Originally published at: Take a look at this insanely huge menu from the Warner Brothers Studio Cafe in 1941 | Boing Boing
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But wait — this menu was offered during WWII. Weren’t people on food rations?
The menu is dated 17 February, 1941, so no. The war was already present in many ways on the Warner Bros. lot, but rationing was still at least a year away.
I’ll admit it took me a moment to realise those prices are in cents rather than dollars.
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Sure, that’s a pretty long menu, but have you been to a Wetherspoons?
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We were not at war but they still called it “liberty cabbage”.
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There was a vegetarian entree in 1941.
You could order a cold glass of half and half to drink.
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I wonder what a Chop Suey ice-cream sundae is…
ETA: answering my own question. Basically chopped fruits and nuts in syrup on top of the ice cream. It sounds good!
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I’m confused by the Fancy Specials. The one thing listed is Vitaphone, which was the trademarked name for a system where a record player was synchronized with a projector to provide sound for movies. Did they just haul a record player out to your table?
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In case anyone was wondering, the 95¢ that the imported caviar costs (the most expensive menu item) is $19.61 in today’s money, according to the ominously named officialdata.org…
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Yeah - I’ve been trying to come up with a ballpark percent you’d have to use to match those prices to today.
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I’ll admit it took me a moment to realise those prices are in cents rather than dollars.
Likewise.
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I love how the PBR costs less than the water and Canada Dry.
Tell people this is from a trendy club downtown and those prices are dollars. Would totally work today.
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That Manager’s Special Sandwich is something.
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We weren’t at war until December of 1941. Late 1940 we were offering military equipment and expertise to our allies but that wasn’t something that affected civilian life.
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Or any chrome-clad diner in NJ
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Worst. Cocktail list. Ever.
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When watching The Maltese Falcon, I habitually just had to check on the value of money being handed over to Bogart’s Sam Spade. Not too bad in today’s value.
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All I had eyes for is his desktop cigarette lighter
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I’m a little disturbed that there are THREE sandwiches that combine meats and peanut butter or jelly. Four if you count the Monte Cristo.
Also I’m annoyed that I can’t walk into a restaurant today and have four lime-based beverages to choose from (and that’s just the non-alcoholic options). Clearly something went wrong between then and now (not the sandwiches though!)
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That menu is a wonderful find!
Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares taught us that a long menu is usually a collection of lots of things done badly rather than a few things done well. However, the Warner Brothers canteen must have served huge numbers of customers daily, and had a kitchen staff and stores to match.
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