Amy Vanderbilt was known for being an authority on good manners.
The insightful classy woman was educated in Switzerland and at Packer Collegiate Institute (Brooklyn) in her formative years, but later sought a degree at New York University.
Miss Vanderbilt (her father was related to Cornelius Vanderbilt) worked in advertising and public relations fresh off the campus.
During that time frame, the prim and proper blueblood conjured up the idea for her 1st book:
"Amy Vanderbilt's complete book of Etiquette".
The best-seller - which took five years of research - is still in circulation today and remains an important reference guide on the subject matter.
Some of her thoughts on etiquette may have fallen by the wayside in the new millennium.
But, many would be wise to pay heed to 'em, nonetheless.
For example, on the subject of dinner conversation, she astutely instructed:
"Do not speak of repulsive matters at table."
To social climbers, the reason is obvious.
An eyebrow or two was raised in polite society when she came up with this little ditty on the issue of cougars on-the-prowl in the big city:
"The modern rule is that every woman should be her own chaperon."
Once the Grand Dame was established in the publishing world, she managed to springboard into the lucrative broadcast market where she continued to make headway in America as the undisputed reigning Queen of Etiquette as early as 1952.
The society maven's highly-rated TV Show "It's in Good Taste", for example, enjoyed a successful run from 1952 thru 1960.
When "Taste" wrapped in 1960, Ms. Vanderbilt was offered an opportunity to host another show - "The Right Thing To Do" - which was broadcast on air from 1960 to 1962 much to the delight of her wide fan base.
On December 27, 1974, Vanderbilt died from multiple fractures of the skull when she plummeted from the second-floor window of a townhouse she resided in on the fashionable upper east side of Manhattan.
To protect her name and reputation - and in honor of her loving memory, no doubt - good friends asserted that she must have slipped and fallen due to the dizzying effects of medications for hypertension which may have caused her to lose her balance.
Cynics asserted that she took her own life - and wondered aloud at the time - if it was proper etiquette to commit suicide on public property.
On the subject of the partaking of tobacco, Amy Vanderbilt once instructed:
"Do not smoke without asking permission or sit so near (as in a train) that the smoke might annoy."
Advice that rings true today, doesn't it?
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