The WB Studio Cafe menu in 1941

What? No Pancakes Barbara?

I don't see Pepsi-Cola on the menu. We need to do something about that.

Caviar for under a dollar.

No hamburger?

It would be about $18 today.

^For the caviar

Maybe hamburgers were too German.

Southern fried chicken with corn fritters? Sign me up.

You need to multiply all the prices by 20 to adjust for inflation.

You could order sauerkraut juice, but the hot dogs came with "liberty cabbage."

I'm always reaching for a refreshing glass of kraut juice!🤮

I don’t see “Beaver de Bette” listed anywhere on the menu. It was had by nearly everyone at Warners on a near daily basis. I guess that since it was free, it wasn’t listed on the dining menu.

I’ll take Little Pig Sausage, Sno Sho potatoes, dark Piels beer, and a butterscotch sundae.

I’ll then burst out of my costume and get put on suspension till I slim down.

Is this why they had to put Judy on Amphetimines?

^^^Never mind! Judy was MGM.

[Quote] till I slim down.

It's the sleeping cure for you.

The half an avocado cost 45 cents.

That's not too far off what you can sometimes find avocados at retail right now. Just the other day, they were .68 a piece at the Walmart Grocery Store, and those were fairly decent size Haas (generally preferred). Back in the 40s in California they were more than likely the Fuerte type.

That's a pretty extensive menu, especially for wartime. How did Warner Brothers get around rationing?

Manager's Special: peanut butter, baked ham, and chicken. Hmm.

The US didn't get involved in the war until December 1941.

Rationing came after 1941.

.’Imagine having to work with all those people who washed down their sardine sandwich lunches with kraut juice. No thanks! Just reading the menu is enough to give one terrible halitosis and a bad case of the gout.

How delightfully working class!

And such hearty foods...

It's no wonder poor Bette's low bosom always rested on her distended belly.

A hot chicken liver sandwich. Yum

The chicken liver omelettes sound wonderful.

And is it my elder eyes, or was there nothing on that menu costing more than $0.95?

What the hell is a Chop Suey ice cream sundae?

Or a “Hollywood Sandwich”?

The 1963 menu shows how the assortment has gone downhill.

And Pepsi is STILL not on the menu.

I haven't thought about clam juice in years.

I love old menus.

The 1963 menu is pared way down (maybe it was only open for lunch by '63), but it has many of the same basic foods as the 1941 menu. Still the tomato juice as an appetizer. Still offering baked ham as a main course. When was the last time you saw baked ham as a main course on a restaurant menu? Fruit salad has become "California fruit plate", but it's still there. And the hamburger choice has grown from 0 to 1. Can you imagine a comparable American restaurant today without multiple burger choices?

Overall, the choices on both menus are mostly basic and old-fashioned, but reasonably healthy. If people still ate like this, there wouldn't be so much obesity. I'll bet the portions were smaller than you'd get in a restaurant today, too.

R25, Chop Suey was a slang term for a mixture of chopped ingredients. A sundae would have had different nuts, sweets, fruit and other toppings.

Never heard of Fig Juice before.

Interesting that the Smoked Turkey under coldcuts is more expensive than the Tenderloin, NY, and T-bone steaks.

"You need to multiply all the prices by 20 to adjust for inflation."

I don't think you understand how an inflation calculator works.

They factor in everything money can buy and then average it out.

So new technological advances today are extremely cheap compared to then new technology of the past.

Meanwhile food and housing have become way more expensive. You think you can just multiply the price of a New York apartment in the 40s by 20 and get what it goes for today?

Not to mention since it was a company cafeteria, the company probably considered subsidizing the cost as an employee perk.

R32 chicken and turkey were both much more expensive prior to the post-war period.

I love old menus, not just for the prices but what was actually on offer. I’m old enough to remember tomato juice as a starter when you went to dine.

Manager Special (Peanut Butter. Baked Ham, and Chicken on Toast)!?!?

R25, what this meant is that those three sandwiches were all offered at the same reduced price that day - not that those ingredients were combined. Although it's worth pointing out that peanut butter was not the sweet, gluey crap most of it is today - and would be considered a vegetarian protein.

I wish I could eat every workday at a restaurant with this menu, and all the food was whole, not today's frankenfood, and prepared freshly in house. Yes I supposed the string beans were canned. I wonder about the asparagus. The juices were likely canned or jarred. Did they have frozen juices then? Perhaps in a stretch the citrus was fresh squeezed. The peaches and pears were probably canned. But that's kind of quaint. But I bet most of the entree items are whole foods, except the hot dog.

What the hell are shirred eggs?

Lazy

“Secretary’s Light Lunch”

Greg(02116) would likely help with that shirred ego…egg

Various pictures of shirred eggs (since Wikipedia has a stupid one)

R9- 21 times

Yes, I make shirred eggs sometimes.

But I prefer œufs en cocotte, which are similar but are cooked in a bain-marie.

Greg- I've come to the conclusion that you're EXTREMELY pretentious.

Yeah? Well this won’t help, R45.

I have a set of these egg coddlers for when I prepare œufs en cocotte. Different design on mine, however.

Greg- Are you related to Frasier Crane?

Yes, R45.

Only in Hollywood is a studio dining room called a Commissary.

The employees lunch room at 30 Rock is the En Be Ce Cafeteria.

R49- During WW 2 they called a dining room a Canteen.

Not according to West Egg, R43.

The old menu lovers probably already know this, but just in case, there is a great subreddit devoted to the topic.

I have a wonderful collection of old airline menus. A now-deceased relative worked for an airline and for some reason, he saved a collection of the menus.

R28 "Is it true wash your hair in clam broth?"

{quote]Yes I supposed the string beans were canned. I wonder about the asparagus.

Isn't there a huge Farmer's Market right down the road? It was probably there at the time too.

^wait, what?

You mean The Farmer’s Market by Fairfax? Warner Bros. Lot was and is in Burbank…many miles away.

[quote]R40 “Secretary’s Light Lunch”

Move yer ass, Millie. Jack has a meeting at 1:00.

The customers they served in 1941

That's a very meat heavy menu, but you can still eat healthily from it though people back then, except for the starlets, didn't. Folks didn't yet know much about nutrition, cholesterol, etc. So many actors from the era died in their 50s and early 60s. Now we comment about their longevity or when they die sometimes think they were already dead (e.g. Robert Blake, Gene Hackmn.)

No, not THE Farmers Market, r56.

A farmers market.

R36 - if they were separate sandwiches wouldn't it have said "peanut butter, baked ham, OR chicken?" not with "and?"

Funny, they cut out all the vegetable options except lima beans in '63.

Looks healthy. A good mix of protein, vegetables and low carb. I love vintage menus. Thank you

[quote] all the food was whole, not today's frankenfood, and prepared freshly in house. Yes I supposed the string beans were canned. I wonder about the asparagus. The juices were likely canned or jarred. Did they have frozen juices then? Perhaps in a stretch the citrus was fresh squeezed. The peaches and pears were probably canned. But that's kind of quaint. But I bet most of the entree items are whole foods, except the hot dog.

The lettuce was probably iceberg. The quality of the beef? I don't know. The seafood selection is surprising. I think the fruits weren't the only foods coming from cans. I think this is a romantic view of that menu. It does seem like a fun place for kids to go with their parents, like a diner with a surprisingly extensive seafood menu.

R60 Thsnks—to which 1941 local market in Burbank were you referrring to? I’m all ears.

The Gap playlist guy has found a new fixation?

I thought Gap troll is the TV Freak. Well, that didn't catch on, did it.

TV GUIDE freak I should type.

He’s not a “freak,” he’s neurodivergent, R66.

R63, iceberg lettuce is great - crisp and tasty. The modern affectation of disdaining iceberg is just that - affectation.

The beef was probably fairly tough by the standards of an upscale steakhouse (then or now), but that's still true. Never order steak in a restaurant that isn't devoted to beef unless you want to give your jaws a workout.

Otherwise and in general, the food was probably better than you'd get in a comparably priced (taking inflation into account) restaurant today but nothing special. If you went there for lunch with a Warner Bros. employee, you'd want to ask what was good, and he'd probably steer to a relatively few things on that vast menu.

Chop Suey!

[quote]o which 1941 local market in Burbank were you referrring to? I’m all ears.

According to Google Maps the Toluca Lake Farmers Market is a mile away

[quote] According to Google Maps the Toluca Lake Farmers Market is a mile away

You mean the one that’s only been there since 2017 and is only open on Sundays?

How about a Brown Derby menu? I want to know what Fred, Ethel and Lucy could have really eaten.

The Brown Derby,1941

I'm not sure if it's ever been discussed on DL before but was wine not a popular beverage with meals back then? Champagne was for special occasions and most people seemed to have cocktails but I rarely saw wine or beer in old movies or TV. They drank coffee with meals a lot though.

Don't be widiculous, r75.

r74 Such an extensive menu! They were like the Cheesecake Factory of their day!

Beluga caviar $2 an ounce!

Lunch, spring 1960.

I did not have the Connie Stevens Special.

Why? My grandmother made those for us at home.

I want to taste it all!

Three dollars for the Porterhouse steak and potato. Ricky Ricardo must have been made of money

For comparison here's an MGM menu from the late 50s.

$1 in 1941 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $20.47 today.

$1 in 1960 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $10.16 today.

The hor d'ouvres and canapes sound good and thats......about it

[quote] hor d'ouvres

Oh, DEAR.

MGM had limited hot choices, mostly deli fare.

Do you think they limited which studio employees could eat in the Warner and MGM commissarys? Wasn't it only for actors, directors, writers? Were the gals who stitched in the wardrobe department allowed in, for example? Or maybe there was a separate lunch place for them?

MGM. good question R88. I like the ceiling lustres

One of them had counter service.

Found an article about them

Well, Carole and Clark look like they're sharing counterspace with a stage carpenter and Miss Phoebe Dinsmore of the Diction Department, so perhaps that answers my question.

Watermelon, cigarettes, Venetian blinds, bentwood chairs.

Working at a studio seems like a permanent college campus experience in many ways.

I could be THIN again if I worked there!

r93 "Who do I have to fuck to get a vodka & Pepsi around here?"

Boy did they like their anchovies.

The scene of the anchovy crime:

Meanwhile, over at Disney ....

Picture it ... Paramount Studios, 1956 ...

What a time warp. I don't think anyone in Hollywood has eaten meat in decades. A menu today for actors and actresses would be all Paleo/plant-based etc.

The tomato yogurt Bob Hope cocktail sounds disgusting!

I'm glad it's not English kippers and eggs a la Charles Laughton!

Did the stars go to the commissary? Weren’t they served in their studio dressing room?

No matter what Judy Garland ordered it was always chicken broth!

Well Blazing Saddles was just a damn lie . . . where is Yankee Bean Soup?

In R98 ‘s photo, there in the back, you see see the new produce just arrived the Toluca Lake Farmer’s market…only a mile away

Over at MGM I got rice cakes and water.

[quote]Weren’t they served in their studio dressing room?

On the bottom left of the Warner Brothers menu, it says outside tray service is 25 cents extra, 50 cents at lunchtime.

No Steak Tartare?

I had sausage delivered straight to my dressing room!

The most expensive item on the menu is $1.00

You'll note the Paramount Commissary has no dishes named after Betty Hutton or Veronica lake.

Over at Columbia, Ann Miller was having her usual. 5 cups of hot black coffee and half an egg salad sandwich. She'd stand the whole time with one leg kicked up on the counter.

Her farts must have sent people running from the commissary.

R112: Betty Hutton and Veronica Lake were considered difficult during their time at Paramount and neither were popular with their crews (and both had extensive mental/emotional problems which may have explained this, i.e. bipolarism and schizophrenia).

Dorothy Lamour (who had been one of Polly Adler’s girls back in New York) was much-loved, easy-going, hard-working and professional — and she sold a lot of war bonds.

I don't think Dorothy Lamour has ever had her own DL thread, but I loved watching her movies on TV when I was a kid. The Crosby/Hope Road pictures, where she always seemed like a great sport, and also those tropical sarong movies like The Hurricane.

That gal had *Panamania*, r116...

I once saw mother and Gene Tierney viciously fight over the last bottle of rum. It was frightening.

What did Lassie eat?

June

[quote]R103 Did the stars go to the commissary? Weren’t they served in their studio dressing room?

[italic]Tray service 25 cents!

[quote]Did the stars go to the commissary? Weren’t they served in their studio dressing room?

Out in the real world they were movie stars. At the studio they were just employees and they hung out and hob nobbed with the crews

At Disney a full lunch with Prime Rib was 60 cents. All the menus featured Buttermilk. Yikes!

Folks, is it really that hard to spell hors d'oeuvres? I mean really. It's almost always misspelled.

Whores Devours.

Aw derves

The Elizabeth Taylor Salad becomes a Lauren Bacall if you find a cigarette butt in it.

And Pancakes Barbara becomes Pancakes Judy if you order it with a side of amphetamines.

[quote]It's no wonder poor Bette's low bosom always rested on her distended belly. —Mrs. Alfred N. Steele

I DID NOT HAVE A LOW BOSOM YOU RANCID COW!

I had flap-jack tits. Entirely different.

Pabst Blue Ribbon in a bottle or can, whichever you prefer.

It’s strange they encouraged people to drink at work.

^^

(but I say this as a recovering alcoholic who never drank just 1 beer…)