Lazy Susan

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the film, see
Lazy Susan (song)
.
A member of staff sets up the table in a Taiwanese roadside banquet event.
A lazy Susan in a Chinese restaurant

A lazy Susan is a turntable (rotating

t. 餐桌轉盤) (p
 cānzhuō zhuànpán) or "dinner-table turntables".

History

It is likely that the explanation of the term "lazy Susan" has been lost to history.

American invention. According to lore, Thomas Jefferson invented the device, which was known as a "dumbwaiter", for his daughter Susan. Regardless of the origins of the name, by 1917 it was advertised in Vanity Fair[4] as "Ovington's $8.50 mahogany 'Revolving Server or Lazy Susan'",[5] but the term's use predates both the advertisement and, probably, the country.[1][3]

A mahogany George III-era dumbwaiter (c. 1780), auctioned for $3,900 by Christie's in London on 20 Jan. 2010[3]

Part of the mystery arises from the variety of devices that were grouped under the term "dumb waiter" (today written

small lifts carrying food between floors as well.[1] The success of George W. Cannon
's 1887 mechanical dumbwaiter popularised this usage, replacing the previous meanings of "dumbwaiter".

The lazy Susan was initially uncommon enough in the United States for the

bread crumbs to fall into the space between the lazy Susan and the table.[11]

The rotating serviette at "Penates", the estate of Russian painter Ilya Repin at Kuokkala. Made in 1909 by Finnish carpenter Ikahainen.[12]

Despite various

Boston Journal
:

John B. Laurie, as the resuscitator of "Lazy Susan", seems destined to leap into fortune as an individual worker. "Lazy Susan" is a step toward solving the ever-vexing servant problem. She can be seen, but not heard, nor can she hear, she simply minds her business and carries out your orders in a jiffy.

Laurie was a Scottish carpenter who made his "lazy Susan" to the personal specifications of a

Christian Science Monitor, which calls the "silver" lazy Susan "the characteristic feature of the self-serving dinner table".[16] By the next year, the Lima Daily News described an Ohioan "inaugurat[ing] ... the 'Lazy Susan' method of serving".[17] Henry Ford used an enormous one on his camping trips in the 1920s to avoid bringing a full contingent of servants along with his guests.[3] In 1933, the term was added to the Webster's Dictionary.[18]

Unusually, the 1916 American Cookery describes the device as a German invention:[19][10]

There is a table arrangement used much in Germany, which has now found its way to America, though it is still by no means common. The German frau calls it "Lazy Susan", but it is entirely different from our product used for salt and pepper shakers. Its only point of similarity is the swivel upon which it turns. The one which joys my heart is of mahogany, and it turns automatically at the slightest touch. It contains seven china dishes, six of which are trapezoids, the center one being octagonal. The trapezoids fit about the center octagon, forming a perfect whole.

By 1918, Century Magazine was already describing the lazy Susan as out of fashion,

Baby Boom, led to a great demand for them in US households across the country in the 1950s and 1960s. This popularity has had the effect, however, of making them seem kitsch in subsequent decades.[3]

Other uses

The term is infrequently used for the much older

pottery wheels and related tasks like sculpture, modeling, repair work, etc.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^
    Quinion, Michael. World Wide Words: "lazy Susan
    ". 24 Apr 2010. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
  2. ^ Lazy Susan. "What’s in a name? The origins of Lazy Susan". 27 Sep 2010. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e Levine, Bettijane. Los Angeles Times. L.A. at Home. "Back Story: Who Was Susan, and Was She Truly Lazy?" 25 Mar 2010. Accessed 15 May 2013.
  4. ^ Vanity Fair, Vol. 9, No. 6. Dec 1917
  5. ^ Klages, Karen (9 Jun 1996). "Whaddayaknow. Q: Who named the Lazy Susan?" Chicago Tribune. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
  6. ^ Weekly Register, No. 105. 15 Apr 1732. Citing The Gentleman's Magazine: Or, Monthly Intelligencer, p. 701. F. Jefferies (London), Apr 1732. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
  7. Smart, Christopher. Fables: "Mrs. Abigail and the Dumb Waiter: Fable XV
    ". 1755.
  8. ^ a b Monticello.org. "Rooms & Furnishings: Dumbwaiters". Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
  9. ^ Monticello.org. "Design and Decor Convenience". Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
  10. ^ a b c d e Popik, Barry. The Big Apple. "Lazy Susan". 6 Sep 2009.
  11. ^ Howell, Elizabeth (1891). "Patent No. 464,073". Maryville, Missouri: United States Patent Office.
  12. ^ Repin "Penaty" Estate in Repino/Kuokkala, Russia, currently a museum.
  13. ^ The Unpopular Review. Holt. Jan 1919. p. 73.
  14. ^ Boston Journal, p. 3. "Hingham Indian Maidens Revive Ancient Arts: Lazy Susan, Dumb Waitress". 8 Nov 1903.
  15. ^ Idaho Statesman, p. 5. "An Ideal Servant: 'Lazy Susan' Works Hard and Never Talks Back" 30 Oct 1911.
  16. ^ Christian Science Monitor. "Giving an Automatic Dinner". 25 Sep 1912. Op. cit. Quinion (2010).
  17. ^ Lima Daily News. 31 Dec 1913. Op. cit. Quinion (2010).
  18. ^ Orlando Sentinel. "A Turn Through History with the Lazy Susan". Accessed 15 May 2013.
  19. ^ American Cookery, p. 105. Aug–Sep 1916.
  20. ^ Century Magazine, p. 396. Jan 1918. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
  21. ^ Smithsonian Magazine, The Lazy Susan, the Classic Centerpiece of Chinese Restaurants, Is Neither Classic nor Chinese.
  22. ^ Graff, Daniel. The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. "[www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/386.html Domestic Work and Workers]". Chicago Historical Society, 2005. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
  23. ^ U.S. Navy. Safety Center. "Fleet Readiness Center (FRC) East Uses Lazy Susan Design to Prevent Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders". Archived 2009-08-22 at the Wayback Machine.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lazy_Susan&oldid=1271722976"