Errol Flynn’s Leg of Lamb
“The public has always expected me to be a playboy, and a decent chap never lets his public down.” I am beginning to think that Errol was quite a cook. His Leg of Lamb absolutely rocked. It was the cup of coffee with cream and sugar for basting that intrigued my...
Roland Young’s Rissoles
No need to look so worried Roland, we LOVED your rissoles. Left over turkey never tasted so good. It also gave Ginger the opportunity to crack her, "I'll be round like a rissole" joke. Grace and I tucked into the rissoles with delicious caper & anchovy sauce...
Adolphe Menjou’s Venetian Spiced Cheese version 3
Adolphe's spicy cheese is becoming quite a house speciality. Grace requested it for our Christmas shindig it so it was rustled up. How she manages to make two types of potato salad, some mackerel pate and a bundle of cheese & chorizo puffs in the same amount of...
Bette Davis’ Marmalade
"Everybody has a heart. Except some people." I spent most of the weekend crying and making marmalade. It wasn't the making of the marmalade that made me cry, it was, as usual a boy. A big cloud of woe hung over me whilst I stirred Bette's marmalade for about four...
Adolphe Menjou’s Venetian Spiced Cheese version 2
There has been much hilarity this week with all kinds of high jinx. Myrna and William came over for a Strictly Come Dancing dinner and we had another batch of Adolphe's spicy cheese. It was very much enjoyed and I liked Myrna's observation that he was "probably the...
Adolphe Menjou’s Venetian Spiced Cheese
"It was my mustache that landed jobs for me. In those silent-film days it was the mark of a villain." If only you could tell these days if a man were a villain by whether or not he wears a moustache. There seem to be a few villains around at the moment posing as nice...
Pola Negri’s Banana Trifle
"Yes, I was correctly quoted in saying I introduced sex into films in the 20's, but it was sex in good taste and left a great deal to one's imagination." I am going to invoke the spirit of Pola when those Rolling Stone hunks come round to dinner on Sunday, I just...
Joan Bennett’s Baked Salmon
"If only Vivien Leigh had stayed in England, that part would have been mine." Hmm. I presume Joan is talking about Vivien's role in Gone With The Wind there. Intriguing. Can't imagine Joan in that part. Well, bouncing up and down to the Kaiser Chiefs on Friday seems...
George Bancroft’s Luscious Savory Beef Stew
A very SNAZZY picture of George that I didn't see yesterday when I looked... It is very late (past midnight) and I am very drunk (2 pints and approximately 1 bottle of red) so this will be short. The Stew was a hit and Charley said, "Good staight ahead vittles" which...
George Bancroft’s Luscious Savory Beef Stew
"In nine times out of ten, the slanderous tongue belongs to a disappointed person." Well that's about the size of it. I am a disappointed person. Still, it's only Tuesday... I have recovered my equilibrium somewhat and am looking forward to cooking up a feast for...
Joan Blondell’s Sunday Night Special
I've been holding a candle for a man named Joe for about two years and last week he announced totally out of the blue that he'd broken off his engagement and wanted to see me for a drink on Friday night. I hardly dared imagine that it might be a date and just assumed...
David Niven’s My Man Godfrey Cocktail
"I have a face that is a cross between two pounds of halibut and an explosion in an old clothes closet." I don't usually write about things I haven't made myself but I must just mention the marvellous "My Man Godfrey" cocktail served in the 5th floor bar of...
Ann Sheridan’s Chili Casserole
What do you see for me in your crystal ball Ann? Several days of waiting for The Artist to call me on the phone I expect... I remembered that Ann's Chili Casserole needed testing for the book so we had that last night and the ladies liked it. We almost polished it off...
Richard Arlen’s Chili Con Carne
Well would you believe it? The very DAY after I spend the weekend canoodling with a new squeeze WHO should phone out of the blue to "see how I am" but the chaw-bacon. He must be finely attuned to the vibrations throughout the ether of an ex girlfriend finally putting...
Joan Blondell’s Onion Soup
“I don't know what the secret to longevity as an actress is. It's more than talent and beauty. Maybe it's the audience seeing itself in you.” Another winnner from my favourite of all the stars. I rustled it up for Grace and Ginger exactly as per Joan's recipe. My...
Ida Lupino’s Lemon Mousse
"My agent had once told me that he was going to make me the Janet Gaynor of England - I was going to play all the sweet roles." I've been in a bit of a spin since my last entry. Just after I finished Marlene's delicious lamb chops and was just about to find out who...
Marlene Dietrich’s Lamb Chops en Casserole For One
"Glamour is what I sell, it's my stock in trade." Ahhhhhhh. My 3 week writing retreat in Crouch End is almost at an end. There's a cat on the stairs, the sprinkler is on in the garden, my massive foot is elevated and propped up on a cushion, there's a Marlene Dietrich...
Gloria Swanson’s Butterless Devil’s Food Cake
"Hollywood abounded with driven creatures endlessly looking for solace or compensation in alcohol, drugs, and sex." Well after the weekend I've just had the same could be said of North London Gloria. I am still reeling from Nazimova's party, I was so out of control my...
Greta Garbo’s Swedish Meatballs x 2
"Gif me a visky, ginger ale on the side. And don't be stingy, baby." Maybe if I hadn’t drunk so much I wouldn’t have ended up wailing and howling late into the night then waking up surrounded by piles of snotty tissues. Charley came over for meatballs and in...
Oliver Hardy’s Spaghetti With Tomato Sauce
"We never see ourselves as others see us." After a week of insane bills being run up on ebay by my internet hacker I settled down to Oliver Hardy's Spaghetti with Grace to try and forget about it all for a few minutes. We decided it was quite an apt dinner for such a...
William Powell’s Beets Piquants
“I highly recommend worrying. It is much more effective than dieting.” Well the worrying is over for Ginger. She exploded into the house yesterday evening with the fabulous news that she has scored a great new job with S&S. Yippee. We celebrated with a bowl of...
Janet Gaynor Ice Box Cookies
Deep in the depths of the magical New Forest another batch of JGIBCs were cooked up. Early in the morning before most of my fellow writers began shuffling into the enormous kitchen for their herbal teas and barley cups I sliced and baked whilst in my kimono and...
Joan Blondell’s Peach and Cherry Compote
"In the 20s, you were a face. And that was enough. In the 30s, you also had to be a voice. And your voice had to match your face, if you can imagine that." Well, my favourite star of all came up with another winner. Even though this dish included an alarming amount of...
Jean Harlow’s Celery a la Shrimp
"She didn't want to be famous. She wanted to be happy." So said Clark Gable... Poor Jean - only 26 when she died. Lots of people were madly in love with her - including William Powell it is rumoured. We liked her crispy shrimpy celery. We had a "taste test" involving...
Dorothy Dare’s Flora Macaroons
As Doris observed, it looks like Dorothy Dare is WEARING her Flora Macaroons in this frock... Much fun in the kitchen while these were being made and the resulting propped and styled photographs were as pretty as a picture. We don't know why they are called "Flora"...
Anna Sten’s Coffee Parfait
In a country kitchen in Devon with a whirlwind of cooking activity going on around me I attempted another version of the Coffee Parfait, this time from the pen of the actress Gary Cooper referred to as "Anna Stench". The fact that I was on a cookery writing course...
Margaret Sullavan’s Peanut Butter Hermits
"Most actors are basically neurotic people. Terribly, terribly unhappy. That's one of the reasons they become actors." Well there is a word of warning for myself and Grace. Might help prevent a cat scrap over the handsome new rockabilly... Margaret's recipe stated...
Sonja Henie’s Scandinavian Cookies
“Jewelry takes people's minds off your wrinkles.” Ha ha! That's my favourite Silver Screen Supper quote so far. LOVE IT. Like Sonja herself these were cute, cute, cute. Easy to make but they look impressive with their little dents filled with blackcurrant jam. The MS...
Fred MacMurray’s Chocolate Fudge Upside Down Cake
"Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder." I'd give you a cuddle Fred. It is the first post using my swanky new MacBook computer. I was seduced by the marketing campaigns but it sure is perty. In advance of the MS Cake Break Day I made one of Fred's...
Gary Cooper Griddle Cakes x 3
“My wife said she'd help young people, ... That's what I'd do. Help young people, then buy a big motor home and get out of town.” Had a lovely time with the Panther this weekend, he was making me laugh a lot. Even when his car got towed away he kept his sense of...
Alan Ladd’s Hamburger Rodeo
"We got potato soup and mutton week after week at home. I still turn green when lamb is served. " Charley came round for dinner last night and because of his passion for the FRANKFURTER I made Alan Ladd's Hamburger Rodeo. What a strange dish that is. Not to mention...
Louise Brooks’ Knickerbocker Supreme of Chicken
“Most beautiful dumb girls think they are smart and get away with it, because other people, on the whole, aren't much smarter.” Louise had to be the smartest of them all I think. I am loving "Lulu in Hollywood". Thanks to Thomas Gladysz of the Louise Brooks Society I...
More Bette Davis’ Hollywood Salad
“I will not retire while I've still got my legs and my make-up box." Me neither doll.William and Cary came over for tea and we polished off the Hollywood Salad for appetizers. Cary decided that the gherkins I placed on top of each salad smeared cracker would be...
Bette Davis’ Hollywood Salad
"I didn't forget your breakfast. I didn't bring your breakfast. Because you didn't eat your din-din." Bette is still coming up trumps with the recipes. There is just something GOOD about all of hers I think. And I do love the use of the term "din-din" -...
Marion Davies’ Rarebit a la Marion
"With me it was 5 per cent talent and 95 per cent publicity." Grace and I awoke with the humdinger of all hangovers on Sunday morning after our singles night in the champagne bar of the Great Eastern Hotel. Grace had more success than I did - there was one incident of...
Mary Pickford’s Strawberry Shortcake
"The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power." I have finally cracked open the box of Biscuick that Rosalind kindly lugged all the way back from the USofA for me. I have two lovely 1930s recipe books for the weirdness that is Biscuick and so I wanted...
Cliff Richard’s Shepherd’s Pie
"Celebrities meet a lot of people and we just can't maintain them all in our fuddled brains." Some people might find it strange that Cliff features in the Silver Screen Suppers project. I justify it thus: firstly he is the patron saint of the Tri-Delta sorority house,...
Ginger Rogers’ Date Butterscotch Pudding
"Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels." My sorority girls proved their mettle this morning when we shared Ginger's Butterscotch Pudding for breakfast. Who in their RIGHT MIND eats tapioca? When boiled with...
Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Hungarian Chicken with Egg Dumplings
"Macho does not prove mucho." I am insanely happy after finally moving into a room of my own in the Stowe. After two and a half years of being of no fixed abode I am at last installed in a fabulous 3 bed house with two housemates. It's like a sorority house in there -...
Janet Gaynor’s Ice Box Cookies
I am living the high life at a stayingcool apartment in Manchester. "Deluxe Meets Pop" in the Edge - blime. It is SO fabulous with swanky furniture, blobby wallpaper and shag pile rugs that you could lose a puppy in. It is a "Forty Bottles" event. Marilyn is in bed in...
Maurice Chevalier’s Brown Rhubarb Pie
MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm! That was good. I made a rhubarb crumble with 6 sticks of rhubarb my mum plucked from the garden for me the other day. It was delicious. It was a bit sad that there was nobody there to share it with me... I had it for my breakfast before going for a...
Ann Sheridan’s Chili Casserole
It was lovely to share a massive casserole dish of Chili with Edmund. I expect in the silver screen days that dish would have served four people but we scoffed the lot accompaied by two bottles of red wine. Edmund made me laugh really hard with his excellent advice on...
Marion Davies’ Meadow Cheesecake
“Somebody told me I should put a pebble in my mouth to cure my stuttering. Well, I tried it, and during a scene I swallowed the pebble. That was the end of that.” I love Marion. I hereby resolve to get hold of some of her films on DVD. I miss her. The Cheesecake was...
Bob Hope’s Baked Ham With Cider
"There will always be an England, even if it's in Hollywood." Bob came up trumps with his Baked Ham. I made it for Charley on Easter Sunday as it seemed like a lot of soaking and boiling and baking were involved so I needed a good run at it. Definitely worth it as we...
Marlene Dietrich’s Banana Nut Bread
"Once a woman has forgiven a man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast." Well, it looks like I have at last broken free from the Toxic Scot. It is over and hopefully this time for good. Feeling positive and full of energy, not sad and miserable. Must remember...
Joan Blondell’s Sunday Night Special
"It amazes me how some of these little numbers with dreamy looks and a dead pan are getting away with it. I'd hate to see them on stage with a dog act.” I may have already used this classic quote from Joan however, it kind of fits my mood. Had a horrible day with the...
Janet Gaynor’s Ice Box Cookies
We are back to Janet's Cookies. It is ten past midnight and I have just eaten one. Fact is, I was feeling like a GOOSEBERRY here at Rosalind's place. The politics of relationships are very, very complicated and methinks it really is time to ship out to the sorority...
Anna May Wong’s Teacakes
"Every time your picture is taken, you lose a part of your soul." I can hardly believe that this is a 1940s photograph of Anna - she looks so MODERN. And her cakes are so good. Rosalind and Jimmy both said so. Unfortunately they got a little squashed in...
Ronald Coleman’s English Pot Pie
"A man usually falls in love with a woman who asks the kinds of questions he is able to answer." Hm. That is worth a ponder Ronald. I liked your Pot Pie. Even though the first attempt at cooking the round steak ended in a very burned pan that boiling with vinegar and...
William Powell’s Baked Artichokes
“Dessert is probably the most important stage of the meal, since it will be the last thing your guests remember before they pass out all over the table.” What are artichokes FOR? And how do they WORK? It remains a mystery. Although we did come to the conclusion that...
