request the pleasure of

[HW:  Mr. and Mrs. Greatlake’s]

company on Monday evening the third of January

at ten o’clock

One East Fiftieth Street

Dancing
R.s.v.p.

The form most often used by fashionable hostesses in New York and Newport is: 

         Mr. and Mrs. Gilding

request the pleasure of

company at a small dance

on Monday the first of January

at Ought Ought Fifth Avenue

Even if given for a debutante daughter, her name does not appear, and it is called a “small dance,” whether it is really small or big.  The request for a reply is often omitted, since everyone is supposed to know that an answer is necessary.  But if the dance, or dinner, or whatever the entertainment is to be, is given at one address and the hostess lives at another, both addresses are always given: 

Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Oldname

request the pleasure of

company at a dance

on Monday evening the sixth of January

at ten o’clock

The Fitz-Cherry

Kindly send response to
Brookmeadows
L.I.

If the dance is given for a young friend who is not a relative, Mr. and Mrs. Oldname’s invitations should

request the pleasure of

    company at a dance in honour of

          Miss Rosalie Grey

=WHEN AND HOW ONE MAY ASK FOR AN INVITATION FOR A STRANGER=

One may never ask for an invitation for oneself anywhere!  And one may not ask for an invitation to a luncheon or a dinner for a stranger.  But an invitation for any general entertainment may be asked for a stranger—­especially for a house-guest.

Example: 

    Dear Mrs. Worldly,

    A young cousin of mine, David Blakely from Chicago, is staying
    with us.

    May Pauline take him to your dance on Friday?  If it will be
    inconvenient for you to include him, please do not hesitate to
    say so frankly.

    Very sincerely yours,
    Caroline Robinson Town.

Answer: 

    Dear Mrs. Town,

    I shall be delighted to have Pauline bring Mr. Blakely on the
    tenth.

    Sincerely yours,
    Edith Worldly.

Or

A man might write for an invitation for a friend.  But a very young girl should not ask for an invitation for a man—­or anyone—­since it is more fitting that her mother ask for her.  An older girl might say to Mrs. Worldly, “My cousin is staying with us, may I bring him to your dance?” Or if she knows Mrs. Worldly very well she might send a message by telephone:  “Miss Town would like to know whether she may bring her cousin, Mr. Michigan, to Mrs. Worldly’s dance.”

=CARD OF GENERAL INVITATION=

Invitations to important entertainments are nearly always especially engraved, so that nothing is written except the name of the person invited; but, for the hostess who entertains constantly, a card which is engraved in blank, so that it may serve for dinner, luncheon, dance, garden party, musical, or whatever she may care to give, is indispensable.