The Manhattan Cocktail Set is exemplary of American industrial design from the Art Deco period. The imposing verticality of the cocktail shaker emulates the newly constructed skyscrapers transforming the Manhattan skyline. Notably, the lid of the shaker is smaller in diameter than the body of the vessel. This mimics the renowned stepped profile of New York City skyscrapers, like the Chrysler Building, which were explicitly designed to conform to a 1916 zoning regulation. The rectangular serving tray is similarly bordered with a modern, stepped design. When the set is assembled, the cocktail shaker is surrounded by much shorter cups that, when positioned in a gridlike manner upon the tray, evoke smaller, older buildings around a skyscraper. The architectural nature of the cocktail set transforms the simple act of arranging the cups and shaker upon the tray into a playful performance of city planning.1
The set was manufactured by Revere Copper and Brass, which had contracted the firm of the prominent industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes in late 1933 or early 1934 to design decorative objects for the company’s first line of giftware. Frances Resor Waite, a partner in the design firm, as well as Geddes’s wife, managed the account, while Geddes himself acted as an approver for finalized designs presented to Revere.2 Staff designers employed with Norman Bel Geddes & Company worked on the Revere account throughout 1934, creating designs for candleholders, serving trays, ashtrays, decorative boxes, and lamps, among others. Of these designs, eighteen appeared in Revere’s first Gifts catalogue (1935), including the Manhattan serving tray, which sold for $3.50. However, the cocktail shaker and cup would not appear in the catalogue until the following year. The release of the designs in different years was due to the difficulties Revere faced in attempting to properly engineer and manufacture so many new designs in a short period of time. These challenges, coupled with the uncertainty of the new giftware line’s success and the cost of employing Geddes’s firm, led Revere to discontinue its contract with Norman Bel Geddes & Company in December 1934.3
Remarkably, the designs for the Manhattan serving tray, cocktail shaker, and cocktail cup were not originally conceived of as an ensemble, with each element created by a different designer working at Norman Bel Geddes & Company. The shaker was designed by Charles W. Beeston, an architect by training who later opened his own firm in New York City. The shaker was one of the first designs conceived for the Revere account, and the first iteration of the design was completed in February 1934.4 The serving tray was designed by Garth Huxtable, who was hired as a design assistant at Geddes & Company after completing his degree at the Massachusetts School of Art in 1933.5 The remaining element of the cocktail set, the cup (fig. 19.1), was designed by Jane McKay, who completed a great number of designs for the Revere account. However, her career as an industrial designer was short lived, as she worked primarily as a graphic designer and illustrator after leaving Geddes & Company in the late 1930s or early 1940s.6
The fact that these three works were conceived of individually is made evident by their design drawings.7 An early design for Huxtable’s serving tray included a lacquered copper interior that was later changed to a satin chrome finish during the revision process, whereas neither the shaker nor the cup was ever intended to have any copper elements. Similarly, McKay’s cup featured a slim decorative trim made of white Bakelite inset around the rim of the base in an early design drawing. However, this decorative element was eliminated in the final version of the design produced by Revere, which also slightly altered the cup design as a cost- and time-saving measure.8 The final production version of the cup features vertical linear detailing that is not present in McKay’s designs. This is because the vessel component of the cup was manufactured by simply inverting the lid of the cocktail shaker. In this manner, Revere cleverly avoided having to retool its machines to produce this element of the cup. Although Norman Bel Geddes & Company designed each element, the actual assembly of the Manhattan Cocktail Set was ultimately a shrewd decision made by the manufacturer, which resulted in the creation of an icon of early American industrial design.9 —Sarah Marie Horne
Notes
1. John Stuart Gordon and Keely Orgeman, A Modern World: American Design from the Yale University Art Gallery, 1920–1950 (New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery; Yale University Press, 2011), 153.
2. Frances Waite—Biographical Sketch, Norman Bel Geddes Theater and Industrial Design Papers, Box 96c, Folder 960.39, Harry Ransom Center. The University of Texas at Austin.
3. Norman Bel Geddes Theater and Industrial Design Papers, Box 15, Harry Ransom Center. The University of Texas at Austin.
4. Charles W. Beeston studied architecture at Columbia University in New York. He was awarded the Guy Lovell Memorial Travel Scholarship in 1931 for his design for a country day school and received an honorable mention for his design for the New York World’s Fair Competition in 1936. Beeston also designed furniture and appliances, some of which he patented. He worked for Geddes from 1932 to 1934 before later opening his own architecture firm in New York City.
5. He later worked for other prominent architects and designers, including Albert Kahn and Henry Dreyfuss, and established his own design office in New York in 1948. He is best known for his work designing tools, cookware, and tableware.
6. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Jane McKay attended the Slade School of Art in London and went to France to study architecture and painting. After leaving Geddes & Company, she worked briefly in Atlanta before moving to the state of Washington in 1948, where she continued to work as a graphic designer and illustrator until she retired in the late 1960s.
7. Drawings, Norman Bel Geddes Theater and Industrial Design Papers, damaged flat files, drawer 3, folder 290.1-2, Harry Ransom Center. The University of Texas at Austin. I am grateful to Eric Colleary, PhD, Cline Curator of Theatre and Performing Arts, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin for his assistance with the Norman Bel Geddes archive.
8. McKay’s design drawing also indicates that the cups should be offered in sets of eight, but Revere would ultimately offer the cups in sets of six as well as eight.
9. The Manhattan serving tray, cocktail shaker, and cocktail cup were not exclusively available as a set. Revere offered each element of the set individually, and the 1938 catalogue even encouraged consumers to mix and match various products.
"Manhattan" Cocktail Set
Comparative Images
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