“I was raised almost entirely on turnips and potatoes, but I think that the turnips had more to do with the effect than the potatoes.” Well I am pleased to say that Marlene’s Lamb Chops en Casserole contains both potatoes AND turnips which gives weight to the idea that it actually WAS her very own...
“The two films I did with Billy Wilder, ‘Double Indemnity’ and the ‘The Apartment’ are the only two parts I did in my entire career that required any acting.” Isn’t Fred handsome? The Summit has begun. I am in Delaware (“Small Wonder”) with America’s Sweetheart of Song and we are up and running. Kicking off...
Had a go at Herman’s wonderfully eccentric recipe for Weiner Schnitzel last night and was mightily pleased with the results. Charley read the bizarre cooking instructions out loud in his lovely booming voice and declared it to be closer to poetry than a recipe. The result was delicious – a “little fish” placed in a...
“The Madonna of the Screen” Just back from the Berlinale which was FABULOUS! There was a “City Girls” retrospective of some fabulous women centred films of the 1910s and 1920s. Didn’t get to see as many as I wanted to but managed to catch “Dancing Mothers” and loved Alice Joyce as Clara Bow’s mum. The...
Well I guess when you’ve been out riding the range all day you want a chili that doesn’t take too long to make, so Tex’s chili recipe is pretty basic. I have to admit that I cooked it for a lot longer than 15 minutes and added 2 Oxo cubes just to (quite literally) beef...
“After all, a girl is – well, a girl. It’s nice to be told you’re successful at it.” My new (and most expensive ever) film star recipe book has arrived on my doorstep and I am beside myself with excitement. There are some super fab recipes in there including one (at last) by Rita Hayworth....
“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.” I tried Dick’s recipe for Baked Noodles on Saturday as I’m searching for a good veggie recipe to serve my sisters next Sunday – Veronica is a vegetarian. It...
Oh the Russian Sandwich is a thing of great beauty! I cannot WAIT for an unsuspecting guest to be at my house one lunchtime so I can ask the question, “would you care for a sandwich?” then disappear into the kitchen to make one of these TOWERING SPECTACULAR CIRCULAR SANDWICHES! Basically you need 6 circular...
“I’ve got a lot of ham in me.” On the page next to Ginger’s Coffee Parfait was a recipe for prize ham actor Lionel Barrymore’s baked steak. As I was hankering after what my old friend Kinky would call a “big hairy steak” last night I rustled it up and it was mighty fine. A...
“My love for ice cream emerged at an early age – and has never left!” Well, I attempted Ginger’s “Coffee Parfait” last night which would have been some kind of ice cream I guess if I hadn’t made such a mess of it. I feel I was the victim of what Ruthie […]
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Puddin’ Head As soon as I saw this recipe I fancied having a go. One of the more bizarre of the film star recipes turned out to be actually very tasty. Wasn’t sure if it was a main course or a desert but I had it with a nice green salad in front of the...
“You’re just a bunch of molecules until you know who you are.” I’m trying to work it out Cary, honestly I am… So the double boiler was put to its second use of the weekend – attempting for a second time to make the weirdo sauce that TWO stars have published as a favourite recipe....
“Govern a family as you would cook a small fish – very gently.” OK so Claudette wore a very nice hat throughout “It Happened One Night” but her Caramel Custard wasn’t up to much.However, I blame the double boiler – I need to practice. And maybe actually the quote above about cooking a fish...
“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” Yeh, well neither do I… Annoyingly my enjoyment of “It Happened One Night” was increasingly marred by the fact that Clark’s slicked back hairdo became all floppy fronted as the “night” wore on. This reminded me way too much of the chaw-bacon’s charming hairdo. If the kilted...
“I see no reason why Chinese and English people should not kiss on the screen, even though I prefer not to.” I saw an Anna May Wong film at the NFT on Thursday night. It’s the first time I’ve seen her in a TALKIE. A very low, very posh voice indeed. I thought...
Have you ever made something that was so delicious you just couldn’t believe you had made it yourself? So it was last night when I rustled up Ida’s Lemon Mousse which I ran out of time for on Saturday. OMIGOD. That is the most delicious desert EVER. A winner, a winner, a winner. I ate...
The rolling pin is a virgin no more. I don’t remember EVER making pastry without my mum being by my side telling me how it is done so I was VERY pleased with myself on Saturday when my chicken pie was a triumph! Both Rosalind and Jimmy Stewart himself complimented me on it and the...
Am installed in my country retreat for 6 weeks. Marvellous. On the night my host and hostess left for South Africa there were loud guffaws at the suggestion that I’d be cooking up a storm in their kitchen. Rita has a magnet on her fridge which reads, “If you can’t smell burning it’s salad” and...
“I never gave away anything without wishing I had kept it; nor kept it without wishing I had given it away.” That Louise Brooks one was a super intelligent woman. I may use her as my mentor for 2007. However, the more I think about the quote above the more perplexed I feel. If thinking...
“When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin’ Along” Our project’s staunchest supporter Paulette gave her verdict on the Lillian Roth Fig Cake this morning as we all nursed mighty hangovers after going to the superb “Class Club” at the Barbican. Her and hubby declared the cake to be nice but the fig filling to be...
Season’s Greetings! As is tradition there was a Christmas screening of “It’s a Wonderful Life” at Rosalind’s place. Her very own Jimmy Stewart had NEVER SEEN THE FILM. It caused much amusement as Rosalind and I kept passing each other tissues and when it had finished Jimmy flipped the TV over with great haste to...
Had a lovely re-run of Errol Flynn’s Baked Fish Havanaise with Paulette last night. It is the one and only dish that I can remember the ingredients for at the supermarket so I guess that makes it a house special. I had a bit of a cry last night discussing the disastrous state of my...
“I wanna go home – I miss my cook” Am experiencing withdrawal symptoms as I haven’t been near a stove for weeks so the Silver Screen Suppers project has slowed to a halt. I’m back from the land of the long white cloud but currently of no fixed abode so cooking is proving a bit...
I am in strange black walled Blade Runneresque internet cafe in Auckland – the only non Chinese person here. All the salty snacks are Chinese, all the cold beverages ditto and even blog instructions are in Chinese so I have to use graphic memory to work out how to publish an entry. Surreal. Am having...
I have just had an almost perfect weekend. Much hilarity at the World’s Biggest Blind Date attempt as mobile phone technology failed to match up to the task of 600 singletons attempting to find their assigned date in a ram jammed bar offering free drinks. Bizarrely I ended up with an ex – the Pocket...
Rather too much socialising and not enough cooking going on this side of the pond at the moment. Also packing. I move out of the STAR’s apartment on Wednesday and then wing my way to New Zealand. To take the ukulele or not to take the ukulele that is the question. I’ve been notified that...
I know I should really have a picture of Roy with TRIGGER but I just couldn’t resist this jigsaw puzzle picture with puppies. Also, as it was almost certainly always his cowgirl co-star and wife Dale Evans who made the fritters there should probably be a picture of HER here. I bet my Texas buddy...
I had an intriguing conversation with a friend of the Chaw-Bacon in a telephone box in the rain yesterday afternoon. Apparently the friend has had a “big falling out” with the CB because of his, “appalling misogynistic attitudes” and “blind spot when it comes to women”. Hm, interesting. As I used the STAR’s big wooden...
Ah the Archers was a humdinger this week. “Stolen kisses in the cowshed” said Ruth after a passionate embrace with Sam – ha ha. I was right there with them. Not only was there passionate intrigue but also a superb comedy moment when Linda Snell put her foot in it by singing, “one day my...
“Life would be so wonderful if we only knew what to do with it.” How true Greta, how true. The lovely Buster is in town. He came over for Greta’s Swedish Meatballs last night and damn they were good, even if I do say so myself. I think I am actually getting quite a dab...
Have just been on a stroll up to Kilburn High Road to my friendly butcher to seek out “round steak” for Greta Garbo’s Swedish Meat Balls. After scouring the interweb to try and find out what the English equivalent cut of meat would be to no avail I decided that the butcher would be the...
“Hollywood! It’s like an old chair – if it’s useful, keep it; if not, give it to Goodwill.” I like Sylvia Sidney. She always looks a bit sulky. I liked her Chocolate pudding too – absolutely scrumptious. Paulette kindly had a go at this recipe as she is a whizz with the pudding basin. She...
Got to be quick as it is home-time and I have a gaggle of girls coming over for dinner tonight. I have prepared the spaghetti sauce in advance and it is in the fridge in two large saucepans. A bit like a student supper really but I selected it in celebration of the 70th anniversary...
Exhausted by a day of battles with healthcare professionals I was craving a big hairy steak so I bought an EXPENSIVE bit of organic rump on the way back to the Wood. It appears that with just a week’s notice, funding for my disease modifying drug has been withdrawn. I won’t go into details on...
“Good morning, I love you. You never forget, do you, Tarzan?” Ah, now I understand. American cheese…. Ha ha ha ha ha. My long awaited book explaining British equivalents for American foodstuffs has arrived. I could have done with it during some of the pimiento / bell peppers / red peppers conundrums. But I now...
“Some people are just nice guys and nothing, not even Hollywood, can change it.” I LOVE Richard Arlen and mainly because I made his Chili Con Carne last night and it was quite honestly the most delicious Chili I have ever eaten outside of Texas! Despite the fact that I made a schoolgirl error thinking...
Well either Paulette and I are exceedingly greedy or Tim McCoy’s cowboy comrades had tiny appetites. Reputedly serving 6-8 Tim’s delicious eggy, peppery corn dish was polished off by just two of us on Friday night with a bottle of red. I do admit though that when I get home from work I am quite...
“Some say my acting rose to the level of incompetence and then levelled off.” What else is a girl to do after having been dumped by text than go home and cook herself some comfort food. That hunk Buster came up with the goods. Four of my favourite things in once recipe – tuna, gherkins,...
“Is it?” Aha! A new spirit of optimism is upon me after a weekend at the seaside. Life is pretty damn good at the moment, not least because I have a new “Favorite Recipes of the Famous Movie Stars” book produced by the Milwaukee Gas Light Co in 1934 and autographed by Agnes Ayers! Friday...
“If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.” Well, another sad and sorry singleton’s Sunday for me, hanging around wondering if my beau is coming over...
Ahhhh, sweet victory after two debacles in the kitchen d’etting. Saturday dawned in a rather ominous fashion – well, mainly as I knew that I simply couldn’t put off La Gaynor anymore. I felt her looking at me constantly. From every direction. In fact, showed a clip to les students this week and practically screamed...
“As long as they pay me my salary, they can give me a broom and I’ll sweep the stage. I don’t give a damn. I want the money…” A refreshinghly honest opinion from a star of the silent era – found in her private diaries though, not published in a fan mag. Swearing no...
Guest post from the lovely Ms Caroline Frick in the US of A! In the Photoplay Cook Book from which this recipe hails, Anna May reportedly defined Egg Foo Yung as “The simplest Chinese recipe of all…a delicious luncheon dish.” Therefore, I chose to slap it together for a nice Saturday afternoon supper. Well, I...
“Do at least a few of the things that really seem fun. Nobody should be afraid to have fun …even if it’s silly.” This apparently was Anne’s comment in a magazine when she was asked why she was wearing toe rings… Oooh I love Anne Baxter in “All About Eve” and possibly...
Well, I moved into the home of a genuine Hollywood star last night. An OSCAR winner no less but I am unable to reveal his identity – top secret. He will henceforth be referred to as THE STAR. I am flat sitting for THE STAR for two months in a fab 1930s block right slap...
Well, I am not going to lie. It has been a rough re-launch of the Stateside Silver Screen Suppers Campaign. But here is why: Many cookbooks from the early period CLEARLY were intended for those people who are A. naturally gifted in the kitchen or B. had extensive staff who were naturally gifted in the...
“Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I didn’t, I’d be making $7 a week being one.” I had a look through my recipes to see if I had any “Gone With The Wind” related ones and found a great article in a 1941 “Modern Screen” magazine that was...
Desmond Carrington is a national treasure. I am preparing a trifle and listening to his Radio 2 show. Who else could play George Formby, Eric and Ernie and Meat Loaf in the same half an hour? Last night I made the crazy sounding salad dressing Yvonne proposed which involved a whole can of tomato soup....
“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.” Joan Blondell is without a doubt my absolute favourite actress and it was with great pleasure that I cooked up her Chicken Chop...
My lovely ex boyfriend Charley came round for dinner last night. As the man who re-introduced me to the pleasures of carnivorism after 12 years as a vegetarian I knew he would appreciate The Queen of Technicolor’s Hollywood Ham Loaf. A loaf made almost entirely of MEAT is the perfect thing to cook up for...
“The public has always expected me to be a playboy, and a decent chap never lets his public down.” Last night was Flynn Night on the boat. Radio 2’s excellent “Putting on the Style” was all about the swashbuckling “man’s man” so I cooked up some of his Devilled Tomatoes and accompanied them with his...
“I finally realized the happy medium, ‘honey blonde’ was the correct color and line for me.” Had my sistas over for lunch on the tub on Sunday and it was super. Very rare for Clara, Myrna, Veronica and I to all get together same place same time, so the frozen Margeritas flowed and Ann Sothern’s...
“If I wanted something badly enough, I’ve gotten it.” Apologies for the gap in the Silver Screen Suppers schedule which has occured due to intense courting on America’s Sweetheart of Song’s part, and a cat sitting stint in North London on mine. I’m hoping now that AS of S has returned from the fjords that...
All good intentions of doing chores were swept away last night by the offer of a trip upstream to Richmond on S&N’s boat. It was a beautiful evening for a little chug past Eel Pie Island, multiple swans’ nests and riverside loafers. Still, I did manage to rustle up a Waldorf Salad when I got...
“You’re beautiful. You’re a beautiful kid!” Rita Hayworth threw a “pot luck” party on Friday night for the writing circle. We all had to bring a little something to eat so I though it would be a chance for a Silver Screen Somethingoranother. As I was out all day being filmed by those lovely people...
“Not all of us were working at the same time, but enough of us. Hank Fonda knew how to cook rice. We lived pretty much on a rice diet.” On Friday Rosalind came over to the tub bringing her lovely new beau Jimmy Stewart. I thought I should cook him something by his namesake but...
“I turned my hair dark and have received much better parts ever since.” Omigoodness the day I had yesterday. I know just how Joan felt having to drag that dead body up the beach in “The Reckless Moment”. I was completely shattered by a combination of tellings off, crying jags, getting lost in Isleworth and...
“Flops are a part of life’s menu and I’ve never been a girl to miss out on any of the courses.” How right RR was – her salad was indeed a flop. The kind of salad an elderly relative might cobble together so that there is something “healthy” to have with cheap sausages at a...
Lady Longhorn will be laughing into her corn chowder when she reads Kim’s fanciful recipe for Chili Rellenos. Not authentic Mexican ingredients by any means. However, Groucho wanted “Mexican” food as the big match on Saturday night was Argentina v Mexico. The only Silver Screen Recipe I had at my disposal with any kind of...
“Between pictures I go away. I think that is the best way to achieve happiness in Hollywood, the only way to keep one’s perspective. If you stay too close to the motion picture colony you lose your sense of values.” Oooh the ladies did enjoy Helen’s Wakimoli. It was like Guacamole only even nicer. Because...
Tonight is “ladies football night” at Paulette Goddard’s place. Brazil are playing so we will have plenty to occupy our hearts and minds. We’ve all been asked to bring some grub so I thought it might be a good chance to try out Helen Twelvetrees’ “Wakimoli Salad”. Guacamole by any other name it seems to...
Aha! It makes my heart glad to see that America’s Sweetheart of Song is now cooking away out there in the Lone Star State. Go Ruthie! One re-run and one near disaster on the cooking front this weekend. I made Constance’s chicken dish for the delight of El Pantero Negra on Saturday night. I was...
This just in from my co-conspirator in Austin, Texas! in the scorching texas heat, which has not been under 100 degrees for over a month, one does not immediately think of HOT SOUP for dinner. that is, unless it is a corn chowder by the divine dick powell. yes indeed, time had finally come for...
“I’m a lot more sartorial than thespian. They come to see me and go out humming the costumes.” Delicious, delicious, delicious. Constance was spreading her cometary glory all around our island last night as we scoffed her Spanish Chicken on the fuel pontoon. After much moving around of tubs in the early evening the landlady...
A change of plan for Edmund’s dinner tonight as Carole’s ribs take aeons to cook. Instead we will be having Constance Bennett’s Spanish Chicken. E sent a textual message asking “will it be touched by her cometary glory like James Agate suggests?” Well we shall see…
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The Queen of entertaining Rosalind rustled up some superb Supper Smash last night. This is convenience food British style to rival the Bisquik. Those of a certain age on these shores will remember the “For Mash, Get Smash” advertising campaign and those a bit younger might even recall “Pot Smash” a short-lived potato version of...
Much excitement Thameside as the boat is back in the water. But not in its usual spot – secured next to the FUEL PONTOON for a few days. And this means right in the middle of the river basically. Fab views with birdlife all around. Those crazy headed Grebe things dive down for fish and...
“Hell, if I’d jumped on all the dames I’m supposed to have jumped on, I’d have had no time to go fishing. “ The only kind of hunting I do at the moment is MANHUNTING but Clark’s breakfast sure did set me up for the day yesterday. Tesco’s came up trumps with their “batter mix”...
Have spent a glorious day at the newspaper library in Colindale searching 1930s fan mags for silver screen recipes. Alas, zilch. Saw some fun things along the way though including a remarkable press photograph of Dick Powell in “Cowboy From Brooklyn” wearing the campest chaps I have ever seen (and I have seen plenty of...
I am hoping to rustle up a Clark Gable number on Sunday for the Panther. I wanted to follow Loretta’s recipe with something from her secret lover as I’ve been reading about their tryst and resulting lovechild. Am awaiting a recipe from my fellow chef in the States for Gable’s “Hunter’s Breakfast” – I have...
“As soon as I get home from a day of work, I bathe, brush my hair, put on fresh makeup, and slip into a hostess gown.” On Saturday night the Black Panther came over and cooked me dinner on the tub. I should probably explain that he is not a member of the 1960s political...
Ee that hotpot were grand! I was rather bemused by the chunks of lamb the butcher had provided and had neither the correct implements nor the emotional wherewithall to get much meat from between bones, fat and things that looked like the cotton wool tubes dentists use to soak up saliva. What ARE those and...
