UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 3
INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES
1. Name and Address of Reporting Person
   MURPHY, MICHAEL E
   1242 N LAKE SHORE DRIVE   APT  25
   CHICAGO, IL  60610
   USA
2. Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year)
   AUGUST 6 1997
3. IRS or Social Security Number of Reporting Person (Voluntary)
   ###-##-####
4. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
   BASSETT FURNITURE INDUSTRIES, INC.
   BSET
5. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable)
   (X) Director  ( ) 10% Owner  ( ) Officer (give title below) ( ) Other
   (specify below)
   
6. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year)
   
7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line)
   ( ) Form filed by One Reporting Person
   ( ) Form filed by More than One Reporting Person
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| 1. Title of Security |2. Amount of |3. Ownership |4. Nature of Indirect | | Securities | Form: | Beneficial Ownership | | Beneficially | Direct(D) or | | | Owned | Indirect(I) | | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| COMMON STOCK |1000 |D | | - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Table II -- Derivative Securitites Beneficially Owned | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| 1.Title of Derivative |2.Date Exer- |3.Title and Amount | |4. Conver-|5. Owner- |6. Nature of Indirect | Security | cisable and | of Underlying | |sion or |ship | Beneficial Ownership | | Expiration | Securities | |exercise |Form of | | | Date(Month/ |-----------------------|---------|price of |Deriv- | | | Day/Year) | |Amount |deri- |ative | | | Date | Expira- | |or |vative |Security: | | | Exer- | tion | Title |Number of|Security |Direct(D) or | | | cisable | Date | |Shares | |Indirect(I) | | ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________|
Explanation of Responses: SIGNATURE OF REPORTING PERSON MICHAEL E. MURPHY DATE AUGUST 13, 1997