Menus
I am surprised to find that five different entities offering food have used fables on their menus. Each is a delight in its own way.
Air France
1990? Set of eight menu jackets edited by Service Publicité d'Air France and used by Air France on dinner flights. Art by Willy Aractingi. Texts of La Fontaine as translated by Walter Thornbury. Gift of Nicole Dodier of Air France Publicité in answer to my request, Jan., '92. Extra copy first sent me by Terry Maguire from a Boston-Paris flight. Extras of MM, TMCM, and "The Pig, the Goat, and the Sheep" from teal1 through eBay, August, '02. Two more -- WL and LM -- found for €6 in Paris, June, '19. Three further menu jackets from Outremont, Canada. "The Heron" for $9.95 from Michael Burlew, Forked River, NJ, through Ebay, Dec., '07. TT for €10 from alexis13_123 through Ebay, Sept., '23.
Each jacket includes a cover picture of the fable and a back-cover featuring, in two columns, the French and the English text (Thornbury's translation) of a La Fontaine fable. The art is oil on canvas done by Willy Aractingi. Sent by Nicole Dodier of Air France Publicité in answer to my request. An extra copy of the first menu jacket was brought to me by Terry Maguire; it contains a specific menu used on a Boston-Paris flight. My favorite among them is "The Frog and the Rat." The fables presented include: FC; FM; TMCM; 2P; MM; "The Cock and the Fox"; "The Pig, the Goat, and the Sheep"; TT; and "The Eagle and the Owl."
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
1956 41 different menus illustrating eight different fables with La Fontaine's text printed for the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique French Line. For use on transatlantic voyages between December, 1956 and July 11, 1959 on ships "Liberté," "Flandre," and "Ile de France" and at a dinner and dance at the Elks Club January 19, 1957 sponsored by the Women's Auxiliary for the benefit of Saranac Lake General Hospital (in the Adirondacks in New York State). Images by Jean A. Mercier. The menus cost between $3.66 and $30 each. While I did not keep track carefully of where I found all 41, aligning the dates of the menus showed distinct groupings and helped me match some menus with sellers. Those curious can find the list of fables, dates, ships, and sellers here.
These are not only menu jackets but menus themselves, with a fable text on the back cover and a fable image and title on the front cover. We used one of them – "The Coach and the Fly" – in the Joslyn exhibit because of its clever trompe-l'oeil use of a fly right on the menu itself. I find the images delightful. Lovely pastels work together effectively in these light-hearted pictures. To judge from the splashes on the "dinner and dance" menus, it must have been some party! The fables and numbers of copies are
The Coach and the Fly (8);
The Little Fish and the Angler (5);
FC (4);
MM (4);
The Monkey and the Dolphin (6);
The Ass and the Lapdog (3);
The Wolf Become Shepherd (6);
WL (5).
Holland-America Line
1967 Holland-America Line Menu. Monday, July 17, 1967. S.S. Statendam. Detail of the Ceramic Frieze Picturing Scenes from the Fables of La Fontaine. Nico Nagler. Delft: De Porceleyne Fles. La Fontaine Dining Room of S.S. "Rotterdam." Printed by Jan Lavics, Holland. $9.25 from Tilly's Treasure Chest through Ebay, Jan., '16.
This strongly pictured fable scene makes me wonder what other scenes might have been in the "La Fontaine Dining Room" of the Rotterdam. Some researching online revealed that the Rotterdam still exists as a hotel.
Restaurant Francais, Chicago
1950? Menu: Restaurant Francais. 2442 North Clark Street, Chicago. "Fables de La Fontaine." 9" x 14". $4.99 through Ebay, May, '19.
When was a complete dinner $9.95?! The offerings look delectable. The front cover features a drawing of FC, and the back cover offers La Fontaine's text of the fable. I could find no information online about when this institution went out of business. There is a seven-digit phone number, and those seem to have started in the 50's, while area codes seem to have been added in the 60's.
Drake Wiltshire Fable Menu
1938 Drake-Wiltshire Hotel Fable Menu. Friday, September 23, 1938. Jo Mora Fable Murals. $9.99 from Michael Kopperman, Toronto, Ontario, through eBay, July, '03.
Unfold the menu and you find a nice panorama of two of the Drake-Wiltshire's fable murals. As with the fable postcards displayed elsewhere, the murals seem not to depend on any traditional fables for the match-ups among the animals. The filet mignon dinner cost $1.25!
Bénédictine D.O.M.
1910? Two colored menu forms for Hôtel du Maine, Angers. FS and WL. Printed by and for Bénédictine D.O.M., "Liqueur préferée des gourmets." $14 from Bertrand Cocq, Calonee Ricouart, France, Sept., '18.
The detailed color work on these menu forms is outstanding! There is plenty of room on the page for "Goussé," the host at the Hôtel du Maine, to write the day's menu on the page. Both menus offer a short quotation from La Fontaine's text under the image, like the wolf's snarling retort "If it wasn't you, it was your brother!"
Earlier I had found two menus without the extra local printing for the Hôtel du Maine in Angers. €8 each.
Place de la Fontaine, Québec
1955? Place de la Fontaine Quebec City Dinner Menu. 9½" x 14½". $7.71 from thejumpingfrog through Ebay, May, '08.
Despite my best hopes, I believe that this menu has nothing to do with fables but only with a lovely fountain I Quebec City. But since I have it and can never be sure, I will include it here. A steak cost $21 Canadian at that time. I bet that the price has gone up since then.
1975 “Place de la Fontaine” menu from the Château Frontenac in Québec. 6.5” x 12”. Two copies.
This menu from the famous restaurant in the Hotel Château Frontenac in Québec features a cover cartoon illustration of “Le Renard et le Corbeau” with the caption “Never listen to flattery”. The back of the menu shows cartoons representing TH, GA, FG and FS. A caption reads, “Jean de La Fontaine wrote many fables, each with a definite moral. Do you remember the moral of each of the four fables illustrated on this page?” The morals are listed on the inside of the menu. Interestingly, the fable “The Tortoise and the Hare” is an Aesop fable, yet the menu credits it to Jean de La Fontaine. The menu is in both French and English. I presume that there is a play on words here. The "Place" would have been named originally as the site of a community fountain. Clever managers of the chateau have tied that name to the great author of fables and exploited it for the enjoyment of their patrons.