by Bob Spitz
“It’s just 1-2-3 and dinner’s on”: “Meals in Minutes,” Better Homes & Gardens, September 1953, p. 93.
“the most disheartening article”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, June 22, 1956, SA.
“People just do not have bottles”: JC, letter to Simca Beck, 1958, SA.
“that most American’s don’t know anything”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, SA.
Twenty Minute Roast: “Meals in Minutes,” Better Homes & Gardens.
“So I am deeply depressed”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, January 12, 1958.
“There are loads and loads and loads”: JC, letter to Simca Beck, 1957, SA.
“It will be the death of La Cuisine”: “I … hope that too many people will not take to it.” JC, letter to Simca Beck, 1958, SA.
“HELL AND DAMNATION”: JC, letter to Simca Beck, July 14, 1958, SA.
“I can’t think of doing anything else”: Ibid.
“for people … who want”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, February 20, 1956, SA.
“Her technique is certainly not”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, November 2, 1955, SA.
“sloppy” and “very poor”: JC, letter to Simca Beck, 1955, SA.
“Her books were charmingly written”: Judith Jones, interview with author, March 18, 2009.
“Dean of American Cookery”: Clark, James Beard, p. 158.
“one of the best of the current cook bookers”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, May 1957, SA.
“vichyssoise with frozen mashed potatoes”: James Beard, Love and Kisses and a Halo of Truffles, John Ferrone, ed. (New York: Arcade, 1994), p. 51.
floating island: Recipe from Mademoiselle, April 1950, p. 54.
“He really is the only good thing”: Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, February 1, 1955, SA.
“extremely good”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, October 26, 1955.
His recipe for chicken chasseur: Diat, French Cooking for Americans, pp. 126 and 118.
“How stupid, to spend one’s life juice”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, April 1955.
“this elephant of ours”: Ibid.
“Meat and fish are going to take”: “It just seems to me it is going to be so long before we get the whole thing done.” JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, February 20, 1956.
“I would sort of hate”: Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, February 13, 1956, SA.
“hard at it”: “[Simca] is proofing the manuscript, and I am rushing ahead doing over the sauce chapter.” JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, February 2, 1958, SA.
“chugged and slithered”: JC, My Life, p. 228.
It was well after midnight: “The two ladies, and the manuscript, arrived about one o’clock in the morning.” Avis DeVoto, Memoir About Julia Child, October 16, 1988.
“profoundly impressed”: “The tone of the book is also most attractive.” Dorothy de Santillana, confidential editorial report, as reported in Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, January 22, 1953, SA.
“Americans don’t want to cook”: Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, January 22, 1953.
“Neither of us said much”: JC, My Life, p. 229.
“With the greatest respect”: Dorothy de Santillana, letter to JC, March 21, 1958, SA.
“compact, simplified”: “We realize that the continuing trend in this country is toward speed and the elimination of work.” JC, “Draft of Letter to Houghton-Mifflin,” March 26, 1958, SA.
“perhaps a series of small books”: Dorothy de Santillana, letter to JC, March 21, 1958.
“We’ll just have to do it over”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 241.
“to compress the ‘encyclopedia’ ”: JC, My Life, p. 230.
“Everything would be of the simpler”: JC, letter to Dorothy de Santillana, March 27, 1958, SA.
By 1959, … James Beard had written: Cook It Outdoors (1941), Jim Beard’s Barbecue Cooking (1954), The Complete Book of Outdoor Cookery (1955), James Beard’s Treasury of Outdoor Cooking (1959).
“emphasis would [have to] be on”: “The recipes would look short.” JC, letter to De Santillana, March 27, 1958.
“How to Sauté” was out: JC, letter to Dorothy De Santillana, April 23, 1958. SA.
“I can’t even get oven-roasted chicken”: JC, letter to Simca Beck, June 1958, SA.
In another four years, he’d turn sixty: “Paul said he did not want to be in government any longer than sixty years of age. He wanted to devote himself to the creative arts.” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 246.
“special, charming New England character”: JC, My Life, p. 231.
“keep trying and slugging away”: Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, March 25, 1958, SA.
“You have come nearer to mastering”: Ibid.
On August 6, 1958: “We just learned this yesterday.” JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, August 7, 1958, SA.
“I think this is wonderful”: Ibid.
Fifteen JULIA’S TURN TO BLOOM
“This won’t be food you love”: “I just knew what Julia was thinking, and I’d prepared her for it.” Debby Howe, interview with author, February 24, 2009.
“a very thick slice of banana cake”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, May 22, 1959, SA.
“like sauerkraut”: “They also have a gravlochs [sic], which is salted and buried in the ground,” JC, letter to family, July 14, 1959, SA.
“damn stuff stunk”: “I should have known better than to try it.” PC, letter to family, March 19, 1960, SA.
“Vegetables: lousy”: PC, letter to family, May 24, 1959, SA.
“a fabulous place to be posted”: Fisher Howe interview.
“relaxed, sweet direct”: PC, letter to family, May 24, 1959.
“a great big old city”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, May 22, 1959, SA.
“a family-oriented place”: “There were lots of children in evidence.” Fisher Howe interview.
“the whole glorious spread of spring”: PC, letter to family, May 24, 1959.
“a heavenly view of the fjord”: Debby Howe interview.
“an attic as big as Great Hall”: PC, letter to family, June 26, 1959, SA.
“tired old Norwegian electric”: PC, letter to family, July 14, 1959, SA.
“preposterously unworkable”: PC, letter to family, June 26, 1959.
“74 separate objects”: “Julie’s kitchen pots and pans are all hung up.” PC, letter to family, July 14, 1959.
it wasn’t Norwegian, but Danish”: “He realized soon enough that he’d been taught Danish instead.” Debby Howe interview.
Julia liked “the Wegians”: JC, letter to family, July 14, 1959, SA.
throughout the summer of 1959: “Julie’s working like a ‘bastid’ on her book.” PC, letter to family, July 26, 1959, SA.
“After nearly eight years of hard labor”: JC, My Life, p. 235.
“one of the few in the memory”: “An unexpected heatwave is taking place; Norway is having a real heatwave.” PC, letter to family, June 26, 1959.
“The revised French Recipes”: JC, My Life, p. 235.
“a primer on cuisine bourgeoise”: “The book was now a wholly different beast.” Ibid.
“Take out the intestines, the liver”: Saint-Ange, La Bonne Cuisine, p. 402.
“I can hardly believe it”: Debby Howe interview.
“It has weighed so like a stone”: JC, letter to family, September 1959, SA.
She joined a class in Norwegian: “I have three classes a week at the University and am just loving them.” JC, letter to family, November 12, 1959, SA.
“so many office things going on”: JC, letter to family October 1, 1959, SA.
“Meself, am feeling quite lost”: JC, letter to family, November 12, 1959.
“I have descended into a slough”: JC, letter to family, October 1, 1959.
“Drop everything”: Mark DeVoto, interview with author, December 12, 2008.
“By that time”: Avis DeVoto, Memoir About Julia Child.
“mightily encouraged”: “We got back a quite enthusiastic letter from de Santillana.” JC, letter to family, Octo
ber 1, 1959.
“truly bowled over at”: De Santillana, letter to JC, September 29, 1959, SA.
Classic French Cuisine by Joseph Donon: “compared to you Chef Donon not only doesn’t deserve the word classic, he doesn’t even deserve the word French, in spite of his Legion of Honour!” Ibid.
“Your manuscript is a work of culinary science”: Paul Brooks, letter to JC, November 6, 1959, SA.
It was the last thing she had expected: “I certainly did allow my hopes to rise considerably after Dorothy’s letter.” JC, letter to Simca Beck and Avis DeVoto, November 1959, SA.
“devastated”: “Julia and Paul, as well as Simca and Jean, were devastated.” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 255.
“too difficult for Americans”: JC, letter to family, November 12, 1959.
“swings great weight”: Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, November 11, 1959, SA.
already sold nearly seventy thousand copies: “We sold nearly 70,000 of Helen Corbitt (poppy seed and sugar on salad!).” Dorothy de Santillana letter to Avis DeVoto, as quoted in Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, November 17, 1959, SA.
“It’s such a wonderful example”: Shapiro, Julia Child, pp. 84–85.
“Did the American public want nothing”: JC, My Life, p. 239.
“was Julia just the wrong collaborator”: “You just managed to hook yourself up with the wrong collaborator.” JC, letter to Simca Beck and Avis DeVoto, November 1959.
“I refuse to let more than a coal”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, February 22, 1960, SA.
“Having now started to re-arrange”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, November 15, 1959. SA.
“just continue on with my self-training”: JC, letter to family, November 12, 1959.
“clacking dishes and whistling”: “I hear the pleasant household sound of Julie in the kitchen.” PC, letter to family, September 20, 1959, SA.
“You read them like fantasies”: Barbara Kafka, interview with author, May 28, 2009.
“good housewifely, home-ec type”: Judith Jones, interview with author, March 18, 2009.
“impressed to death with it”: Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, December 27, 1959, SA.
“Alfred and Blanche were scratchy”: Jones interview.
An outspoken political gadfly: “He was a famous Communist sympathizer but is now reformed.” Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, December 27, 1959; Jones interview.
“far too junior”: “I was far too junior to go into those austere meetings.” Jones interview.
“I was surprised by it”: Ibid.
“like taking a basic course”: Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, April 9, 1960, SA.
“She goes home for lunch”: Ibid.
“This was the book I had been waiting”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 261.
“I knew we had to publish it”: Jones, The Tenth Muse, p. 61.
“intensely gloomy”: Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, March 25, 1958.
“I got him quite a few books”: Avis DeVoto, Memoir About Julia Child.
“Bill wasn’t one to go out on a limb”: Jones interview.
“a remarkable manuscript”: Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, April 9, 1960.
“Well, four of us have been cooking”: Avis DeVoto, Memoir About Julia Child.
“I don’t think we need this”: Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, February 18, 1960, SA.
“This manuscript is an astonishing achievement”: Avis DeVoto, letter to JC, April 9, 1960.
“Well,” he said: “His attitude was: Let her make a fool of herself and fall on her face—but let’s give her a chance.” Jones interview.
“sneaked in”: “Blanche was irritated that somebody had sneaked in and given [the manuscript] to me and then I responded the way I had.” Jones interview.
“a perfectly fair advance”: “We didn’t pay larger advances for cookbooks.” Ibid.
“I realized while reading”: Ibid.
“I think it is crazy”: “I just don’t think she has any conception of what work is.” JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, September 11, 1960, SA.
“Two-and-a-half pounds”: “I made your recipe the other night and it was superb, so much so that five hungry people cleaned the platter.” Judith Jones, letter to JC, May 27, 1960, SA.
“more hearty peasant dishes”: “I felt there was a lack of certain hearty peasant dishes that anyone who has lived in France remembers with such delight.” Ibid.
“Neither Simca nor I are enthusiastic”: JC, letter to Judith Jones, June 24, 1960, SA.
“All you have to do is think up”: JC, May 1960, SA.
Julia was leaning toward La Bonne: “La Bonne Cuisine Française is the one I now like best”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, November 16, 1960, SA.
“too forbidding”: JC, My Life, p. 248.
“been talking about the art”: Jones interview.
“I think we have now found the solution”: Judith Jones, letter to JC, November 18, 1960, SA.
“a fine title”: “We think you’ve got it.” JC, letter to Judith Jones, November 23, 1960, SA.
“He was an artist”: “Paul was too much of a sophisticate, which stood in his way.” Fisher Howe interview.
“the endless war between bureaucracy”: PC, letter to family, August 27, 1960, SA.
“the crazy, intense, and hateful”: PC, letter to family, May 25, 1960, SA.
In twelve years of service: PC, letter to “John,” December 23, 1960, SA.
“This God-damn job of mine”: PC, letter to family, May 7, 1960, SA.
“It affected him physically”: Debby Howe interview.
“Scarcely a month goes by”: “Death is a painful subject for me.” PC, letter to family, May 14, 1960, SA.
“Paul couldn’t take it any more”: “Julia knew they’d have to leave Norway if Paul were to recover his health. So they decided he could not work.” Debby Howe interview.
“After Avon, Cambridge”: PC, letter to family, June 26, 1960, SA.
Sixteen TAKING EVERYTHING IN STRIDE
The book was “perfectly beautiful”: JC, letter to Bill Koshland, September 29, 1961, SA.
“weighed a ton”: JC, My Life, p. 352.
“perfectly horrible job”: Ibid., p. 250.
“She was obsessed”: Judith Jones, interview with author, May 27, 2011.
“I am just going WOOOOBIS”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, April 28, 1961, SA.
“she was inclined to rush”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, April 24, 1961, SA.
“That old goat!”: “I remember Julia throwing the letter on the floor and stomping on it, she was so angry.” Jones interview.
Ce gâteau—ce ne’st pas française: “She didn’t think the cake was French, but of course it was.” JC, My Life, p. 250.
In the “pure” version served: “What I did not count on was that these regional distinctions are now completely blurred, and that cassoulet is not so simple as it seems.” Paula Wolfert, The Cooking of South-West France (New York: Dial Press, 1983), pp. 232–33.
“We French,” she argued: “ ‘Non!’ Simca barked at my efforts.” JC, My Life, p. 246.
“Fundamentally,” said Judith Jones: Judith Jones, interview with author, March 18, 2009.
Following a particularly scrappy exchange: “She was furious! She threw that letter on the floor.” Jones interview, May 27, 2011.
“The big boob has had all this stuff”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, April 28, 1961.
“pull-up-your-pants”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, April 21, 1961.
“There wasn’t much of a food community”: Jones interview, March 18, 2009.
They went to a little French joint: “I was afraid of spending too much money. I would have got rapped on the knuckles by our treasurer, who told me I tipped too much.” Ibid.
“sit up and take notice”: Jones interview, May 27, 2011.
“the most comprehensive”: “Cookbook Review: Glorious Recipes,” New York Times, October 18, 1961, p. 47.
“This work is brilliant”: Craig Claiborne, “How to Cook b
y the Book,” Saturday Evening Post, December 22–29, 1962, p. 74.
“Once the Times had its say”: JC, interview with author, September 22, 1992.
“basically incoherent”: “Julia was mentoring Simca about television.” Rachel Child, interview with author, April 7, 2009.
“simply terrifying”: “If she had stopped to think about it, she might never have gotten through it.” Russ and Marion Morash, interview with author, September 3, 2009.
“The old book seems, for some”: JC, letter to Dort Child, October 22, 1961.
“I thought if we sold 10,000 books”: “The backlist was all-important then.” Judith Jones, interview with author, April 2, 2009.
“to put it out and hope”: “We didn’t have marketing back then.” Ibid.
Julia would pick up the tab: “Julia paid for her own tour.” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 272.
“He was a man with great appetites”: Clark Wolf, interview with author, March 18, 2009.
“voracious charm”: Clark, James Beard, p. 2.
“Food is very much theater”: “James Beard Interview,” Gastronome, Winter 1982, p. 17.
DeMille and von Stroheim epics: Beard appeared in the crucifixion scene in King of Kings and as a German soldier in Queen Kelly. Clark, James Beard, p. 84.
“Jim was a very mischievous guy”: Michael Batterberry, interview with author, November 3, 2009.
“native cuisine”: Beard, James Beard’s American Cookery, p. 4.
“He always seemed a little cross”: Batterberry interview.
“Jim made sure that he didn’t neglect”: Wolf interview.
“I only wish that I had written it myself”: James Beard, letter to Alfred Knopf, October 12, 1961, SA.
“I think the Knopf book is wonderful”: James Beard, Love and Kisses and a Halo of Truffles: Letters to Helen Evans Brown, John Ferrone, ed. (New York: Arcade, 1994), p. 295.
“Jim and Julia were meant to be friends”: Barbara Kafka, interview with author, May 28, 2009.
Beard trained as an army cryptographer: Jones, Epicurean Delight, p. 117.
“He rallied colleagues”: Ibid., p. 258.
“he took us right in hand”: “We were nobodies from nowhere, yet he took us right in hand, introduced us everywhere, and really gave us our start in the New York food world.” Ibid., p. 273n.
