The Hostess with the Mostest

Photo © Rob Jones

There’s only one thing worse than finding yourself waking down the street and spotting someone in the distance that you truly do not wish to speak to and having nowhere to hide.

And for me, that was coming face to face with a near perfect Hostess Trolley - the very make and model that my mother bought (I think most likely sent off for from a catalogue as I cannot imagine they were sold in 1970s Newport in South Wales. Grattans I suggest.)

It was in a charity shop priced at £25. Used, I sense as a prop for the much nicer wicker basket on top.

The day it turned up changed all our lives.

There was pride in owning it. Everyone wanted a hostess trolley - I sense mainly due to the Sale of the Century with Nicholas Parsons on ITV, or the Generation Game on BBC 1 which frequently featured them as prized. It was a status symbol. It meant, ‘we entertained.’

As when it appeared on the TV, as a family we uttered - ‘Oooooh!’ in unison.

However, as I recall it was deeply impractical. It being an old house, our kitchen was half a mile from the dining room/lounge/TV room and there were many obstacles along the way. For example, I’m pretty sure that its tiny wobbly wheels couldn’t cope with the transition from the lino tiles of the kitchen, to the rugs of the lounge. Any obstacle in fact meant that it was almost certain to topple over. But, we had to persevere,

It was also quite low down, which meant you got backache from pushing it through the house slowly, and let’s face it, a couple of quick journeys manually bringing in the hot food would have saved an awful lot of time and effort.

It always took centre stage at Christmas when relatives were expected to admire its appearance and comment on how useful and attractive it was. We all knew they were lying. I know that now. Later on, my Gran used it as a walking frame crossed with a portable table until the day it skidded ahead of her suddenly leaving her on the floor.

I was surprised to find that they actually have a longer pedigree than the 1970s. ‘Dinner Wagons’ appeared as early as the 1930s. They featured highly at the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1956 - though by then they imagined the hostess trolley having a built-in toaster and hot plate dispenser. I don’t know how the plates stayed hot if it was on the move.

By the 1960s it had become indispensable, allowing the ‘lady of the house’ to prep the meal, and enjoy the ambience of the evening.

After very few years in the sun, it lost its allure and sat in the corner, getting in everyone’s way.

But isn’t that the fate of us all?

I stared at the trolley in the charity shop, and there wasn’t a single part of me that wanted to buy it. Not even for old times’ sake.

R.

(Pretty certain that ‘The Hostess with the Mostest’ was Anne Aston on The Golden Shot, though I can’t pin that down anywhere.)

(Note: AMM has stepped in at this point to clarify that the ‘Hostess with the Mostest’ was none other than Anthea Redfern, sparring partner to Bruce Forsyth in The Generation Game. Wasn’t far off.)