Last meal

WICHITA, Kan. -- Don't clean your plate.

Don't wear diamonds before sunset.

Don't speak to servants.

And please, ladies and gentlemen, do not, under any circumstances, touch your face or your hair in public. To do so would be terribly uncouth.

Liza Gilbert had researched the customs and mannerisms of Edwardian England around 1912, when Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage. On a recent Monday, she had to teach a couple dozen modern Americans how to act their parts.

When "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" opens at Exploration Place opened recently -- and especially during a re-creation of the final meal aboard ship that took place Friday -- museum employees assumed the roles of Titanic passengers, from Capt. Edward John Smith to the unsinkable Molly Brown.

Gilbert, the museum's research specialist, was charged with assigning parts and helping the cast look and act authentic.

During an initial training session, she reviewed general behavior, including formal introductions, table manners and topics of conversation.

"Never ever talk about health or diseases," Gilbert said. "It's something we do all the time these days, but back then it was considered very uncultured, very third-class."

Or, perhaps, very American. Of all the cultures in the world, Gilbert said, Americans have never been viewed as elegant, and this was especially true during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Aboard Titanic, Brits and Americans mingled, she said, even though social classes did not.

"If you are portraying an American," she told the group, "you can be a little brasher, a bit more undignified."

But still no belching or scratching yourselves, she warned. Even "uncouth" Americans had manners, and were far more prim and proper than people today.

After reviewing her immense list of dos and don'ts -- always introduce a gentleman to a lady, never drain your glass in one or two gulps, never talk about religion -- and going over basic table manners, Gilbert led participants through a mock dinner scene.

On the menu: large marshmallows, miniature chocolate chips and cups of juice.

"Please take a drink," Gilbert directed.

Like most of her tablemates, Joyce Gedraitis reached for her cup.

"No!" Gilbert interrupted. "Remember: Blot, drink, blot."

In 1912, proper ladies gently blotted their mouths with their napkins both before and after taking a drink, Gilbert said. They also sat up straight, removed their gloves by the fingertips, never opened their mouths too wide and never laid their silverware on their plates.

And don't give your food more than a passing glance, Gilbert directed. To stare at one's food was considered impolite, and implied that the diner didn't trust that the food was safe to eat.

The cadre of rules soon overwhelmed most of the museum employees, who struggled to cut their marshmallows into tiny pieces, and to scoop their chocolate chips without using their fingers.

The Titanic cast and crew had several days to practice their parts before donning costumes and assuming their roles -- and, thankfully, a few weeks to rehearse for the big dinner.

During Friday's event, visitors at the captain's table enjoyed a four-course meal of salmon, beef, duckling, wine and port. Those in third class ate Irish stew after passing through an optional lice and teeth check. All found out during the evening whether their characters survived the sinking.

Communications manager Christina Bluml knows that her character, fashion entrepreneur Lady Duff Gordon, survived the tragedy by procuring seats on Lifeboat 1 and bribing the crew not to rescue other passengers. Bringing the character to life, however, took practice.

Gilbert hopes the research and rehearsals gave visitors a more accurate look at what life was like when Titanic sailed -- and perhaps a better understanding of why the tragedy unfolded the way it did.

"It's so easy for us to say, 'How could this have happened? Why weren't more people rescued?' And the answer is, everything was so divided by class," she said.

"The only way to explain why the tragedy happened is to explain what the culture was like. And the only way to explain that is to show it."