There's an adage in education that is basically, "we measure what matters." Which is to say, we can get a sense of what a community or society values based on the knowledge, skills, or dispositions that are assessed in schools. (There's often a disconnect between the things adults claim to value and the things we ask children to learn but that's a different conversation for a different subreddit.)

So, given that rule of thumb and an understanding of American education history, I feel comfortable saying that yes, "dinner with the boss" was a thing that actually happened - or teachers thought might happen - and the main reason is that the New York State Regents Examinations in Comprehensive Vocational Homemaking routinely asked the young women taking the exam about entertaining, including for their husband's boss.

First, some quick context setting. NYS has the oldest formal system of education in the United States, dating back to the 1780s. This headstart meant NY policymakers and educators were experimenting with different structures long before some other states were even considering the possibility of public education. After a few different approaches to funding and curriculum, the structure that NYS fell into, and stuck with to the present day, was based on the idea that in order to ensure consistency across the state, there needed to a common measure of student learning. This measure, which was first given in the mid-1800s is colloquially known as The Regents Exams. I won't subject you to a history of the exams (as fascinating as I think it is) but basically, they're a series of exams given to high school students across the state as a way to document their mastery of content the state deems necessary before they'll award a high school diploma with a Regents endorsement.

For the purpose of your question, the most important feature was the feedback loop between NYS teachers and the exams. (At one point in the early 1900s, there were upwards of 90 different Regents exams. Schools/students could pick and choose which ones to take.) Teachers across the state determined the content for the exams and then went back to their classrooms and taught students the content that would appear on the exams. Teachers who did not participate in the writing process were given guides on what would appear (AKA standards.) They didn't know the exact questions on the exams but, for example, the teachers who taught bookkeeping knew there would be several questions where students had to solve long arithmetic problems by hand and show their work. So they taught their students how to solve complicated arithmetic problems by hand and show their work. Etc.

This doesn't mean Homemaking was offered at every NYS high school or that all girls had to take the course, but rather, there were NYS HS teachers who wanted to offer the course and felt their course content was worthy of inclusion in the pool of knowledge students learned as part of obtaining a diploma. At some point in the early 1930s, a group of NYS educators proposed courses and a corresponding exam called Comprehensive Vocational Homemaking. Their rationale and the exact year is several hundred miles away from me in the state's archive, but I know from other research that the time between proposal and exam administration was typically 1-3 years. Students then needed 3 years of courses to sit for the exam (hence "Comprehensive.")

It's my understanding that the first administration was in June 1937 and included the note:

The minimum time requirement [for taking this exam] is 10 periods a week for three school years with outside preparation and home project work. These three years of work must include homemaking B and D.

The exam was broken into multiple parts and the first question on Part I, section III of the 1937 exam question read:

Suppose that you intend to invite five friends for supper, and the evening on Sunday, July 7.

a. Write your part of a telephone conversation inviting one of these friends. [3 points] .

b You have decided to serve a buffet supper. Write the menu for it. [5 points]

c State your plan for the entertainment of the guests. [2 points]

So we know that from the beginning, Homemaking teachers thought teaching young women how to entertain was important. However, the exams weren't just about entertaining - there were questions about taxes (T/F: Assessments for taxation purposes are divided equally among all the houses in a locality.) child safety (T/F: Instinct teaches a mother how to care for her baby. False. FYI.), food safety (The growth of bacteria, yeasts, and molds cause the ___ of food.), etc.

I don't have access to any of the exams from the 1940s but questions about entertaining appear on the 1950 exam:

Part II, Question 1: Part of a home experience might be assuming responsibility for preparing dinner for a family of four and two guests. A girl might choose the following menu:

• tomato juice
• broiled steak
• mashed potatoes
• buttered peas
• molded fruit salad
• baking-powder biscuits
• butter
• chocolate cake
• coffee
• milk

A. Consider all duties involved in preparing this meal. List four duties which might be done the night before, showing good management of time.

While I cannot confidently speak to what happened in other states (there's a book coming out in May on the topic that I'm very much looking forward to) but it's safe to say that the heteronormative idea that a husband would go off in the morning to an office job (more on the history of "9-5" if you're so inclined) while the wife stayed home as a homemaker and at some point, "dinner with the boss" would happen.

Which is to say: if the calendar in the kitchen is to be believed, Mr. Hart, Vision's boss was coming for dinner on Wednesday, August 23, 1950, 1961, or 1967. I can't say it's common - hopefully, someone familiar with the history of workplace etiquette from the era will chime in - and I'm not sure when Wanda would have graduated high school or if she went to school in NYS but odds are good that if she attended a suburban white high school and was interested in obtaining a Regents diploma, she likely took a high school course that prepared her to expect the homemaking responsibility of hosting her husband's boss (or conversely be the boss' wife.) She would have been taught the content needed to answer questions like (all from Homemaker exams between 1950 and 1961):

A homemaker on a limited budget, with only one hour to prepare dinner ... could include in the menu (1) rib roast of beef (2) stuffed onions (3) angel food cake (4) gingerbread with applesauce

~~

Which indicates formal balance in a living room? (1) candlesticks placed at one end of a mantle and a clock near the center (2) similar chairs placed on either side of a window (3) a grouping of a desk, a chair and a wastebasket (4) a grouping of a reading lamp, a few books and a bowl of flowers on an end table

~~

A girl's appearance is affected by her ability to choose clothes wisely and to keep them attractive.

A. For each of the following, give two characteristics which would indicate good workmanship, (1) a hem (2) a dart (3) a zipper

B. Explain two ways in which the construction of a garment can affect its durability.

C. For each of the following undesirable characteristics of a dress, suggest one type of alteration or remodeling to make the dress wearable. (1) neckline too low (2) bustline too tight (3) stained underarm area

~~

A person is developing emotional maturity when he (1) controls his reactions (2) requires frequent praise (3) forms many intimate friendships (4) laughs at awkward social situations

~~

A father's change in jobs makes it necessary for his family to move to a different locality. In this family, there are the father, the mother, a sixteen-year-old girl, a thirteen-year-old girl, a seven-year-old boy and a two-year-old boy.

A. The family must first decide whether to live in the large city where the father will be working or in one of the small surrounding communities. Suggest four questions the family will need to consider in making this choice. [4]

~~

The following is a dinner menu for a married couple entertaining the husband's supervisor. Dinner is to be served at 6 PM. Roast beef, mashed potatoes, fresh spinach, bread, gravy, (canned) buttered beets, butter, chocolate cornstarch pudding, coffee, or milk.

List four items from the following plan which indicate good timing in preparing the meal described above. Give reason for each answer.

Night before - make chocolate pudding and place in serving dishes.

• 2 PM: Wash and peel potatoes and place in cold water.
• 3:15: Place 5 lb. roast in oven at 325 °.
• 3:30: Wash spinach and place in cool water
• 3:40: Set table and fill water glasses
• 5:00: Put potatoes, spinach, and beets on stove to cook
• 5:30: Drain and mash potatoes and place on top of a double boiler
• 5:45: Measure coffee into pot and set water on to boil
• 5:50: Get serving dishes from cupboard.
• 5:55: Place meat and vegetables on serving dishes.

Make a seating chart and diagram of one place setting for this dinner.

(Postscript: It's fairly easy for us in 2021 to read such questions and pass judgment on the teachers who wrote the exams and the young women who took the courses. However, it's worth stressing again that the exams also included questions about negotiating a lease, first aid, disaster management, pursuing professional goals, and pulling together a sharp outfit. Also, question 48 on the 1957 exam read: The ideal family pattern toward which most young couples strive today is (1) autocratic (2) matriarchal (3) patriarchal (4) democratic. The correct answer was 4.)

This isn't just a common scenario in sitcoms, but "dinner with the boss" pops up a lot in personal essays written by women in the 1950's. Humorists Erma Bombeck and Teresa Bloomingdale, as well as humorist/playwright Jean Kerr all have several essays about entertaining their husband's boss at dinner at their home, or about having a dinner party at their bosses home (Jean Kerr writes about attending a dinner party at her husband's boss's home, only to discover her dress is made of the same material as the drapes). There are other examples I've come across, but those women's essays stick out the most to me, as they all wrote about mishaps, and had livelier writing than domestic personal essays from magazines of the period. Cookbooks of the period occasionally throw in a comment about "impressing a boss" with their "Special Occasion" recipes. There are also special sections about entertaining bosses in etiquette and domestic guides of the period, going into the 70's. Emily Post and Miss Manners both give advice as to not being a boor at such a dinner party and polite topics of conversation.

There seems to be less "My promotion hinges on my wife impressing the boss" than there is in sitcoms - but it is also the nature of a sitcom plot to exaggerate the stakes for extra humor. However, based on writing at the time, it was common that an employer would visit a private home and spend an evening with the family of a prospective promotee. The inclusion in domestic writing, humor primarily written for women (most of these essays that were later gathered into books were first published in women's magazines), and in books intended to help women in preparation all make mention of it as established fact, rather than as an extraordinary circumstance.

Actually, going back, there are mentions of husbands bringing their bosses home for dinner in books well before the 1950's, or bosses inviting employees over for dinner to discuss their careers. Maud Hart Lovelace, who was writing in the 1950's about the 1910's, wrote a dinner party her boss threw to discuss her career, where she met her husband (she had replaced him for the duration).

probably one of the best Reddit threads ever! Thanks. Browsing the US History and Government tests is quite eye-opening.

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