P&O menu card titled 'Show a Leg', from a series themed 'Nautical Expressions'

Designer G Thompson

Maker P&O (British, founded 1837)

Printer Charles & Read Ltd of Harlow, England

Date1940-1970

Object number00049801

NameMenu

MediumPaper

DimensionsHeight: 255 mm, width: 355 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Christopher Beazley

Terms

DescriptionMenu card from a series based on 'Nautical Expressions', designed by G. Thompson for P&O and printed by Charles & Read Ltd. The card features an illustration of a man walking past legs dangling from hammocks onboard a ship. From one hammock dangles a fish tail. The card also features text titled 'Show a Leg' explaining the origins of this nautical term.HistoryThis souvenir menu card offers an explanation for the origins of the nautical term ‘show a leg’. ‘Show a leg’ was reportedly the morning call to seaman to stow their hammocks and begin their work. Sailor’s wives and sweethearts could live onboard while the ship was in harbour, sleeping on the Gun or Mess Deck with their menfolk. The call to ‘show a leg’ was intended to show that the hammock’s sleepy occupant was female, and not a male malingerer avoiding his duties. By the 1960s the stately passenger cruises of the 1920s to 1950s were in decline due to increased airtravel. However in the early 1970s, the passenger cruise lines transformed the cruising experience to attract a new market. In 1974, the Cunard Line Queen Elizabeth II hired international celebrities to perform cabaret acts aboard ship. The QE2 ushered in the concept of 'one-class' cruising, as the ship's facilities and amenities were made available to all passengers. Regardless of the staterooms or berths passengers had booked, they enjoyed the same service, menus, entertainment, and activities. People began taking cruises for short vacations, rather than solely as a means of transportation. Some argue the 1970s television series the Love Boat also had an impact. In the 1980s cruise lines began launching giant passenger liners, some capable of carrying over 2,000 people. These vessels were designed as all-inclusive magnificent floating hotels with casinos, running tracks, spas, champagne and caviar bars, basketball courts, private stateroom verandahs, and three-story nightclubs. Ports of call were not the main reason for cruising anymore as people became interested in the whole experience of just being on board. Cruise Lines actively marketed their shipboard experiences rather than destinations. The message was 'luxury for the masses'. Souvenirs had always been an important part of the cruise experience, and many items issued to passengers such as menus, destination cards, cocktail stirrers and match boxes were kept as momentos of what for many people were 'once in a lifetime' voyages, often honeymoons or romantic cruises.SignificanceShipboard menus such as these were often printed to be souvenirs and were collected as mementos of what for many people were 'once in a lifetime' voyages. Many shipping companies produced their own series of collectable menus with themes such as exotic destinations, historic events or, as in this case, nautical terminology.