jewish wedding at Downton, especially when there are weekend
guests! No one arrives simply for an evening’s dinner and some chat at these
massive, merry conglomerations of aristocratic glitterati- it’s a several days
long though appropriately restrained bacchanal of gorgeous attire, sparkly
tiaras and mysterious, scrumptious looking desserts. The suites where the
weekend guests are housed and duly pampered even have exotic names, like “the Egypt room” among
others. Forget about chopped liver and melon balls. All that’s missing is a
steady stream of punch joyfully spouting from a gilt-edged fountain in the
shape of a lion or unicorn, but why even give a thought to such trivialities of
catering when your cellar is replete with the most exquisite of rarified wine
selections from the year one of winemaking.
. . .
I want to anticipate gathering and be dressed to the nines and have a
“lady’s maid” arrange my coiffure and select a marvelous piece (or two or three) from the priceless mulch of gemstones overflowing my jewelry box and then gather
in the drawing room with other similarly attired and festooned spirits. But Wait! What exactly is a drawing room? I sort
of get the general idea, but not entirely. . . I’ve gathered it’s not for
drawing, as in sketching or doodling, but rather for drawing people in, as in the act of gathering around
gaming tables for civilized amusements
like whist and bridge amid the delicate tinkle of cordial glasses and ever
so thin crystal stems of champagne while bubbly undertones of laughter and snippets
of clever, intriguing small talk decide the fates of marriages and nations.
Oh, the battle of waterloo was indeed won on the playing
fields of Eton !!! And here I am, stuck in an outer borough,
waiting for next Sunday night.
Love this! Just emailed you Maureen Dowd's recent Downton Abby column in case you missed it'
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Downton Abby, but anyone familiar with the glamour and excess of the wealthy, or of English nobility as seen in countless films, can appreciate this piece, and I did. The drawing room analysis is wonderful.
ReplyDelete