Bangor House menu in 1955

BANGOR – You name it, and it was probably on the Christmas dinner menu at the Bangor House on Dec. 25, 1955.

Yes, indeed, there were blue point oysters on the half-shell, not to mention fresh jumbo shrimp cocktail.

Emma Cormier Leeman of Winterport knows it was so, because she has the colorful menu that marked the festive day.

Not that she was at the Bangor House that day, being just 3 years old at the time.

However, she did work in the Bangor House in the 1960s.

“I was just 15,” she recalled, “working in the coffee shop after school at Bangor High School. It was my first job.”

Leeman was given the 1955 Christmas menu some years ago by a longtime waitress at the Bangor House named Demarise.

In addition to the oysters and shrimp cocktail, appetizers on Christmas Day 1955 were fruit cocktail with sherbet, consomme lemon sherry, pulled bread, chicken mulligatawny, cranberry sauce, queen olives, hearts of celery, spiced watermelon pickles and radishes.

For just $2.75, diners enjoyed native tom turkey with chestnut stuffing and giblet gravy. Offered for the same price were roast stuffed native capon with nut cream sauce, charcoal-broiled choice sirloin steak with fresh mushrooms and roast green goose with onion stuffing.

For the big spenders, there was baked stuffed lobster, “Bangor House style,” for $3.75.

Side dishes included mashed Maine potatoes, creamed white onions, candied sweet potatoes, mashed squash, French fries, green peas, molded fruit salad, crisp lettuce hearts, French or Roquefort dressing and English plum pudding with hard sauce.

As for dessert, well, of course there was hot mince pie, not to mention fresh apple pie, squash pie, fruitcake, lemon sherbet with cr?me de menthe and strawberry parfait.

D’Anjou pears rounded out the menu, along with McIntosh apples, emperor grapes, dinner mints, cheddar cheese, Roquefort cheese, Liederkranz cheese, toasted saltines, assorted rolls, coffee, tea, milk and sweet Maine cider.