Dish Night—Memory of the Forties by Janice Vecchitto Thomas

This is something my mom and her sisters would tell my siblings and me when we were young, and they still reminisce about it today. Back in the mid 40’s, my mom and her sisters would go to the movies at the encouragement of her mom. Now why would their mother ask they go to the movies? Well, once a week they would have something called “dish night”.

On “dish night”, the movie theatre would give out to each paying person, a china setting, a serving bowl or other accessories to complete a set. Every few weeks, they would rotate what they were giving out. My mom remembered the pattern was called Blue Orchid. My grandmother wanted them to go often as she wanted a service for twelve. My mom also said they would give out the dish once you paid your admission. She remembers hearing crashes throughout the movie as some people would break their dish or accessory piece. Her sisters told me that when they were invited to other people’s homes for dinner, those same dishes were at their house also.

My mom mentioned just the other day, when she would frequent tag sales years later, she would see some of those dishes which brought back memories of those days.