by Bob Spitz
The McWilliams, Child, and Weston families were immensely supportive of this book, every step of the way. I’d especially like to express my appreciation to Phila Cousins, David and Rachel McWilliams, Saba McWilliams, Patti McWilliams, Carol McWilliams Gibson, Josephine McWilliams, James Alexander McWilliams, Erica Child Prud’homme, Rachel Child, Jon Child, David Brownell, Chris Crane, John Kittredge, Josie Green, and Alicia Crane Williams, the archivist for the Weston and Crane families. Duncan Kennedy, whose father, Robert Woods Kennedy, was almost like family to Julia and Paul, filled in special information about his grandmother, Edith, and the intellectual life of Cambridge in the 1930s.
Others who made a significant contribution to my work but, for one reason or another, weren’t quoted in the text are: Kathi Alex at La Pitchoune, Fern Berman, Martha Coigny, Woody Fraser, Alexis Gelber, Tosca Giamatti, Gael Greene, Dorie Greenspan, Lauren Groveman, Barbara Haber, Susie Heller, Dick Holden, Sally Jackson, Jim Johnston, Kristyn Keene at ICM, Christopher Kimball, William Koonce, Jennifer Krauss, Lindsay Krauss, Susan Lewinnek, Dennis McDougal, Marilyn Mellowes at WGBH, Susan Patricola, Ken Schneider at Knopf, Chris Styler, Teri Taylor, Bern Terry, and, of course, William Truslow, Julia’s lawyer.
I am grateful to Willa B. Brown, who assisted in all of my research at Harvard, and to Roberta Martinez for her intelligence-gathering in Pasadena. Lindsay Maracotta and Peter Graves provided me with a home away from home in California, not to mention their long and enduring friendship. Fred Plotkin and Jim Falsey weighed in regularly with encouragement and advice, and Neal Gabler, good friend and biographer extraordinaire, helped me to keep everything in perspective.
I have long depended on the sage advice and muscle of my literary agent, Sloan Harris, and the men and women at Knopf, who have worked hard on my book. I am especially indebted to my editor, Peter Gethers, for his prodigious efforts in shaping this manuscript, and to his long-suffering assistant, Christina Malach, as well as their new protégé, Jade Noik. Lastly, I would like to thank Carol Carson for a lovely jacket and Sara Eagle for getting out the word.
If a writer’s work is only as valuable as those who encourage, sustain, and defend him, to that extent I am a wealthy man. My daughter Lily made every day precious and inspiring. And my parents—especially my mother, to whom this book is gratefully dedicated—motivated me always to follow my dream. Even so, I owe everything to my wife, Becky: my perspective, my well-being, my appreciation for everything that is right in life, to say nothing of her ability to come up with a better adjective when the situation demands it. This is her book as well as mine (and I hope she responds in kind when her book is published). Together, we’re one hell of a team.
Few words can express adequately the satisfaction for such bounty, so I’ll borrow Julia’s most heartfelt expression of best wishes. Simply put—bon appétit.
Notes
PROLOGUE
“Now, dearie, I will require”: Russ Morash, interview with author, December 11, 2008.
“the shows were as dry as toast”: Miffy Goodhart, interview with author, September 24, 2009.
“Miffy, you’ve got a hot one here”: Russ Morash interview.
“But I was trying to lighten …”: Goodhart interview.
“It’ll be fun, dearie”: Ibid.
“I was sort of a comic”: Curtis Hartman and Steven Raichlen, “JC: The Boston Magazine Interview,” Boston, April 1981, p. 79.
“was almost too much fun”: Mary Janney in Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 47.
“an unconscious wicked devilish”: Julia Child (hereafter JC), diary entry.
“She is unusually strong physically”: Paul Child (hereafter PC), letter to CC, in Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 140.
“I could literally feel myself knitting”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, undated, 1956.
Jacques Pépin described her: Jacques Pépin, interview with author, January 6, 2009.
“dilettante”: JC, Smith College memoir, p. 19.
“social butterfly”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 74.
“taking [it] out of cuckooland”: Henry, “The Wonder Child,” Vogue, June 1969, p. 172.
several dry runs: Pat Pratt, interview with author, December 2, 2008.
“I take it you’ve never worked”: Confidential source, interview with author.
“Homemakers read The Feminine Mystique”: Shapiro, Something from the Oven, pp. 230–31.
“With the Kennedys”: Sharon Hudgins, “What’s Cooking with Julia Child,” Stars and Stripes, September 27, 1984, p. 104.
“As a girl I had zero”: JC, My Life in France (hereafter My Life), pp. 3–4.
“Out came whatever was”: Pépin interview.
“a very modest family”: Morash interview.
“with this ebullient spirit”: Ibid.
One PARADISE
“a touch of wilderness”: Scheid, Pasadena, p. 37.
“It was paradise …”: JC, interview with author, September 19, 1991.
“to get where life was 2easy”: Morrow Mayo, Los Angeles (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1933), p. 211.
“California through and through”: Ibid.
over a hundred families joined: Elliott, History of the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association, manuscript, Huntington Library.
“theirs for the picking”: Ibid.
“pretty well down at the mouth”: McWilliams, Recollections of His Youth, p. 74.
“Your face and nose get scalped”: Daniel M. Berry, letter, undated, Huntington Library.
“120 miles of villainous stage riding”: Ibid.
“water delicious and cool”: Ibid.
ten thousand orange and lemon trees: Scheid, Pasadena, p. 32.
Land sold to members: Rolle, Pasadena Two Centuries of Growth, p. 7.
according to town records: Hiram Reid, History of Pasadena, 1895.
By 1913, a reporter tallied: “Orange Grove Avenue: A Millionaire for Every Week,” in Mayo, Los Angeles, p. 212.
“boom mansions”: Scheid, Pasadena, p. 62.
tubercular pioneers: “Arguably, every member of the families of that original colony from Indiana had tuberculosis.” Bill Trimble, interview with author, September 12, 2009.
“the richest city in America”: Mayo, Los Angeles, p. 217.
“going to California … or die”: Ibid.
a stern, determined lumberyardman: Alex McWilliams, interview with author, July 20, 2009.
and his cousin, Abner: “He went with three young men, one of whom was his cousin, Abner.” Saba McWilliams, interview with author, September 14, 2009.
some eighty thousand men: Rohrbough, Days of Gold, p. 2.
“legs-a-mighty”: McWilliams, Recollections, p. 47.
“snow storms all the way”: Ibid.
“fat bacon”: Ibid., p. 49.
“Them stories about finding”: Ibid., p. 21.
“on the first day we tried it”: Ibid., p. 76.
“clouds of mosquitoes”: Grimshaw, Grimshaw’s Narrative, 1892, pages unnumbered.
Regular shipments of gold: “The gold he found was shipped back to Illinois with somebody else—and it always made it back!” Patty McWilliams, interview with author, May 4, 2009.
A modestly published memoir: McWilliams, Recollections.
“He was a fearless”: Alex McWilliams interview.
“is said to have made a fortune”: Obituary, John McWilliams, New York Times, November 14, 1924.
“the epitome of gentlemen”: Saba McWilliams interview.
“a carbon-copy of the old man”: Phila Cousins, interview with author, May 11, 2009.
“genuine McWilliams”: Alex McWilliams interview.
“The obligation they felt”: Saba McWilliams interview.
At Princeton: “Did Julia’s Father Attend Princeton,” Mudd Manuscript Library blog, August 25, 2009.
“He wasn’t a warm man”: Patty McWilliams interview.
becoming an alderman: Princeton Alumni Weekly, 1907.
buying 4,60
0 acres: Anabaptist/Mennonite Safe & Economics, p. 213.
“He was smitten”: Jo McWilliams, interview with author, May 5, 2009.
John Jr. was promoted to president: New York Times, January 22, 1911.
“Vivacious”: “The way I heard it, my grandmother was a vivacious creature.” Cousins interview.
“saucy”: “Caro is saucy, and I sent her to her room.” Diary of Julia Mitchell Weston, 1865–1867.
The Crane Paper Company and Byron Weston Paper competed: “They were fierce competitors.” Josephine McWilliams interview.
“the Cranes and the Westons hated each other”: Cousins interview; Josie Green, interview with author, August 19, 2009.
each family lived on their own side of town: The Crane Family of Dalton, MA, p. 58.
“You couldn’t attend”: John Kittredge, interview with author, August 25, 2009.
If one of his merchants: The Berkshire Hills, p. 240.
“We are all orphans”: Carolyn Weston diary, 1900–1905.
“She was a strong-willed woman”: Cousins interview.
“She was sick and tired of that scene”: Ibid.
Despite an accelerating illness: “Miss Dorothy Weston Weds,” New York Times, June 10, 1911.
“the Golden West”: Princeton University, 1911, Class of 1901 Tenth Reunion handbook.
to “grow up with the country”: Ibid.
She and John married: “Miss Weston Weds John McWilliams,” New York Times, January 22, 1911.
“a good egg”: “For all his shortcomings—and they were many, so many—my father was a good egg.” JC, interview with author, September 19, 1991.
heathen Los Angeles: Scheid, Pasadena, p. 156.
“It was quite a social place”: Jo McWilliams interview.
“the crème de la crème”: Mayo, Los Angeles, p. 211.
“rich people who move”: Ibid., p. 214.
It was a well-known fact: “I don’t remember my grandfather ever holding me or picking me up. All of the McWilliams men were the same way—they didn’t like children.” Saba McWilliams interview.
Two “ON HER WAY”
trial of Clarence Darrow: “Stony-Hearted Spectators Melt to Tears Before Darrow’s Eloquence in Courtroom,” Pasadena Evening Post, August 14, 1912, p. 1.
“Practical Meals for Pasadena Housewives”: Pasadena Evening Post, August 12, 1912, p. 7.
Her size at birth: JC birth certificate, August 15, 1912; “Julia Carolyn arrives at 11:30, PM. Hard time but don’t mind as she’s a fine baby. Weight 7-1/2 lbs.” Carolyn McWilliams diary, August 15, 1912.
“She’s the spitting image”: “My father used to tell everyone …” JC, interview with author, September 16, 1991.
“hooting”: “The voice comes from Caro. They called it hooting, and the rest of the family imitates it.” Phila Cousins, interview with author, May 11, 2009.
“the progress of the last few years”: Farmer, A New Book of Cookery, p. 11.
In a formal picture: “Julia’s Birthday Album,” WGBH.
“I locked myself in”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 14.
“He scared the living daylights out of me”: JC interview.
“always hungry”: “As a child, I was always hungry. I loved food and couldn’t get enough.” Ibid.
“All she knew how to cook”: Roberta Wallace Coffey, “Their Recipe for Love,” McCall’s, November 1988, p. 97.
“delicious”: “Julia remembers it as delicious.” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 21.
“a modest and retiring”: Ibid., p. 23.
“My grandfather was fairly outspoken”: Cousins interview.
“always the instigator”: Carolyn McWilliams diary, September 4, 1916.
“slow”: “Everybody thought dad was slow.” David McWilliams, interview with author, May 5, 2009.
“somewhere in the machinery”: Ibid.
“loved this house”: JC, letter to PC, April 22, 1946.
“take things”: “Jukie and Babe loved to ‘take things.’ ” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 24.
“She was always the leader”: Ibid., p. 25.
“I don’t believe there was anything”: Ibid., p. 24.
Her father forbid: Cousins interview.
“magical”: “Santa Barbara was a magical place for Julia.” Alex Prud’homme, interview with author, January 21, 2010.
“I think Santa Barbara”: Cousins interview.
“When we went out to eat”: “What Is Your Favorite Place in California?” Westways, p. 11.
“Mother wore”: Ibid.
“the girls wore knee socks”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 28.
“old money”: “They are all very private and very prominent.” Terry Rodgers, “San Malo’s Mystique Built on Deep Code of Silence,” San Diego Union-Tribune, February 1, 2004.
“In those days, everybody knew”: Katherine (Nevins) Schwarzenbach, interview with author, February 4, 2010.
“a terror at the stove”: Ibid.
“already a head taller than her playmates”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 29.
“I grew out of my clothing”: JC interview.
“I was always one size”: Molly O’Neill, “What’s Cooking in America?” New York Times, October 12, 1989, p. 16.
It was awkward: JC interview.
“more boy than girl”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 35.
“the beautiful princess” parts: “I used to do a lot of play-acting … never cast as the beautiful princess.” Curtis Hartman and Steven Raichlen, “JC: The Boston Magazine Interview,” Boston, April 1981, p. 79.
“She had a very proper side”: Schwarzenbach interview.
“giantess”: O’Neill, “What’s Cooking in America.”
“She blocked out the light”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 35.
One poor mutt: Ibid.
“white women and girls”: Sheid, Pasadena, p. 98.
“ so exciting in the twenties”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 33.
“Pasadena had it all”: JC interview.
“Our family had a series”: JC, My Life, p. 4.
“Few Pasadena families went out”: Jo McWilliams interview.
“You could get a pretty good hot-dog”: JC interview.
François’s French Restaurant: Bill Bennett, interview with author, September 12, 2009.
“were wildly excited”: JC, From Julia Child’s Kitchen, p. 431.
“My father was too hard on Julia”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 33.
Dort “was an easy target”: Cousins interview.
their noses massaged: Ibid.
“a shot of poison”: JC interview.
“a generous sprinkling of … fortunetellers”: Mayo, Los Angeles, p. 212.
“Medical experts of the time”: Scheid, Pasadena, p. 123.
“rain or shine, 365 days”: “Their father insisted on it.” Cousins interview.
Miss Capen’s School: Julia Mitchell Weston diary, 1865–1897.
“believed [in] a college education”: Katherine Branson, KBS Scrapbook, 1920–1970.
“knowledge before sex”: “It was KBS, which everyone said stood for ‘knowledge before sex.’ ” Cousins interview.
“We wanted the girls to learn”: Branson, KBS Scrapbook, 1920–1970.
“a marvelous, magical place”: JC interview.
“her complete lack of self-consciousness”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 44.
“She thought it was rot”: Cousins interview.
“I hated having to go”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 40.
“It had a skirt”: Helen Hind Fortune, Oral History Project of the Marin County Free Library, September 20, 1976.
“I wasn’t anyone’s idea”: JC interview.
“hated Latin”: “I just hated it, period. It was wasted on me.” Ibid.
“who demanded perfection”: Fortune, Oral History Project.
The first sign of trouble: “Betty Stevens called Caro to come over.” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 41
.
That morning, Francis Stevens: “Pasadena Banker Kills Two Sons and Himself,” Los Angeles Times, December 9, 1927.
“retarded”: “Betty Parker believe he was just ‘weird and retarded.’ ” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 42.
she’d overheard her parents say: “They thought he was retarded, so they sent him to the Los Alamos School.” Cousins interview.
“difficult” boys got a “disciplined”: Los Alamos Historical Society website.
“Bear in mind always”: Julia McWilliams, The Blue Print, p. 15.
The Vagabonds: “Katherine Branson would take the girls on very long hikes … and once a year would go up Mount Tam.” Kitty Dibblee, Oral History Project of the Marin County Free Library, September 20, 1976.
“I was usually cast”: Hartman and Raichlen, “JC,” Boston, April 1981, p. 79.
“moderately good” grades: Julia Child permanent record, Katherine Branson School, 1930.
made themselves martinis: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 38.
“on her way”: Graduation speech, KBS archives.
Three JULIA OF THE ALMOST SPRING
“to develop fully”: Smith College mission statement, www.smith.edu.
“an utter adolescent”: Smith Centennial Study: Julia McWilliams Child, October 10, 1972, p. 5.
“Somebody like me”: Ibid., p. 6.
For Julia, academics: “I wasn’t really interested in the academics at all. I spent most of my time growing up.” Ibid.
“No occupation decided”: Smith College, Julia McWilliams Child file.
“There was never the slightest”: Smith Centennial Study, p. 1.
“was rather a daring”: Ibid.
Theodora was a scold: “Julia and her sister Dort thought [Theodora was] a manipulating and subtly denigrating monster.” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 53.
“my destiny”: Smith Centennial Study, p. 4.
“was never a brilliant student”: Ibid., p. 1.
“wasn’t very particularly politically aware”: Ibid., p. 11.
“really wonderful brains”: Ibid., p. 7.
“had eaten too many hot fudge”: “I was very plump … ” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 47.
