Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child
Page 77
“a chef’s dream”: Reardon, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child and Alice Waters, p. 191.
he’d often heard her say homophobic things: “I remember Julia being reasonably homophobic. She did not like homosexuals.” Russ Morash, interview with author, December 11, 2008.
“He was promiscuous; it was legend”: Ibid.
“I love Russ, but I am loyal”: Marion Morash, interview with author, December 11, 2008.
“fairies” or “pansies”: “Have also dipped into Gide,” she wrote to Avis DeVoto. “I didn’t realize he was such a complete homo.” JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, March 4, 1953, SA. “She called gays pansies and fairies.” Anne Willan, interview with author, September 10, 2009; “Julia and Paul were very anti-gay.” Rachel Child, interview with author, April 7, 2009.
“very often wink”: Stephanie Hersh, interview with author, May 6, 2009.
“another of them”: “He was uncomfortable around Julia.” Willan interview.
“To her, homosexuals”: “I often heard Julia use the word fairy.” Corby Kummer, interview with author, September 23, 2009.
a “soul mate”: Shapiro, Julia Child, p. 142.
“Richard never forgave her”: Paul Grimes, interview with author, January 12, 2009.
“It would be easy to call Julia a homophobe”: Clark Wolf, interview with author, March 18, 2009.
“where the cripples park”: Hersh interview.
“She never thought Bob Johnson was gay”: “She would refer to gays as ‘the homos.’ ” Jane Becker Friedman, interview with author, August 5, 2009.
“because he would yell instructions”: Rachel Child interview.
“Read your cue cards correctly”: Russ Morash interview, October 14, 2011.
“quite well physically”: “C’est l’age.” JC, letter to Simca Beck, March 3, 1981, SA.
“very suddenly”: “He was writing a letter, must have had a heart attack and never knew what hit him.” JC, letter to Simca Beck, February 17, 1983, SA.
“Charlie’s death really set him back”: JC, letter to Simca Beck, July 4, 1983, SA.
“slogging through viscous mud”: Michael Demarest, “Thoroughly American Julia,” Time, April 18, 1983, p. 78.
“She had a ball doing it”: Russ Morash interview, December 11, 2008.
“It was great fun having visiting chefs”: JC, letter to Simca Beck, June 17, 1983, SA.
“good to have some red-blooded Americans”: JC, letter to M. F. K. Fisher, April 7, 1983, SA.
“every possible twist and turn and curl”: Morash interview, October 14, 2011.
“wardrobe was worthy of Auntie Mame”: Demarest, “Thoroughly American Julia,” p. 79.
“silly and distracting”: John J. O’Connor, “Julia Child Series on Dinners,” New York Times, November 17, 1983.
“To see this darling, feisty”: Fan letter in JC personal file, SA.
“We had such a good time making”: Cited in Shapiro, Julia Child, p. 126.
“just a good cooking school”: “She had problems with the CIA, as it existed in the early-1980s.” Rebecca Alssid, interview with author, December 8, 2008.
“When I was there, women”: Sara Moulton, interview with author, January 12, 2009.
“a tremendous success”: “I think the Institute has really started out well.” JC, letter to Simca Beck, June 17, 1983.
“It began to dawn on us”: Richard Sanford, interview with author, September 9, 2009.
“Boston was ready to eat”: Jasper White, interview with author, August 30, 2011.
“it was still a pretty sloppy scene”: Sally Jackson, interview with author, December 18, 2008.
“She wasn’t really prepared”: Sheryl Julian, interview with author, October 22, 2009.
“At first, she didn’t like”: Kummer interview.
“She was always super-sensitive”: Jackson interview.
“If we were good, she made sure”: Jody Adams, interview with author, October 18, 2009.
“Restaurant food was shifting”: Clark Wolf, interview with author, April 24, 2009.
“She began updating the French classics”: Marion Morash, interview with author, November 1, 2011.
“One of the first times I went there”: Julian interview.
“I have no intention of ever retiring”: Reardon, Fisher, Child and Waters, p. 194.
She knew Jim had been ill: Chronicled in Clark, James Beard, pp. 324–25; Wolf interview, March 18, 2009; Barbara Kafka, interview with author, May 28, 2009.
“It was heartrending”: JC, letter to Simca Beck, May 28, 1986, SA.
Paul … was “in a gradual decline”: “He does manage pretty well considering his 456and condition.” JC, letter to Simca Beck, May 2, 1984, SA.
“his receiving and processing of information”: “Paul is perking along.” JC, letter to Simca Beck, April 28, 1985, SA.
Julia continued to assure friends that he was painting: “He has done two splendid paintings.” Ibid.
Paul had gone out for a walk: Barr, Backstage with Julia, p. 185.
“The living room and hall become”: JC, letter to Simca Beck, May 17, 1983, SA.
“burst forth again like a tigress”: “I must remain home, nursing my new knee.” JC, letter to Simca Beck, January 20, 1986, SA.
“She hadn’t a clue”: Marion Morash interview.
“It can’t be AIDS”: Nancy Verde Barr, interview with author, December 9, 2008.
“Julia was close to what I would call obsessed”: Barr, Backstage, p. 186.
Jean Fischbacher also died: Phila Cousins, interview with author, May 11, 2009.
Twenty-four THE END OF AN ERA
The Way to Cook: “This is certainly my last book—too confining.” JC, letter to Simca Beck, May 9, 1989, SA.
“Bookery is so damned solitary”: JC, letter to M. F. K. Fisher, March 14, 1987, SA.
“because of health and cholesterol fads”: “Classic French cuisine is ‘out’ … Tant pis pour nous!” JC, letter to Simca Beck, May 9, 1989.
“Whatever happened to good old moderation”: JC, interview with author, September 20, 1992.
Nathan Pritikin accused her: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 450.
“a trap, rather than a pleasure”: Shapiro, Julia Child, p. 160.
“In this book, I am very conscious”: Child, Foreword, The Way to Cook, p. xi.
“the new generation of cooks”: Ibid., p. ix.
“more recipe-driven than Jacques’s book”: Judith Jones, interview with author, April 2, 2009.
“[I] never feel I know enough”: JC, letter to M. F. K. Fisher, April 16, 1987, SA.
“She was furious with herself”: Nancy Verde Barr, interview with author, December 9, 2008.
“[Paul], I am sorry to say, is not doing”: JC, letter to M. F. K. Fisher, March 14, 1987.
“He was still there”: “I’d say he was pretty much on the edge of dementia.” Rebecca Alssid, interview with author, December 8, 2008.
“clearly not well and fairly unresponsive”: Charlie Gibson, interview with author, June 22, 2011.
“He lurches about when he walks now”: JC, letter to M. F. K. Fisher, March 14, 1987.
It was only a matter of time before Paul: “Liz Bishop told me why Julia decided that Paul needed full-time care.” Stephanie Hersh, interview with author, May 6, 2009.
“If I tried to take care of him at home”: JC, interview with author, September 20, 1992.
“It was obvious Julia needed professional help”: Bill Truslow, interview with author, October 8, 2008.
“a place for him to recuperate”: Richard Sanford, interview with author, September 9, 2009.
“I’ve got to put Paul in a nursing home”: “She called me one day.” Tim Johnson, interview with author, July 5, 2011.
Julia already knew of it: “Long before Paul went to Fairlawn, I suggested Julia consider it for him.” Pat Pratt, interview with author, November 10, 2011.
“She told me Paul”: Marion Morash, interview wit
h author, December 11, 2008.
“were incredible”: “Crowds and sales were incredible. Such a show and outpouring of love.” Janice Goldklang, Knopf publicity director, in Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 457.
“Hundreds of people showed up”: Susy Davidson, interview with author, December 3, 2009.
“the nation’s energy queen”: Jim Wood, “Julia Child’s Full Menu,” San Francisco Examiner, May 21, 1991, p. C17.
“a magnificent distillation”: Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, review of The Way to Cook, New York Times, November 27, 1989, p. 16.
“from good pioneer stock”: JC, interview with author, September 19, 1992.
She’d already hired: Pratt interview.
While on tour, she insisted on flying: Davidson interview.
“You don’t want to be anywhere near Julia”: Nancy Verde Barr, interview with author, November 7, 2011.
“The organization had lost its focus”: Thekla Sanford, interview with author, September 9, 2009.
The organization had been undercapitalized: “We were in dept and going south financially.” Dorothy Cann Hamilton, interview with author, October 5, 2009.
“Now we all had”: Ibid.
“The whole culinary world was dealing”: Clark Wolf, interview with author, March 18, 2009.
How many sitting there in the dark: “Afterward, she was very contemplative. You could tell where her thoughts were, how she related.” Sheryl Julian, interview with author, October 22, 2009.
“This is how meaningless we are”: JC, interview with author, September 20, 1992.
“They were always very affectionate”: “I could hear their phone conversations at night.” David McWilliams, interview with author, May 5, 2009.
“That’s something we lack”: JC, letter to Simca Beck, May 12, 1987, SA.
“She said yes right away”: Russ Morash, interview with author, September 3, 2009.
Even Judith Jones backed away: “I spoke to Judith Jones about it, but Judith feels it is diplomatically difficult having the two of us with different books at the same publishing house.” JC, letter to Narcisse Chamberlain, October 19, 1984, SA.
Julia knew better than most how “difficult”: “Having worked with her myself for a long time, I know that it is very difficult.” JC, letter to Suzanne Patterson, November 23, 1988, SA.
“Simca’s expectations were unreal”: “I have an uneasy feeling.” John Ferrone, letter to JC, March 5, 1986, SA.
“write, [but] hasn’t the faintest”: Ibid.
“Simca has been very, very ill”: Suzanne Patterson, letter to JC, June 6, 1991, SA.
“It is never pleasant to contemplate”: JC, letter to Simca Beck, November 1, 1987, SA.
“and when we’re gone”: “Our funerals are paid for—$600 each.” William F. Schulz, “Lunch Together,” The World, November–December 1992, p. 34.
“Death didn’t faze Julia”: Alex Prud’homme, interview with author, January 21, 2010.
“It was very important for Julia”: Alssid interview.
“They were beside themselves”: Jasper White, interview with author, August 30, 2011.
“She just adored men”: Alssid interview.
“Men, men, men—she was obsessed”: Barr interview, December 9, 2008.
“I don’t think it’s good for us”: Barr, Backstage with Julia, p. 212.
“a big strapping Scots-Irishman”: Linda McJannet, interview with author, November 18, 2009.
“domineering, old-fashioned masculinity”: Corby Kummer, interview with author, September 23, 2009.
“the big right-hander”: “That’s what they called him in some of the clippings my mom had collected.” McJannet interview.
“interesting, dashingly handsome”: Barr, Backstage, p. 212.
“Julia never thought of it as dating”: Hersh interview.
“who told the most hilarious dirty limericks”: David McWilliams interview.
“someone had slugged her”: “It was the first time I’d ever seen her so distressed.” Hersh interview.
Twenty-five NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE
“I don’t want a fuss”: Sheryl Julian, “Julia at 80,” Boston Globe, July 15, 1992, p. 73.
“I felt as young that day”: JC, interview with author, September 20, 1992.
“No one believed a word of it”: Stephanie Hersh, interview with author, May 6, 2009.
Even WGBH: “ ’GBH developed an indifference toward Julia. I often felt they were saying, ‘What have you done for us lately?’ ” Russ Morash, interview with author, September 3, 2009.
“You ought to talk to Julia”: Jacques Pépin, interview with author, January 6, 2009.
“I want to take a look”: “I introduced myself to Julia and told her the idea.” Geoffrey Drummond, interview with author, October 15, 2008.
“who was a master chef—and who wasn’t”: “I was looking for people who were considered by other chefs as being ‘top tier.’ ” Geoffrey Drummond, interview with author, November 11, 2008.
“We went to all her favorite places”: Phila Cousins, interview with author, May 11, 2009.
“We hit it off the first time”: Emeril Legasse, interview with author, June 23, 2009.
“he was shy and quiet”: Hersh interview.
“He wasn’t play-acting”: Geoffrey Drummond, interview with author, November 16, 2011.
“Nancy was totally locked up”: “Words were not coming out of her mouth.” Drummond interview, November 11, 2008.
Later that night, Julia stole off: David McWilliams, interview with author, May 5, 2009.
smoked black cod cakes: “Let Her Eat Cake,” People, August 10, 1992, p. 9.
“Our love affair with French food”: Laura Shapiro, “An American Revolution,” Newsweek, December 16, 1991, p. 57.
“The fickle public has turned against”: Marian Burros, “For Julia Child, an Intimate Dinner for 500,” New York Times, February 10, 1993, p. C6.
“If we ate the way nutritionists”: Ibid.
“the Queen of Cuisine”: Julian, “Julia at 80,” p. 73.
“Literally, there were birthday parties”: “Probably she was gone half the year.” David McWilliams interview.
“When we sat down, there was a mound”: Hersh interview.
“Nobody wants to see a fat”: JC, interview with author, September 19, 1992.
“She really enjoyed having him around”: Marian Morash, interview with author, December 11, 2008.
“He was a man of a different era”: Linda McJannet, interview with author, November 18, 2009.
“He made her happy”: Corby Kummer, interview with author, September 23, 2009.
“He was crazy about her”: Rebecca Alssid, interview with author, December 8, 2008.
“I’ve already taken care of one old man”: David McWilliams interview.
“he didn’t know what a phone was”: Hersh interview.
“Luckily, he doesn’t know anything”: JC interview, September 20, 1992.
sent George, their gardener: “Julia visited Paul in the nursing home every day, and if she couldn’t, she sent the gardener, who was a wonderful guy.” Rachel Child, interview with author, April 7, 2009.
“Eat everything. Have fun.”: Julian, “Julia at 80,” p. 74.
“scareheads”: Ibid.
“emotional cultists”: JC interview, September 20, 1992.
“She’s not a scientist!”: Ibid.
“Some people just can’t be sensible”: Rex Lee, “Only the Best,” Elan, September 1990, p. 78.
“The travel was beating her up”: Drummond interview, November 16, 2011.
Julia liked what Susan Feniger: “Julia wasn’t happy with those women. It wasn’t her kind of food.” Drummond interview, October 15, 2008.
“The work was nonstop”: Hersh interview.
“That’s fine,” White said: Jasper White, interview with author, August 30, 2011.
“Has Julia eaten dinner yet”: Hersh interview.
“In the car,
we talked a bit”: David McWilliams interview.
“to the common microbial and atomic pool”: PC, letter to family, November 7, 1972, SA.
“We got to Fairlawn”: David McWilliams interview.
Twenty-six THE BEGINNING OF THE END
“I could open an FTD outlet”: Sally Jackson, interview with author, December 18, 2008.
“She didn’t cry”: “If she did cry, she did it where nobody saw her.” Stephanie Hersh, interview with author, May 6, 2009.
“She was a great flirt”: “I was completely charmed by her.” Charles Gibson, interview with author, June 22, 2011.
“We went on live”: Joan Lunden, interview with author, July 12, 2011.
“obviously wistful”: Gibson interview.
“just reeling”: Ibid.
“all those young women”: “He loved Nancy Barr and all those young women. He loved watching them do their thing.” Linda McJannet, interview with author, November 18, 2009.
“Are you staying here tonight?”: Dorothy Cann Hamilton, interview with author, October 5, 2009.
“He’s a sick man”: Rebecca Alssid, interview with author, August 30, 2011.
“quite possessive”: “He kind of took over Julia toward the end of her career.” Judith Jones, interview with author, April 2, 2009.
“Julia was convinced it was because of her age”: Hersh interview.
“I thought it was great television”: “There were so many differences between them.” Geoffrey Drummond, interview with author, November 11, 2008.
“So we got into a stupid argument”: Jacques Pépin, interview with author, January 6, 2009.
“the later shows didn’t measure up”: “You can see that she’s not holding up well.” Russ Morash, interview with author, December 11, 2008.
“I have no intention of stopping”: JC, interview with author, September 20, 1992.
“Ultimately,” says Drummond: Geoffrey Drummond, interview with author, October 15, 2008.
“It was an outrageous thing to do”: Jones interview.
“She talked about death quite a bit”: Alssid interview.
“I’m not sentimental”: “Julia was tough that way.” Judith Jones, interview with author, May 27, 2011.
“He was quite ill”: McJannet interview.
“I remember Julia putting a stick of butter”: Pépin interview.
Twenty-seven THE RAFT