ISSUE DATE: Nov. 25, 1966
THE BUZZ:
The TV camera zooms in for a close-up and focuses on her hands. She may be dicing an onion, mincing a garlic clove, trussing a chicken. Her fingers fly with the speed and dexterity of a concert pianist. Strength counts, too, as she cleaves an ocean catfish with a mighty, two-fisted swipe or, muscles bulging and curls aquiver, whips up egg whites with her wire whisk. She takes every short cut, squeezes lemons through “my ever-clean dish towel,” samples sauces with her fingers. No matter if she breaks the rules. Her verve and insouciance will see her through. Even her failures and faux pas are classic. When a potato pancake falls on the worktable, she scoops it back into the pan, bats her big blue eyes at the cameras, and advises: “Remember, you’re all alone in the kitchen and no one can see you.”
But seen she is. Julia Child, 54, is the 6-ft.-2-in.-tall star of the Emmy-winning half-hour program, The French Chef. Her viewers on 104 educational TV stations across the U.S. watch her every move, forgive her every gaffe and, in a word, adore her. Manhattan matrons refuse to dine out the night she is on. When Washington, D.C.’s WETA interrupted her program to carry Lyndon Johnson live, the station’s switchboard was jammed for an hour. Miami’s WTHS-TV ran through 117 of her 134 taped shows (the earliest tapes have simply worn out), found demand was so great that the station is now running through the whole series a second time. So good is she that men who have not the slightest intention of going to the kitchen for anything but ice cubes watch her for pure enjoyment.
Read the full story here