Lupe Velez Tamale Pie
“I have flirt with the whole film colony. Why not? I am not serious. What harm is a little flirting? No I do not kiss many mens. But when I kiss them, they stay kissed!” Ha ha, Lupe is my inspiration today. Partly the quote, but also the coat. I wish I had one of...
Claudette Colbert’s Claudette Colbert Cake
"I know what's best for me, after all I have been in the Claudette Colbert business longer than anybody.” Oh what a lovely day it was yesterday! I was DJing with my wind-up gramophone at the Home Movie Day at the Cinema Museum and it was so gorgeous to see everyone...
Anna May Wong’s Tea Cakes
"I've come to the conclusion that everybody should marry, including me." Well, I'll see if anyone ever asks me Anna...I love this picture, and I am going to measure my own hair when I get home to see if it is as long as Anna's. Could be... Had a lovely time with...
Vincent Price’s Pepper Steak
“A man who limits his interests, limits his life.” It warms the cockles of my heart (and believe me at the moment they need warming) to hear from test cooks who don't know myself or Ruth, but just like the idea of being involved in our cooking project. I've been...
Lupe Velez’s Tamale Pie
“The first time you buy a house you think how pretty it is and sign the check. The second time you look to see if the basement has termites. It's the same with men.” I am loving that hat Lupe! Well, I failed in my attempt to make the Velez Pie last night, the filling...
Bette Davis’ Hollywood Salad
"That's me: an old kazoo with some sparklers." Ooh! A lucky shamrock charm bracelet. I want one! I'm feeling a bit like an old kazoo myself today so have cheered myself up by re-reading Rita's verdict on the Bette salad recipe. I haven't seen Rita in a LONG time which...
Maurice Chevalier’s French Onion Soup
"Many a man has fallen in love with a girl in a light so dim he would not have chosen a suit by it." Ha ha, how true. It's true for women too, I'm only going to brightly lit nightspots from now on. And I shall get my failing eyesight checked. I didn't get around the...
Harold Lloyd’s Eggs Dolores
"The pain was considerable, but trivial compared with my mental state." Hmm, yes, well my mental state has been somewhat rocked by your Eggs Mr Lloyd! Revolting they were, almost inedible! It's a long time since we had a failure in the Silver Screen Suppers kitchen...
Ida Lupino’s Lemon Mousse
"Keeping a feminine approach is vital - men hate bossy females." I'm taking a break from the unpackathon to watch Strictly and report on the gorgeous Jessica's experience of Ida's mousse. I've spent more or less all day doing the lock-up rock-up and scrabbling around...
Diana Dors Bhuma Ghosht
"I was the first home-grown sex symbol, rather like Britain`s naughty seaside postcards." Oh my stars, Diana was so LUSCIOUS. Just gorgeous. And our viewing of "Yield to the Night" proved that she could act too, given half the chance. What a humdinger of a movie. It...
Ann Harding’s Hollywood Salad Dressing
Just a quick post today as I'm off to get my fringe cut - I'll not be taking this picture of Ann to the hairdresser though. Another feedback report from Dale's Star Spangled Rhythm party. As she is off this weekend to turkey wrangle at the annual Turkeyfest in Cuero,...
Maurice Chevalier’s French Onion Soup
"It is always the same: women bedeck themselves with jewels and furs, and men with wit and quotations." Rosalind came to dinner last night, my first supper guest in my new home and Maurice's crouton bedecked soup went down a storm. I had forgotten to ask Rosalind if...
Ronald Reagan’s Corned Beef Hash in Bell Peppers
"All great change in America begins at the dinner table." And possibly all over the world too. I suggest that we all work towards world peace by eating like the stars! I'm always intrigued when test cooks choose a persona of a different gender. So it is with Oliver....
Joan Bennett’s Beetroot Salad
I have found the cigarette pen that Ruthie and I had so much fun posing with in her jeep, pretending to be smokers, and also the fabulous cowboy hat ashtray she gave me. So now I really feel my dressing table is complete. When I was walking through the park that is a...
Ann Sheridan’s Chilli Casserole
Work colleagues were joking about my potential author's photo for the book on Friday so it is an ideal opportunity to post this fab pic of Ann again. I really think Ruthie and I should have twin pics like this side by side. Who wouldn't given half the chance? We'll...
Ingrid Bergman’s Trout in Cream Sauce
"Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get." On a day when the subject of cosmic ordering is foremost in my mind, Ingrid's quote is rather apt. As the first cosmic order I placed (a lovely flat - nice and cheap) came in a month before I...
Alan Ladd’s German Potato Pancakes
"I just want to make pictures that are entertaining. I'll leave the scenery chewing to someone else." I wonder if Alan was thinking of someone in particular... Further to yesterday's post I'm wondering if some of Alan's Potato Pancakes would be a suitable...
Veronica Lake’s Spiced Beef & Peas
"You could put all the talent I had into your left eye and still not suffer from impaired vision." Said by the woman with the best assymetrical fringe since Phil Oakey of the Human League! Well, she was first of course but you know what I mean... The Daricraft booklet...
Paulette Goddard’s Creamed Sprouts
"You don't have to be a Freud to know that the most fascinating person in the world- actors or anybody - is yourself." 'ave a banana! Paulette is one of those stars that we REALLY want to feature in the book but hasn't furnished us with a very inspiring recipe. In...
Groucho Marx’s Matzo Balls
"From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it." My meeting on Thursday was fabulous. I am inspired, enthused and excited about the nebulous entity that will be the book AFTER Silver Screen...
Janet Gaynor’s Ice Box Cookies
I love this picture of Janet - she is looking so perky! Very much not how I am feeling but I may try and channel this kind of attitude tomorrow. It's going to be a big day. The cookie dough is in the fridge doing whatever it does overnight in readiness for my...
Carole Lombard’s Cherry Tart
“Don’t kiss and talk about it - men don’t.” OK then Carole, I will keep schtumm. Carole looks so MODERN in this photo, so much so I am going to double check with the lovely Carla over at www.carolelombard.org just to make sure it is really her... Back from a wonderful...
Alan Ladd’s German Style Potato Pancakes
"Time scoots along pretty fast when you grow up." Another suitcase in another hall... I am back in the Crouch and hopefully for a while this time around. This moving around business is getting a little tiresome. At least nobody here minds me wearing a tiara while I am...
Katharine Hepburn’s Eggplant in Casserole
"I'll be a boy... and rough and hard!" I'd forgotten all about Katharine posing as a boy in "Sylvia Scarlett". Maybe it would be a good double bill with Louise Brooks in "Beggars of Life" or even better, Jessie Matthews in "First a Girl" my favourite of all her...
Greer Garson’s Guacamole
“I do wish I could tell you my age but it's impossible. It keeps changing all the time.” Dorothy's feedback on Greer's Guac did make me laugh. Several times. Firstly there was the response to "Was the recipe easy to follow?" which was, "Yes, but avocados are difficult...
Merle Oberon’s Chicken Creole
“Without security it is difficult for a woman to look or feel beautiful.” There has been a rather subdued atmosphere this Sunday in the shadow of the power station. Partly due to a late night and partly due to a big blue over some slippery gramophones. The dinner will...
Gary Cooper’s Buttermilk Griddle Cakes
"Dad was a true Westerner, and I take after him." Dang the Montana Mule sure looks good in a cowboy hat! I am craving some of Coop's Buttermilk Griddle Cakes this Sunday morning. I was DJing last night wearing long silk gloves and every time the canape waitress came...
Gene Kelly’s Greatest Man Sandwich in the World
“I got started dancing because I knew it was one way to meet girls” It's a double whammy today with a tester Stateside (Jeanne) and a tester Thameside (Hedy) both trying out the "Greatest Man Sandwich in the World". It's quite a claim isn't it? And particularly...
Ann Sheridan’s Chili Casserole
"I used to go to Grauman`s Chinese or Pantages and sit there waiting to see my faceless body on the screen. Texas began to look awfully near and awfully good, and "Clara Lou" had a sweet sound to my ears." I am thinking a lot about Texas today and sending many...
Claudette Colbert’s Claudette Colbert Cake
“It took me years to figure out that you don't fall into a tub of butter, you jump for it.” I'm going to the hairdresser tomorrow - I may well take this picture in and get my fringe done like Claudette's. She is the star I am supposed to look most like - according to...
Katharine Hepburn’s Eggplant in Casserole
"Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then." I'm hoping that LOTS of people test Katharine's Eggplant recipe so I can populate the blog with her wonderful quotes. As I am not a fan of the...
Judy Garland’s Vegetable Salad
"It's lonely and cold on the top... lonely and cold." It's a real family affair this week as fresh in from my sister is a report on Judy's Vegetable Salad. I absolutely LOVE the fact that my sis made this for the Sudbury Town Twinning BBQ! Ida said it "went down a...
Josephine Baker’s Spaghetti Bolognaise
"Beautiful? It's all a question of luck. I was born with good legs. As for the rest... beautiful, no. Amusing, yes." Since my dad retired he's been getting a dab hand in the kitchen. This began when he started an evening class called "Cooking for Men" taught by a down...
Rudolph Valentino’s Chicken from Parma
"To generalize on women is dangerous. To specialize on them is infinitely worse." Back from the seaside after a week of intense recipe-wrangling. My mind is reeling with all kinds of nonsense - is a frying pan the same as a skillet? What English cheese would be...
Tallulah Bankhead’s Coconut Jumbles
"...all my life I've been terrible at remembering people's names. Once I introduced a friend of mine as 'Martini'. Her name was actually 'Olive'.” Tallulah's excuse for calling everyone "dahling" rings a bell with me. I'm getting terrible at remembering names. Which...
Lana Turner’s Super and Easy Salsa
"I would rather lose a good earring than be caught without make-up." I know JUST what you mean Lana. And I would rather wear a sparkly hairpiece like this than a shower cap when taking my morning plunge. I may ask my personal milliner Shellac Sister Veronica to rustle...
Maurice Chevalier’s French Onion Soup
"If you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe and assured, it may never arrive. Mountains will not be climbed, races won, or lasting happiness achieved." Shirley (who is 9 years old) was very excited to be at her first hen night on Friday - mine. Well, a hen...
Marlene Dietrich’s Lamb Chops en Casserole
"It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter." Oh what a find! A fabulous picture of Marlene doing what she loved best, off set - cooking. Browsing the site where I found this picture has made me WISH that I lived in Denver. The Denver Public Library is...
Ann Sheridan’s Chilli Casserole
"I can whistle through my fingers, bulldog a steer, light a fire with two sticks, shoot a pistol with fair accuracy, set type, and teach school . . " Spoken like a true Texan Ann. Reminds me of the multitasking Ruthie gets up to over there in the Lone Star State......
Alan Ladd’s German Style Potato Pancakes
"Being a good host offsets the deprivation and loneliness of my youth." Aw, come over here Alan and let me give you a cuddle... Our most prolific tester so far, Dale in the TAMI office over in cowboy country threw a "Star Spangled Rhythm" party last week. Dang I wish...
Dorothy Dandridge’s Emotional Omelet
"...no producer ever knocked on my door. There just aren`t that many parts for a black actress" Much debate via emails flying between Cardiff and London about why Dorothy's Omelet is "Emotional". Plenty of chopping of onions it is true, but I wonder if it is more that...
Gracie Fields’ Lancashire Hot Pot
"At Mary Ellen's Hot Pot Party The lads & lasses all were gay and hearty" How wonderful that Una in Charlottesville, Virginia had a go at Gracie's Lancashire Hot Pot! At the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains a traditional Lancashire recipe got a good going...
Dick Powell’s Corn Chowder
"The best thing about switching from being an actor to being a director is that you don't have to shave or hold your stomach in anymore." Had a very lazy weekend after an old skool style night on Friday with Sidney and his chums. We didn't get home until 5am....
Maureen O’Sullivan’s Bridge Cakes
"Cheetah bit me whenever he could." I just adore this picture of Maureen - she's all aquiver - boom boom. Oh what fun to get feedback on the recipes, there sure are some erudite chefs out there. Marion made me laugh with her suggestion that we change Maureen's recipe...
Fred MacMurray’s Chocolate Fudge Upside Down Cake
"Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet" the saying goes and it is so lovely that people neither Ruthie nor I have ever met are rustling up Silver Screen Suppers dishes in kitchens all over the world. So a big thankyou goes out to Shirley in Wisconsin for...
Carole Lombard’s Cherry Tart
“You ought to see the map for my face in the Makeup Department. It looks like a landscape of the moon.” I've been dying to post this amazing picture of La Lombard for ages and now I get my chance. Dorothy over at the British Film Institue made Carole's Cherry Pie on...
Janet Gaynor’s Ice Box Cookies
Veronica over in Westbourne Grove had a go at Janet's Ice Box Cookies this week and sent me an evocative account of her mishaps. Firstly there was a misunderstanding in the late night shop where she went to buy the dates, as the shopkeeper kept thinking she was asking...
Anna May Wong’s Tea Cakes
"Every time your picture is taken, you lose a part of your soul." All the recipe-wrangling over the last week or so is beginning to bear fruit. Our first feedback form arrived this morning fresh from the floral-bedecked marital home of the new Mr & Mrs Day in West...
Hattie McDaniel’s Sweetcorn Pudding
"When I was little, my mother taught me how to use a fork and knife. The trouble is that mother forgot to teach me how to stop using them!" I know what Hattie means, I ate almost ALL of her sweetcorn pudding this evening even though big enough for 2. It is sooooooo...
Joan Bennett’s Beetroot Salad
"I don`t think much of most of the films I made, but being a movie star was something I liked very much." The response to the call for test cooks has been enormous - how very, very exciting. I'm intrigued by the range of choices - are people selecting based on the...
