Scramble supper/dinner/lunch (1944)

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated  Mon, 13 Sep 2004 01:43:14 EDT,   Bapopik at AOL.COM quotes:

>  The Dictionary of American Regional English has "scramble dinner" (or
>  "supper") from 1968. It is defined as a "potluck supper." This continues
the
>  discussion of that and the "pitch in."
>
>
>  (WWW.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM) ("potluck" and "scramble")
>     Dixon Evening Telegraph  Saturday, June 24, 1944 Dixon, Illinois
>  ...north of Ohio. Following a delicious POTLUCK dinner a business meeting..
>  was.....Two ball mixed foursomes. p. m.: SCRAMBLE supper at club house,
6.30
> p. m..

<similar quotations deleted>

It seems to me that many of the quotes you give show a contrast between a
"pot-luck dinner" and a "scramble lunch", as if they were two different types of
events.  Since "scramble" is mostly connected to "lunch" and "pot-luck" to
"dinner", apparently a "scramble meal" is a much less elaborate affair than a
pot-luck dinner.

What then is a scramble meal?  I don't know.  One possibility is that it is
some kind of meal that can be served in a hurry (hence "scramble").

The 1944 date may be significant.  That was during World War II and its food
rationing and shortages on the home front, and certain social customs arose
due to these conditions.

Perhaps it was a "progressive dinner", in which consecutive courses were
served at different locations, "scramble" here referring to the process of getting
between the locations during a time of gasoline rationing.

I read (I think it was in J. B. West _Upstairs at the White House_) that
First Lady Bess Truman (this must have been in 1945) was invited to a dinner at
which everyone was assigned to bring a certain item of food (the opposite of a
pot-luck).  Ms. Truman was asked to bring a stick of butter and there was a
major explosion at the White House when the staff was unable or unwilling to
supply such an item to her.  I forget what this particular type of dinner was
called.

      - James A. Landau