Savoir Faire in the Salle a Manger

For a sheer sense of scale and luxe nothing could even beat or even come close to the 1st class salle a manger aboard the French line’s Normandie of the 1930’s. Mind you we will never see the likes of such a room again in the future either on land or at sea. This was a temple of gastronomy where the elite of the day took their meals, which by the amount of items offered on the menu, could have seen them dining for hours on end.

Normandie was a showcase of the very best that France had to offer, naturally done completely in fantastic Art Deco-style. Thanks to the split funnel uptakes, the Normandie’s interiors were matched by no other ship. The interiors of the liner with filled with grand perspectives, spectacular entryways, and long, wide staircases.

Entering through the embarkation hall prospective diners entered through 20-foot tall doors adorned with bronze medallions by artist Raymond Subes. I am sure that when one found one’s self at the top of the staircase leading into the First Class salle a manger for the first time your heart would have skipped a beat. After being announced by a bellboy attired in traditional French Line red livery you would have descended this grand staircase hoping that all were watching.

Ensconced by giant bas reliefs on each side of the entrance, you had to run the gauntlet under close scrutiny past the most sought after tables in the whole room into the main salle a manger.

Just on 200 tables and chairs were set in a shimmering, glittering temple of Savoir Faire. Illuminated by master glass craftsman Lalique, 12 tall pillars of Lalique glass were flanked by 38 matching columns along the walls of hammered glass panels. When illuminated from within the room took on an unparrelld glow. These with chandeliers hung at each end of the room gave the room a sparkling atmosphere which earned the Normandie the nickname "Ship of Light”.

Continually touted as being longer than the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles the room rose 28 feet above the diner’s heads to cumulate in a coffered ceiling covered in gold leaf. Presiding over the far end of the room was “La Paix” a gilded bronze statue by Dejean, of a toga clad woman.

Combined with lighting, the shimmer of the ceilings and walls and the dazzling jewelry and haute couture of the day, this must have been a sight, which makes dining on Cunard’s latest incarnation of the Queen Mary seem like MacDonald’s.

On Ruhlman inspired furniture diners then spent several hours dining on menus that were continually noted for being some of the finest examples of French cuisine on the Atlantic.

No matter what class you were travelling in whether it be first or third, Lalique, Christofle and Sevres was the dinnerware of choice by the French line.

Just because you were travelling in 2nd class or tourist didn’t mean that you were left out. 2nd class diners somehow had to manage in the below room, with meals austerely limited to 6 or seven courses.

Now the Holy Grail of ship buffs (my self included) the Normandie and especially the salle a manger was such stuff as dreams are made on. Tragically after several years of service while being fitted out as a troop transport in New York during World War II she caught fire and was a total wreck, only to be sold for scrap metal.

Savoir Faire on the High Seas!

Normandie! The holy grail of ocean liners! The art deco masterpiece that the French created in the 1930’s. The epitome of savoir faire, chic and glamour. Every detail of this fabulous liner was thought out in great detail with no expense spared. Crossing the Atlantic, you were cocooned in a sumptuous environment, lavish dining rooms and monumental social spaces.

Dining was a whole new experience with the best of everything, Lalique and Daum, glassware, Sevres and Limoges porcelain and Christofle silverware. Even though the designs themselves were deceptively simple, the quality was unsurpassed. Of course each piece carried the highly stylised logo of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, and it seems that each piece was designed around this. The overall form of the piece with the combination of the logo is in perfect harmony with each other.

Christofle created 45,000 pieces of silverware for the liner of varying quality, from solid silver to silver plate to be used in the various dining rooms and accommodations. This was of an extremely refined and elegant design that had little variation form 1st class to 3rd. It was only the quality that differed, for example the same design of ice bucket was used across all three classes.

Lalique and Daum created over 100,000 pieces of glassware ranging from ashtrays to wineglasses that were also used across all three classes. Just because you were stuck in third class, didn’t mean that you were excluded from enjoying your vin du table out of an exquisite glass.

Unfortunately these objects are now the domain of serious collectors. It will be a while before my dining table is graced with this ultimate in savoir faire!

S.S. France - Luxury With an Edge

I came across a series of photographs on the Time Life image bank taken on the board the new French Line’s superliner, France of 1962 by Stan Wayman. Here is a set of images with seemingly real passengers enjoying the liner’s stunning public rooms. Usually one sees pictures of these spaces empty or with a few posed models artfully arranged, so it was rather good to see these rooms photographed with their real purpose in mind, filled with people enjoying life.

The France of 1962 was the French Line’s post war answer to the legendary Normandie of the 1930’s, Here again the French created a tour de force in maritime and interior design showcasing the best that France had to offer. Although smaller than the Normandie, the France was no less an equal.

Interior designers used the latest techniques and materials to create interiors that shone by the day and shimmered by night. Anodised aluminium stood in perfect harmony with tapestries and paintings that heralded a new era in shipboard design, creating interiors that were bold and yet comforting to the ship’s passengers crossing the Atlantic.

Joie de vie reigned supreme on all levels. Women dressed for dinner in their best and were gallantly escorted down the grand staircase by their elegantly dinner suited companions into the 1st Class Salle à Manger Chambord. The walls shimmered in gold anodized aluminium while the cobalt blue ceiling twinkled with lights imitating the night sky. Chairs were strangely angular, in red, orange and cream. Around all four walls of the room Jean Mandaroux's continuous mural, painted on 17 lacquered aluminum sheets, was entitled "Les plaisirs de la vie": The Pleasures of Life.

Another prime focal point of the 1st class passenger’s public rooms was the opulent smoking room, the Salon Riviera aft over looking the stern. Modern art mingled with traditional in a room that rose through two decks and was equally inviting by night and day.

The 1st class main lounge Salon Fontainebleau seemed softer in colourings and treatments than other public rooms however maintained an edge with stunning abstract tapestries along several walls imitating stained glass in rich colours edged with black.

The First Class cabins also showcased design and art, especially in the Apartements de Grande Luxe of which there were two.

This isn’t to say that Tourist Class passengers suffered by travelling in ‘reduced circumstances’. Again interior designers pulled out all stops in the decoration of these spaces. The tourist class smoking room, Café Rive Gauche, had a hard industrial edge to it with chairs that looked as if they came out of a mecano set. Add people to this and you have a room that breathes life and joie de vie.

The two deck high Tourist Class, Salle à Manger Versailles was an equally impressive space that by no means indicated that one was travelling in tourist. The walls were produced from Polyrey and Formica with a decoupaged gold leaf abstract pattern. Only the forward wall held a mural done in 14 engraved glass panels by Max Ingrand, as well as two tapestries, "Les amoureux du printemps" by Marc Saint-Saëns, and "Paysage provençal" by Auvigné.

I could go on forever extolling the superlatives of this wonderful ship and bore you all to tears. Although she was a product of the same era as P&O’s Canberra and Orient Line’s Oriana, she had an entirely different approach to her interiors. Whereas the British Ships had a stark almost clinical feel, the France was luxury at it’s most refined.