Mrs Oscar Hammerstein

“Mrs Oscar Hammerstein, who was an Australian, presented this beautiful tea set to the National Gallery of Victoria in 1961.”

—card on Famille rose tea set 2007

Dorothy Blanchard, you really do have a name—sign!

But the Vic Gallery says “Mrs Oscar Hammerstein”

presented this 1760s Orient tea china,                                   

on each showcard as if you were your husband’s diner

You were Tasmanian—they claim just Australian

Tea-saucer flowers and tendrils swirl like columbine

A love song to equal your husband’s tenderly mine

No ordinary tea-set—nothing could be finer

Dorothy Blanchard

A musical actress, you ran namesake interior design

At 86 on Vanity Fair’s “Best Dressed” with straight spine

Two children, two marriages, witty repartee-liner

Founder of U.S. “Welcome House” Adoption, child-shiner

Daughter of Henry James, master mariner in brine

You deserve to be toasted—titled with the best of wine

Dorothy Blanchard