April 18, 2014 — On Saturday, April 12, I attended afternoon tea and a fashion show at our historic Smyrna Opera House. “Trends, Tulips, and Tea” was the theme of this lovely affair. I was honored to be a guest of our Smyrna Downtown Renaissance Association. I love teas, so this occasioned for me a remembrance of teas past.
When I was little, my aunt took me each year to a tea held on the grounds of an estate in Villanova, Pa., out on the Philadelphia Main Line, west of the city. The Women’s Auxiliary of the Presbyterian Orphanage, the home then located in Southwest Philadelphia until 1960, held this annual tea and fashion show to raise funds. My aunt served on the Auxiliary. She loved children, though she and my uncle had none. Attending the tea was one way I benefited from my aunt’s love.
Each year on a muggy, usually sunny May or June afternoon, I dressed in hat and white gloves and we drove out to the estate of the two elderly Dunlap sisters, heiresses to the American Stores grocery fortune. There, rows of folding, white wooden chairs were set up on the deep lawn, divided by a center aisle for the models to walk among the guests, and fronted by my favorite – the table of tea sandwiches, tasty dainty sandwiches without crusts, prettily decorated cookies, and the tea.
While my aunt and the other Auxiliary women set up, I roamed the lush green, terraced lawns, among the spruces, pines and cedars, beneath the shade of the maples, oaks and other great trees. I’d wander down the terraces, past beds of colorful flowers down to the swimming pool, no longer in use, leaves the sole entities floating in the dark green water. There I’d stand, in rivulets of nostalgia, imagining the old days where poolside loungers holding tall, cool drinks got splashed with the laughter of gleeful swimmers.
After the tea and fashion show, while the women were putting away the silver tea service and leftover sandwiches and cookies inside the house, I’d wander through the parlors and dining room of that gray granite Tudor mansion, admiring the Oriental rugs and trying out the chairs and sofas of the formal, antique furniture.
Robinson Hall, designed by architect George Bishop Page, built 1907.
The Presbyterian Orphanage evolved into the Presbyterian Children’s Village, with many programs to help children and families. They moved to a Rosemont estate, west of Philadelphia, donated by Samuel Robinson, co-founder and a CEO of Acme Markets, then part of the American Stores Company. In 2003 the Presbyterian Children’s Village purchased an additional facility, a convent in Southwest Philadelphia where they opened the Preheim Center that serves as a hub for community based services.
Wanamaker’s Grand Crystal Tea Room
In the months intervening until the next year’s tea and fashion show, I sipped afternoon tea and ate cucumber and cream cheese, ham salad and egg salad tea sandwiches at the Philadelphia Wanamaker’s department store ninth floor Grand Crystal Tea Room. These were the happy occasions when my aunt, my mother, or one of my grandmothers would stop for refreshment while we were out shopping. Macy’s owns this venerable department store now, and the Crystal Tea Room serves only as a private catering hall. Those days of the grand department store where all the saleswomen wore black dresses and really wanted to help you are gone. Still, today, whenever I’m watching a movie scene or in a place where I hear the clatter of dishes, I’m teleported to Wanamaker’s tearoom.
Mother at the Ritz Fountain
Tea at the Ritz highlighted my daughter’s and my 1990s visit to my mother in Naples, Fla. I took photos of that cherished occasion, one of my mother in her beautiful ice-aqua dress with the big aqua flower, seated on the fountain rim below the flagstone terrace before the high Palladian windows.
“Trends, Tulips, and Tea” for women, a Palladian event in the sense of high, graceful and grand, raises funds to support Smyrna Opera House programs and helps support local artists. In the early days, Opera House entertainment included “General” Tom Thumb, Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and lectures by Frederick Douglass, politician William Jennings Bryan, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and suffragettes Lucy Stone and Olive Logan. In later years, one might imagine women swooning in the aisles at the sight of Rudolf Valentino slipping across the silver screen into a tent as “The Sheik” in 1921.
On Christmas night, 1948, holiday lights strung along the mansard roof sparked a fire. Strong winds showered sparks onto nearby buildings while firefighters from nine companies chased the escaping flames long into the night. As firefighters dowsed surrounding structures the water froze on the buildings, sheathing them in protective ice. When it was over, a stalwart fireman had to be chipped from his ladder, where he had remained frozen to the rungs for two hours, as spray from his hose encased him in ice. He could have used a good cup of tea. In the end, the clock tower and third floor were destroyed.
Built in 1870 as the Town Hall to bring together communities breached by the Civil War, the Smyrna Opera House was restored in 2003, through the fundraising efforts of the Smyrna-Clayton Heritage Association formed in 1994 and headed by President John W. Dickinson until his death in May 2001. The Association, a nonprofit organized to offer arts and cultural opportunities to the community, raised $3.6 million to restore the Opera House, half a million donated by Smyrna-Clayton citizens and businesses.
Local craftsmen performed all the work on the Opera House and the new Annex. Meticulously and beautifully restored, the Opera House itself is a treat to behold. A high, serene feeling embraces me when I enter.
Restored 19th century opera house. Frederick Douglass spoke here.
The Opera House hall features a hand-painted coffered ceiling, a balcony, refurbished original stage and sprung hardwood floors. The 18-inch thick walls have been hand-painted and gilded by members of The Smyrna-Clayton Heritage Association, The acoustics are terrific.
Last Saturday, the first annual afternoon of high fashion, traditional tea and spring bazaar was held in the auditorium hall to a sold-out house, 139 women, some wearing hats and gloves, seated at round tables, according to our place cards. Each table was laid with the fine china of one of the committee volunteers. In the tall stemmed glasses were folded linen napkins, like tulip buds, in the colors of lilac and moss green. The teas offered were among my favorites; the chilled strawberry soup was divine as were the luxuriously large scones complemented by the orange marmalade, lemon and crème fraiche toppings. I especially liked the chicken salad tea sandwiches. While we enjoyed all the delicate and tasty savories and sweets, finishing with chocolate-dipped strawberries, we were treated to a show of fashions modeled by volunteers, and Susan Wolfe told us a fascinating story of the history of tea.
If you missed this stellar performance of the “Trends, Tulips, and Tea” committee led by chair Robin Bruner, get your hat and gloves. There is an encore. The tea has become a trend: do mark your calendar for next year, Saturday, March 28, 2015, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
—Samantha Mozart
For some reason the images no longer show here, but when you click on the question mark, it links to my books on Amazon.
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post
was great. I don’t know who you are but definitely you are going to a famous blogger if you are
not already 😉 Cheers!
Wow, what a wonderful assortment of tea opportunities you have had. It’s fun to see those grand spaces and places and learn a bit about the buildings’ histories, as well. And your header tulip photo is lovely. Happy Easter, my friend. Hope you are well!
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
Happy Easter to you, too, my friend.
Yes, I love teas, Kathy — the occasions and the food, of course. The people of the Smyrna-Clayton Heritage Assn. did an amazing fundraising job, and continue to do so. It takes passion for such an achievement. And, I must admit, I am blown away every time I enter the Opera House. It truly is beautiful. The other thing I didn’t mention is that the third floor, where the art gallery and/or meeting rooms are (where you get a stellar view of the town), and the clock tower have been restored. And, naturally, every time I am out walking, just as I get in front of the Opera House, the clock strikes, and it is loud.
Our hospice chaplain, Mary Beth, took that photo of my white tulips just after my mother died. They are lovely, and are about to bloom again this year.
All is well here, though my computer was down for a couple days — some odd glitch with it. You know how computers are — they take odd notions sometimes.
Love and hugs from Delaware,
Samantha
Wow! Sam. What a beautiful story!
Love and Hugs,
Val
Teas are such beautiful and girly occasions, Val. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Love and hugs,
Samantha
A lovely reminder of times past co-mingling with the present Samantha thank you. The histories were really interesting with the detail that you’re so expressively good eg the fire-man frozen to his ladder on Christmas night. A good hot cuppa would have revived him immediately.
Next year in March-THREE hours of tea and tipples, sandwiches and scones… Maybe I’ll put that on my calendar.
Indeed, Susan, do put next year’s tea on your calendar. You would love it and what a treat to have you actually here as a guest.
The fireman frozen on the ladder came from research for a story I wrote in 2003 for our daily newspaper, The Wilmington (Del.) News Journal, on the occasion of the re-opening newly restored Opera House.
Thanks for coming by and visiting my afternoon tea story.
Your renowned care for prosperity is most evident in this beautifully presented piece. Unlike that particular red, carmine, that was actually made from blood, used by Turner, on the robes of Kings and Cardinals, even on the lips of screen goddesses, as well as on the canvases of many other famous artists without a care for the future, only serving their immediate desires, your careful arrangement of words have been smithed in such a way to preserve these stories for antecedents through the ages.
As ever,
R.
Your renowned care for prosperity is most evident in this beautifully presented piece. Unlike that particular red, carmine, that was actually made from blood, used by Turner, on the robes of Kings and Cardinals, even on the lips of screen goddesses, as well as on the canvases of many other famous artists without a care for the future, only serving their immediate desires, your careful arrangement of words have been smithed in such a way to preserve these stories for decendants through the ages.
As ever,
R.
Three’s the charm…
Your renowned care for posterity is most evident in this beautifully presented piece. Unlike that particular red, carmine, that was actually made from blood, used by Turner, on the robes of Kings and Cardinals, even on the lips of screen goddesses, as well as on the canvases of many other famous artists without a care for the future, only serving their immediate desires, your careful arrangement of words have been smithed in such a way to preserve these stories for decendants through the ages.
As ever,
R.
Thank you for your kind compliment, R. And, I do feel an obligation to use my storytelling gene inheritance to continue the family tradition and record these stories for my blood progeny.
As ever,
S.
Ah, descendants, yes. At least you didn’t say decadents.
Actually, R, I do care for prosperity, and I believe, based on my recent Irish findings tracing the family tree, the genes of those antecedents preserved and handed down the storytelling instincts to me, for which I am most grateful.
As for your iPad’s choice of words it thinks you dictated to it, well, I’ll read on to your proofread and edited versions.
A very lovely historical review. A film rolled in my mind of you, the sole entity, (played by the youngest granddaughter), gazing into the dark green watered pool and bouncing from chairs to chaise and from divans to settes in the old home, until a voice awoke me, sharply, “Just sit still!”, then I continued to read and enjoy this event filled story.
Ever,
R.
Actually, R, I behaved according to proper afternoon tea protocol. Had I not, no doubt I would have been thrown into the pool. As for my younger granddaughter, her mom and I agree she would like afternoon teas, too, though she’d be a bit more active than I at that age.
This is a fun article. You have a wealth of history in your family and in the area where you live. I can tell that you LOVE tea sandwiches. I’m not sure we ever ate tea sandwiches out here on the west coast. However, I definitely can visualize the grand event. Lovely story.
I can tell, Gwynn, that if you DID have tea sandwiches out there in Washington State that you’d be the first to the tea table. Thanks for commenting so quickly to my new post, so hot off the press I hope you didn’t burn your fingers.
Actually, you DO have history out there. There’s that Lewis & Clark thing where when the expedition got to the Northwest and didn’t like fish, the salmon abundant in the rivers there, they ate their dogs.
It was a lovely tea. You would have enjoyed it. Thanks. And yes, those sandwiches love me as much as I love them; I may as well strap them around my waist as eat them. 🙂