She wasn't really a Rock Star. She started out earning $50 per episode, on public television. There were no celebrity chefs just yet in 1962, but this was about to change. Women everywhere tuned in to watch Julia Child cook, and men watched from behind to catch the accidental humor.
Cooking in America would never be quite the same.
I look at photos of Julia from her past, and think what a complete breath of fresh air she was, and still is. Did she produce outbursts in order to sell her show? Did she shriek and holler and raise all sorts of Cain just for ratings?
No, a thousand times NO. She did none of those things, because she didn't have to.
Julia Child and the Chicken Sisters
Julia just wanted to promote her cookbook, "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking", and Boston Public Television said she could. Someone mildly suggested she might do it best by actually cooking something from the book, on the show. It was meant really as a one-off, not expected to go anywhere past the promotion.
But to everybody's surprise, especially hers, the public wrote letters and made phone calls, overwhelming the station with requests for more. She felt it was a fairy tale, but I guess you could say a Star was born.
I remember seeing her on our television in the 1960's. She was funny and did weird things like line multiple chickens up on her counter and introduce them. She would flip an omelet and miss the pan. She would make a mistake and then tell us not to worry, we are 'alone in the kitchen' (I think it was during the days when husbands did not much venture into their own kitchens).
The Kitchen of Julia Child, at the Smithsonian
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevharb/3959431791/
Binge-watching Julia's television shows again on youtube is so much fun! It's just as good as it was when she stood there tall and hearty, tossing ingredients and laughing at her own jokes. She made it fun. I like that she didn't scream. Maybe the stresses of making TV shows now is too much. Maybe the fact that Gordon Ramsey has his actual own restaurant, with actual people to feed and dishes to create on time, makes him grumpy.
Whatever it is, I prefer the scream-less cook. Because everybody knows that food served up with contention will not digest properly. And THAT makes people grumpy.
See you along the way!
the SconeLady
photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevharb/3959431791/">Kevin H.</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
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