All Over Albany

"Downton Abbey and Gilded Age Holiday Entertaining"

And of course, one must wear the proper jacket for dinner. Not one of those embarrassingly informal "tuxedos."

Might be fun for a short road trip: Food historian Francine Segan will be at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington this Sunday for a talk titled "Downton Abbey and Gilded Age Holiday Entertaining." Blurbage:

"Downton Abbey and Gilded Age Holiday Entertaining" will be an amusing lecture about the fascinating time period when high society was at its peak. It was a time of calling cards, horse drawn coaches, high tea, cotillions, lawn parties, formal dinners - a time when even picnics were served on fine china.

Attendees will discover the elaborate etiquette, enchanting entertainments and dishes Mrs. Patmore would have been proud to send to the table. Vivid descriptions of Lord Grantham-esque dinner parties, cotillions, and elegant picnics will transport audience members back in time, while they learn all the popular toasts of the era and when it's proper to remove one's gloves or tip one's hat. The event includes a trivia contest on the uses for now-obsolete objects that Mr. Carson would be shocked to find one couldn't use properly.

Maybe she can also explain why Daisy is always being yelled at.

Following the talk, the Mahaiwe will be screening Somewhere in Time, a 1980 movie about Christopher Reeve hiding his fantastic head of hair beneath a bowler and the time-travel-inducing beauty of Jane Seymour. (OK, we might be simplifying the plot a bit.)

The talk starts Sunday, December 15 at 3 pm. The screening is at 4 pm. (So if you want to duck out after the talk to go grab dinner in Great Barrington, you'll have plenty of time.) Tickets are $10.

Oh, by the way: The fourth season of Downton Abbey starts its run on PBS January 5.

Earlier on AOA: Road Trip: Great Barrington

Downton Abbey still: ITV