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THAT TABLECLOTH
William Gray

Q: What common decision was
shared by the Art Departments at
studios as diverse as MGM and
Monogram?
A: A willingness to set dining and
restaurant scenes with the same check
tablecloth.
Devotees of films from the ‘Golden
Years of Hollywood’ often compare
details from picture to picture. A
certain house, a distinctive piece of
furniture, chandelier, clock or an
unusual lamp can be used over and
over. Actors might also appear more
than once in the same clothes or wear
the same jewellery.
Because it was so background, so
ordinary, a tablecloth is less likely to be
noticed.
In films from the 1930s until the
late 40s, whether the film was set in
the Old World or New, in restaurants,
cafes, homesteads or domesticity in
suburbia; wherever a table-cloth was
appropriate, chances are it was the
same check pattern.
Whether the film was based on fact
or was pure fiction, the present-day,
war or peace; there seemed no barrier
to its use.
The material and the pattern was
gingham. An American tradition,
gingham originated in the Dutch or
German communities of the east coast
and moved west with the pioneers.
Emotionally it was a symbol of Home;
the family at the dinner table discussing
events of the day. It was almost like a
second flag; a nation united.
To have a check tablecloth used in
so many scenes, by so many studios,
suggests that it offered some advantage.
Perhaps lighting cameramen found that
it reduced ‘flare’ on brightly lit sets. ★
Table Settings. Top: Myrna Loy and Robert Montgomery (standing) -
Warning: Petticoat Frenzy (MGM 1936).
Watching and waiting for the Above: Nelson Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald and Sig Ruman, Maytime, (MGM 1937).
tablecloth to appear in a favourite film
Opposite, clockwise from bottom left: Buster Crabbe holding Al 'Fuzzy' St. John,
can be addictive. I hope that I haven’t
Gentleman With Guns (Producers Releasing Corp.)
spoiled your viewing.
Variation on a theme: Humphrey Bogart with large serviette It All Came True
(Warner Bros. 1940).
Laurel and Hardy often enjoyed conviviality with the table-cloth in view
(Hal Roach Studio).
George Brent, Merle Oberon and Paul Lukas, Temptation (Universal 1946).
The author William Gray with his own version of the table-cloth.

30 2006 CINEMARECORD