The Lazy part is fairly obvious I suppose, but I'm afraid there's no clear evidence as to definitively prove the origin of the Susan part. But the true mystery is in the now popular term, Lazy Susan. Historians have traced the concept back as far as 18th century England when it was more commonly known as the dumbwaiter.Īnd a few years back, a mahogany Lazy Susan (or dumbwaiter as it would have been known in its day) - 16" in diameter, dating from circa 1780 - sold at Christie’s auction house in London for in excess of £3,000.Ī dumbwaiter is a pretty self-explanatory name, it does what it says on the tin. Today, many people tend to think of the Lazy Susan as a kitschy relic from the 1950's/60's, but its pedigree is much more distinguished than that. And it was described as:Īn impossibly low wage for a good servant and the cleverest waitress in the world. The advert itself described the Lazy Susan as a mahogany model, 16" in diameter, that revolves around ball bearings. manufactured by a company called Ovington, you could pick up their Lazy Susan for $8.50. General consensus is that the term ‘Lazy Susan’ first made a written appearance in a Vanity Fair advertisement for a ‘Revolving Server or Lazy Susan’ in 1917. Want more history? See posts on The History of the Trough Sink, The History of the Farmhouse Sink and The Copper Bathtub in History.So why are you called Lazy Susan Garden Furniture we hear you cry and what's a Lazy Susan anyway?Ī rotating tray, generally circular, which is placed on the top centre of a table in order to assist in moving food around to all the diners on all sides of the table. It is the new centerpiece of the modern dining table-as functional as ever but having undergone a high-end makeover that has designers and homeowners, and those that gather around their tables, clamoring to take them for a spin. Today, this turntable has multiple uses, far beyond its early purpose as a servant replacement. Lazy Susans became so fashionable in the 1950s and ’60s that they were deemed kitschy in the decades to follow, but the 21st century has seen them reinvented and in demand once more. At the same time, the domestic service sector collapsed and the post-war Baby Boom led for to a demand for convenience.
We conclude that her roots are in Europe while she came by her name in America, where she has gone in and out of style.īy 1918 Century Magazine had already dismissed the lazy susan as out of fashion, though she would become very popular again in the 1950s, after George Hall, a soy sauce manufacturer, and partner in popular San Francisco-area Chinese restaurants, reintroduced the tabletop turntables in his restaurants. While the identity of the original Susan remains a mystery, her namesake lives on. Webster’s Dictionary added the term in 1933. She can be seen, but not heard, nor can she hear, she simply minds her business and carries out your orders in a jiffy.” In 1912, The Christian Science Monitor referred to the lazy susan as “the characteristic feature of the self-serving dinner table,” and a 1917 Vanity Fair ad depicted Ovington’s $8.50 mahogany “Revolving Server or Lazy Susan.” Proclaimed the ad: “$8.50 seems an impossibly low wage for a good servant and yet here you are Lazy Susan, the cleverest waitress in the world, at your service!” Keep in mind that WWI was in progress in 1917, and women sought solutions to a shortage of servants. Laurie became the “resuscitator of ‘lazy susan.’” A piece said, “‘Lazy Susan’ is a step toward solving the ever-vexing servant problem. In The Boston Journal in 1903, Scottish carpenter John B. Regardless of who thought to spin the plates, the term “lazy susan” debuted in the press in the early 20th-century.
After all, he was the mastermind behind the phonograph, introduced in 1877, and its spinning turntable. Others attributed the name to another Thomas: Edison. It serves many of the same purposes and is a spin-off of this functional piece of furniture. A guest who dined at the President’s house recalled, “By each individual was placed a dumbwaiter, containing everything necessary for the progress of dinner from beginning to end.” Today, some call the lazy susan a dumbwaiter (especially in Britain).
Jefferson’s dumb (or silent) waiters were serving trays with wheels. He brought the concept of the “dumb waiter” to Monticello following a trip to France. Many people claim that Thomas Jefferson invented it (or at least popularized it in America).