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blackswaneuroparedux · 3 years ago

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When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I'm slipping.

- Maria Callas

Since her lonely death in Paris at the age of 54 in 1977, the American-born Greek soprano has been deified transformed almost beyond recognition from the controversial artist whose appearances were as eagerly awaited by some as they were detested by others.

No one detests Callas today, and yet she did not sing a single performance at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York at which she was not booed. Even at her debut as Bellini's Norma, she was booed at the earliest possible moment: a sustained note in the recitative before Norma's first great aria, the celebrated 'Casta Diva.' It's not a particularly important note as these things go, and most audiences don't notice it because most Normas have no difficulty with it, but Callas did. She always did. She did the night of her Metropolitan debut and she was booed for it. She did at each of the subsequent six performances of Norma she sang, and she was booed at every one of them. What did Callas do that so outraged New York audiences? She wobbled.

But Callas always wobbled on that particular note. She wobbles on both her EMI recordings of Norma that were made before her Met debut, so the audience that evening of October 26, 1956, had a pretty good idea of what they were in for. No, Callas always wobbled and she was always punished for it. Famously she was hissed at and reviled for an entire performance of Medea at La Scala when her short career was almost over and her never abundant natural vocal resources were running alarmingly low.

Callas was bombarded with vegetables as she took her bows after her second New York Norma, a Saturday matinee. Bunches of carrots and heads of cabbage are not sold at the refreshments bar at the Metropolitan.

They were flung that afternoon by opera-lovers who knew they were going to fling them before Callas had sung so much as a note. Callas could have been dubbed Sutherland or Caballe that afternoon and she would have been pelted. Callas, the woman, was as detested as her infamous wobble or 'incorrect' separation between her high, middle and low registers. For these audiences, Callas had three voices and none of them pleased.

Nor did the woman who told reporters that her mother could throw herself off the roof before her daughter would relieve her of her financial difficulties. Or the soprano who insisted there was simply no comparison between her and her contemporary, Renata Tebaldi. One was champagne the other, Coke.

This Callas was considered a 'good' interview by reporters, though all she garnered for herself was a thoroughly 'bad' press. It was not rude or cruel to boo or embarrass such a monstrous woman. The vocal blemishes were physical manifestations of the human flaws within.

To half the audience it seemed that Callas the soprano and Callas the woman received precisely the audience and critical drubbing they deserved. If you're going to be mean to your dear old mum and say disparaging things about other singers, you had better be sure you don't wobble on the first sustained pitch before Casta Diva or have to cut off the climactic high note at the end of the Mad Scene in Lucia Di Lammermoor because what's coming out of your throat at that moment is a scratchy, arid, unpleasant sound.

At almost every performance, Callas paid the price for not being a 'perfect' singer. And yet for the rest of the audience these human failings were of small importance next to the total accomplishment of Maria Callas herself and a Callas Violetta or Norma in particular. For many (if they are honest) Callas made opera live. She made the notes and words of the great 19th-century Italian Romantic composers and poets sound spontaneous, inevitable, even natural.

It was as if she were speaking and not singing, and what she was saying was being said for the very first time. A great actor makes us feel we have never heard 'To be or not to be' before and we become as one with a troubled young prince we know as Hamlet. With a good actor, we mouth the speech silently along with him and congratulate ourselves on how much of it we still remember, but we are always aware that we are watching a Great Moment from a Great Play.

Listening to Callas is never such a passive experience. With Callas, you are there as Violetta pleads with Germont or Norma contemplates killing her children. Other sopranos only sing 'Vessi d'arte' in Tosca. Only Callas talks to God. She does this in a voice some found 'beautiful', others not. But apart from the wobble, Callas is very close to perfection. She has true legato and phrases like a master cellist. Trills and coloratura hold no terror for her. She has a voice that is unmistakable after one tone.

Today's cookie-cutter voices are not identifiable after an entire act on the radio. She was beautiful on stage. Her acting was minimal in that she did very little (has there ever been a more restrained Tosca, a stiller Norma?), but what she did was make us listen to the music with a new clarity because she made us hear it through her and the character she was playing. Callas made opera mean something again.

Her limitations pale beside her interpretive genius and her intuitive gifts. The entire world should have idolised Callas in her lifetime. The fact that it does so now is ironic. The critics and CD buyers, who were the first to deny her, are now the first to ride the Callas bandwagon. La Divina, the sobriquet, has become a universal truth.

#class #maria callas #quote #music #opera #soprano #diva #greek #femme #beauty #arts #culture #icon

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covdiggingdeep · 3 years ago

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Sonny Southall and Norma Bell, Spring Estate Allotments, Coventry.

Sonny: I’ve got a bit of a one on me for making stuff. We managed to grow cauliflowers despite all the odds but they didn’t look very nice so I turned them into piccalilli. I called it gunpowder piccalilli. Everyone’s been given jars. I’ve done rhubarb wine because the rhubarb is just an absolute beast, there was so much of it. I don’t like wasting stuff and wine uses loads of it up. I made two gallons of rhubarb wine which is just about ready to drink. I’m told it’s very nice. You think it’s like a Chardonnay and then… you don’t know what’s happening! Norma: We kept a journal to remind ourselves of what we’ve done and what we’ve planted. One of the things was, in the orchard bit, weeds were everywhere and there were perennials, we thought it would take forever to dig it all out so we went for the no-dig method. We laid loads of cardboard over the weeds and lay loads of leaves over that. We basically laid a carpet and stopped the weeds from growing. It looked good and lasted a long time. It was a mulch too. When we came here there were three apple trees, loads of raspberries, gooseberries, currants and loganberries. We planted a cherry tree in an empty patch, two blueberries and a thornless blackberry. We’ve not had fruit this year but they’ve taken. Sonny: We planned out a grid of beds and mapped what we were going to do in each of them. Norma: We decided we wanted a potato patch, onions and garlic. The least successful patch was where we’ve got carrots, turnips, parsnips, celeriac and spinach. We only got half of them. We’ve had different levels of success. The slugs love cucumber and we don’t use pesticides. We use beer traps and wool. Sonny: The slugs had all our Chinese cabbage, it just went! We’ve left it all to flower. I think we’ve taken the view that this year is like a trial run, we’re just going to see what happens. I can’t get over how many raspberries we’ve got, the orange-y one on the end is absolutely gorgeous. Norma: The asparagus took a long time to come up but we’ve had loads. Everyone said to keep it weed-free and we did weed it a lot but not enough. A lot of things we haven’t known what to do with, we’ve had so much. Sonny: With the raspberries I’ve got raspberry wine on the go, raspberry gin, and raspberry jam. Norma: There’s going to be raspberry beer as well. On a good week we come three times a week. We never wanted to be a slave to it. If you water everyday the crops become dependant. Sonny: We like to make the harvest last. Many of the recipes I use have come from my gran, and otherwise I Google. I've even made cucumber gin which is very nice!

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easyfoodnetwork · 5 years ago

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Black-Owned Restaurants in Detroit Are Hard Hit by the Pandemic

Inside Norma G’s, which remains open for takeout in Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood | Michelle and Chris Gerard/Eater Detroit

After decades of structural racism, Detroit’s Black restaurateurs are facing both health and economic crises

This story was originally published on Civil Eats.

In late February, Lester Gouvia was looking forward to transitioning out of the slow season and seeing business pick up again. The owner of Norma G’s, a full-service Caribbean restaurant with 113 seats, a full bar, a menu that includes beef patties, curry goat, and jerk chicken, Gouvia says things were on track at the beginning of March. But in the second week of March, as coverage of the coronavirus picked up and Metro Detroit confirmed its first two cases, Gouvia noticed a sudden slowdown.

“Normally, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are busy for us,” he says. “When I saw that Thursday slow-down, I was like, ‘Okay, there’s a problem there.’”

Gouvia’s suspicion was confirmed the next day when 90 percent of the restaurant’s revenue dropped. Three days later, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order closing public establishments to prevent the spread of the virus. For restaurateurs with a dine-in model, that meant making an urgent, difficult decision: convert to carry-out and delivery or close the doors completely. Gouvia chose carryout.

“In the Caribbean, food and drink is an important part of our culture,” Gouvia says. “I wanted people to come and have an experience.”

As the first sit-down restaurant to open in Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood in 30 years, Norma G’s was also a part of revitalization efforts for the east side neighborhood.

“Many Black businesses don’t have the agility to pivot to a different business model.”

For all these reasons, Gouvia found the switch to carryout especially challenging. But, for now, it’s keeping the doors open.

“I look around by myself and I think, ‘All the work I put in, it wasn’t for this.’ But in order to keep my brand and stay in business so people don’t lose track of me, this is what I have to do.”

The coronavirus has hit the Black population in Detroit especially hard — in health as well as economic impacts — but that’s not where the racial inequity ends. While many Black restaurateurs like Gouvia are hanging on, Devita Davison, executive director of the FoodLab, an organization that provides incubator space and other support for food businesses in Detroit, is concerned about what’s to come.

Black restaurateurs have long struggled with the racist structure of the food world, and that is most evident in the vast differences they often experience when it comes accessing capital. Therefore, they are often less equipped to weather a storm this big. And Detroit, which has seen a boom in restaurant culture in its downtown area in recent years, is a stark example of those disparities.

“Many Black businesses don’t have the agility to pivot to a different business model,” says Davison. For that reason, she worries they may be less likely to see their restaurants standing after the economy reopens.

So far, Ima, a casual full-service restaurant serving Japanese-style noodles and rice bowls, and Detroit Vegan Soul have both temporarily closed one location. However, the Block Neighborhood Bar and Kitchen — a casual gastropub — has permanently closed.

Pivoting, Trimming Hours

Like Gouvia, Nya Marshall decided to invest in the under-resourced east side of the city when she opened Ivy Kitchen and Cocktails at the end of 2019. She wanted to hire folks from the neighborhood, and she was driven by feedback from neighbors who wanted to see a fine dining restaurant in the East English Village neighborhood. The 60-seat Ivy Kitchen offered small plates such as buffalo cauliflower and mezcal wings and entrees like farro etouffee and short rib stroganoff. There was also a 12-seat bar.

“We are offering an elevated dining experience to Detroiters because I felt like we were left out of that experience from a cultural perspective,” says Marshall.

“The social component of the dining experience was what the [business] model was predicated on,” she adds. “Carry out and delivery was never a component.”

Marshall hadn’t been open for 90 days when the coronavirus forced her model to change. The business went from serving what Marshall estimates to be 800-1,000 guests a week to between 30 and 50. She had to furlough most of her employees, going from a staff of more than 20 to just three people.

At first, she maintained her normal business hours, but it was so slow that she cut down to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Her menu changed, too, converted into what Marshall describes as “comfort and family style” meals such as fried chicken with roasted red mashed potatoes.

A Beacon of Light

Since mid-March, Detroit has become a hotspot for the coronavirus, which is disproportionately impacting the Black community all over the country. The city’s population is nearly 80 percent Black, and that group accounts for approximately 65 percent of confirmed cases and 77 percent of deaths. The three counties that make up metro Detroit account for a significant number — 80 percent — of the state’s cases.

Now, restaurateurs like Gouvia and Marshall, who chose to open their business in neighborhoods that have long been disinvested in, are operating in the epicenter of the virus. So, there’s also an added risk to their staff members.

In the second week of March, Sam Van Buren, co-owner of Detroit Soul — a counter service restaurant offering soul food classics with a healthier twist — fell ill. He didn’t know whether or not he had the virus. Van Buren’s wife ended up staying home with him.

The restaurant was left “kind of flying on one engine,” says co-owner Jerome Brown, whose wife was the only cook remaining.

View this post on Instagram

This is the #NormaGsCuisine crew ready and waiting for your arrival. Hope everyone is safe and doing well! Shout out to Renee our kitchen mom for making our cloth masks...Angelo left his in the wash today... lol.

A post shared by normagscuisine (@normagscuisine) on Apr 21, 2020 at 1:47pm PDT

Eventually, Van Buren was tested, and his results came back negative for the coronavirus. Still, the co-owners had to decide how to proceed in the current environment. They didn’t have to alter their business model but did see a small decline in business, and decided to stay open for their community.

“Our core mission kicked in [because] we wanted to be a beacon of light in the neighborhood from a health and economic perspective,” Brown explains.

They retooled the menu by giving customers the chance to buy larger portions at a time, and they only allow five customers in the building at a time. But they’ve kept the days and hours of operation the same, for the sake of maintaining a sense of normalcy for their customers and their employees.

“We want to be a symbol of stability in the neighborhood,” Brown says. He adds that Detroit Soul wants to be healthier option against fast-food options that “contribute to the continual decline of health within our ethnic group.”

“We talk about people needing to keep their health and immune system up and be as healthy as they can be during this time,” Brown says. “So we were real pressed, like, ‘We gotta be here with these greens, we gotta be here with this cabbage, we gotta be here with this baked chicken.’”

Black Business Owners at a Disadvantage

FoodLab’s Davison is monitoring the impact of the virus on the restaurant industry. She says Black-owned business and businesses owned by other people of color are being hit the hardest.

Not only has the coronavirus brought to the forefront the racial, gender, and economic disparities in the restaurant industry, it’s exacerbating them. High-profile restauranteurs and hospitality groups backed by wealthy investors are leveraging public relations firms to frame them as the heroes on the frontlines to save the industry, despite closing restaurants, furloughing and laying off workers.

“It may seem absurd that the vast and varied ecosystem of American restaurants are represented by celebrity chefs and fast-food executives who are exclusively male and overwhelmingly white, but not really when you understand that in this capitalist system resources flow in the direction of power,” explains Davison.

Recently, when the Trump administration announced the Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, the executives and industry leaders named to represent the food and beverage industry included high-profile chefs Thomas Keller and Wolfgang Puck, and chains and restaurant groups such as McDonald’s, Darden Restaurants, and YUM! Brands.

“Where are the women? Where are the Black people? Where are the queer [and] nonbinary folks?” Davison asks. “Who will advocate for immigrant and undocumented workers? The restaurant industry is nothing without all of these people, yet all you have in the White House economic group are white men?”

The latest blow to neighborhood restaurants came from the Small Business Administration’s $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), created to offer businesses with fewer than 500 employees a loan to cover payroll costs for eight weeks. Many small businesses scrambled to apply to the first round of loans only to learn that but large restaurant groups were awarded with multi-million-dollar loans. The chains Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Potbelly, and Shake Shack have since announced plans to return the money. And while a second round of loans opened on Monday, Ashley Harrington, of the Center for Responsible Lending told CBS News, “that upwards of 90 percent of businesses owned by people of color have been, or will likely be, shut out of the Paycheck Protection Program.”

In Detroit, dozens of restaurants have set up GoFundMe campaigns to raise money to help their employees. Last month TechTown Detroit, a tech startup and local business incubator and accelerator, offered an emergency fund to provide qualifying small businesses with grants worth up to $5,000. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, in partnership with the City of Detroit, recently created a $3.1 million COVID-19 for eligible small businesses ranging from $2,500 up to $10,000.

Marshall applied for all of these forms of support, but has yet to receive any funding. Gouvia applied for the TechTown and DEGC grants and was awarded both. Brown applied for four grants and loans, including DEGC and PPP, which he was approved for, but is waiting for funds.

Davison says that Black-owned businesses are often missing a component that could help them to weather this storm: a marketing and communications strategy.

“[If] you haven’t even built a [strong] communications and marketing infrastructure, you can’t communicate with your clientele that you’re pivoting,” says Davison. Restaurants need to be able to tell their clientele, “here is what our menu looks like, here’s how you can reach us, here’s how you can order delivery, here’s what our hours are,” she adds.

Marshall, who does her own PR, agrees. “If these stories and initiatives aren’t being pushed, if no one is advocating on your behalf, people are not aware that you exist,” she says.

While many restaurants have relied on delivery apps like Grubhub and UberEats, much has been reported on their predatory practices, squeezing neighborhood restaurants out of 30 percent of commission from each order (Neither Gouvia nor Marshall use them for that reason). However Black and Mobile, a black-owned food delivery service launched in February 2019 in Philadelphia has recently expanded to Detroit, is working with up to 20 Black-owned restaurants from midtown, as well as the east and west sides of the city.

When the virus passes, Davison says she also hopes to see discussions take place about crisis management strategies.

“When we get through this, I’m judging our impact and our successes on how many Black and brown entrepreneurs’ doors were we able to keep open,” she says. “And then we can start having conversations about how we help them to recover and how we help them to become resilient.”

• Black-Owned Restaurants in Detroit Are Hard Hit by the Pandemic [Civil Eats] • COVID-19 Shows That It’s Time for the Hospitality Industry to Listen to Black Women [E]

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2YkJbWd https://ift.tt/3aTFwBA

Inside Norma G’s, which remains open for takeout in Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood | Michelle and Chris Gerard/Eater Detroit

After decades of structural racism, Detroit’s Black restaurateurs are facing both health and economic crises

This story was originally published on Civil Eats.

“Normally, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are busy for us,” he says. “When I saw that Thursday slow-down, I was like, ‘Okay, there’s a problem there.’”

“In the Caribbean, food and drink is an important part of our culture,” Gouvia says. “I wanted people to come and have an experience.”

As the first sit-down restaurant to open in Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood in 30 years, Norma G’s was also a part of revitalization efforts for the east side neighborhood.

“Many Black businesses don’t have the agility to pivot to a different business model.”

For all these reasons, Gouvia found the switch to carryout especially challenging. But, for now, it’s keeping the doors open.

Pivoting, Trimming Hours

“We are offering an elevated dining experience to Detroiters because I felt like we were left out of that experience from a cultural perspective,” says Marshall.

“The social component of the dining experience was what the [business] model was predicated on,” she adds. “Carry out and delivery was never a component.”

A Beacon of Light

The restaurant was left “kind of flying on one engine,” says co-owner Jerome Brown, whose wife was the only cook remaining.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by normagscuisine (@normagscuisine) on Apr 21, 2020 at 1:47pm PDT

“Our core mission kicked in [because] we wanted to be a beacon of light in the neighborhood from a health and economic perspective,” Brown explains.

Black Business Owners at a Disadvantage

FoodLab’s Davison is monitoring the impact of the virus on the restaurant industry. She says Black-owned business and businesses owned by other people of color are being hit the hardest.

Davison says that Black-owned businesses are often missing a component that could help them to weather this storm: a marketing and communications strategy.

Marshall, who does her own PR, agrees. “If these stories and initiatives aren’t being pushed, if no one is advocating on your behalf, people are not aware that you exist,” she says.

When the virus passes, Davison says she also hopes to see discussions take place about crisis management strategies.

• Black-Owned Restaurants in Detroit Are Hard Hit by the Pandemic [Civil Eats] • COVID-19 Shows That It’s Time for the Hospitality Industry to Listen to Black Women [E]

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2YkJbWd via Blogger https://ift.tt/2KQnVjb

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

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revbantu · 5 years ago

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~ P L E A S E • S H A R E • W I T H • U S ~ Christmas means a lot of things to people...but one thing that cuts across is the desire to have something different; a break from the normal. Most people tend to choose a different meal, because that's easier than probably buying a new dress when you are hungry, or visiting a me place when you are broke, or taking a holiday when you have no idea of what that is, etc. As a family, we have chosen to Share our Christmas day with our @sortedlifechurch family; whom for many this day would pass just like any Norma day of the week, with many weak due to hunger. We don't have much but we are not in dispere, because; 1. We know God has a great plan for us and thinks of us nonstop. 2. We know that God can use you to be a blessing to us this Christmas. We have this opportunity and a privilege for you to be a blessing to our community. You can help us have a memorable Christmas. We need - Rice - Wheat Flour (Unga wa Ngano) - Meat - Soft drink/refreshments Juice or Soda - Cooking Oil - Cabbages - Tomatoes - Onions. - Pilau Masala Etc. Kindly consider supporting us make this Christmas make a meaning to our Church. We reach out and minister in a low income reserve in Kilifi County where Christmas makes very little same. Let's make them know Christmas is time to give and share with those in need, as Jesus came to share his life with us, giving up his life on the Cross so that we can receive salvation, which is the greatest need of mankind. To send your contribution. Please use Mpesa/Wave no. 0712944500 (Moses Oduor) Paybill no: 850435 (Sortedlife Production) Account: Christmas Thank you and God bless you 😇🙏💓. As you share may you experience an increase in your life too. @revbantu Kilifi Mission and Transformation Centre Project and Sortedlife Church (at Rev Bantu's Home and Lounge, Katama - the Vicarage) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6KSCerlh2h/?igshid=1hyufp34ml93m

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ramajmedia · 5 years ago

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Child's Play: Why Chucky Movies Have So Many Psycho References

Like most horror films, Child’s Play has taken inspiration from those that came before it, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Psycho. The Child’s Play franchise began in 1988 with director Tom Holland’s film of the same name, which was created by Don Mancini, although the script went through various treatments with the help of Holland and John Lafia to turn it into the story fans now know.

Child’s Play spawned six sequels, all with slasher doll Chucky as the main villain, who was later joined by his girlfriend Tiffany in Bride of Chucky and then their child in Seed of Chucky. Mancini was inspired by the frenzy around Cabbage Patch Kids back in the 1980s to create the main character, but throughout the series, the influence of other horror films could be felt in the stories, with Psycho making some subtle appearances in a couple of Chucky films.

Related: Child's Play 2019 Makes Big Changes To The Original Movie (& They're Good)

Hitchcock’s Psycho has been the inspiration of many filmmakers and artists in general for decades, and Mancini made sure to add some nods to this classic in Child's Play. Perhaps the most obvious ones can be found in Seed of Chucky, the film that introduced Chucky and Tiffany’s child, Glen, who unlike his parents feels violence is bad – but he has a “double soul” (not exactly a double-personality, as this is all about voodoo and black magic) and shares his body with his twin sister, Glenda, who is very into killing. This is reminiscent of Norman Bates’ alternate personality as his mother, Norma Bates, who is the one that kills the women that arrive to the hotel (and P.I Arbogast).

A more obvious reference is at the beginning of the film when Glen has a dream about killing a family: the father’s death is a subtle nod to Arbogast’s death, while the mother’s death is a direct reference to Psycho’s famous shower scene. Another reference later in the story is the film within the film Chucky Goes Psycho, as well as Glen’s relationship with his mother, with him even killing Chucky to defend her. Curse of Chucky has some links to Psycho 2 as they both have a character trying to make another one believe they’re falling into insanity – Mary and Lila to Norman, and Chucky to Nica. It continues in Cult of Chucky, which also has a death scene (nurse Carlos’ death by the hands of the three Chucky dolls) in which the quick shots are reminiscent to those in Psycho’s shower scene.

These details are no coincidence, not only because of the strong influence of Psycho in the horror genre, but also because Mancini himself has shared that he’s a fan of Psycho 2 (which was written by none other than Tom Holland). Intentionally or not, that was translated to the three Child’s Play films directed by him, and it’s always fun to find these details, no matter how subtle or obvious they might be.

Next: Child's Play 2019 May Tease A Bride For Chucky

source https://screenrant.com/childs-play-chucky-movies-psycho-references/

#screenrant

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carot-dj · 8 years ago

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2.0 out of 5 stars Really Let Down by this book.

2.0 out of 5 stars best feature -front cover very disappointing publication-suggest you save your money and check it out of the library before making a decision-the front cover was deceptive in its allure to those looking for a creative nudge in decorating tuscany style. but the most chilling part of this book,for me, was a revealing paragraph at the top of page 106 'quote' Given that the farmers probably will not be returning.I begin to plot new purposes for the hundreds of borghi in the italian hills: music camps,artists' colonies,hospices, religious retreat centers. After all,easily taking the past into the future is part or the italian genius for living.'unquote'... well, there goes he neighborhood! i'm just thankful i got to see Tuscany before the Mayes' makeover of the whole region --some people just can't leave rustic charm alone!!...norma Go to Amazon

5.0 out of 5 stars First Class Writing and Photography Great Price. Buy It. `Bringing Tuscany Home' by Frances Mayes has several different faces, but it's title tells it's primary objective, which is importing to one's American home the furniture, style, feel, and `Zeitgeist' of Tuscany, where the authors Mayes have a `summer' home. For readers who are familiar with my concentration on culinary works, I was lead to buy this book for review by Amazon's bringing it up in a list of culinary titles, so I bought it largely on the strength of Ms. Mayes' reputation as the author of `Under the Tuscan Sun'. While the book does contain a few recipes, the most interesting one being an Italian plum tart borrowed from Tuscan summer neighbor Nancy Silverton of La Brea Bakery fame, it is not really a culinary title. Edward Mayes appears to be the cook of the family and most recipes are attributed to him, including a soffrito, a tomato sauce, oven roasted tomatoes, artichoke pesto, olive salsa, Tuscan beans, grilled radicchio, farro salad, fried zucchini flowers, shrimp in pasta shells, pici with fresh fava beans, potato gnocchi and sauce, pasta with pancetta, black cabbage soup, vegetable soup, eggplant parmesan, chicken with olives, rolled veal scallops, rolled sole, white peaches with almonds, and tulip shells with berries. Aside from the very last recipe, everything is pretty standard stuff.The basis of the Mayes' expertise in Tuscan style is their ownership and renovation of a middle-sized villa just outside the village of Cortona in Tuscany for the last fourteen (14) years and their furnishing a Marin County, California home after the Tuscan style. This, more than anything else, is the meaning of the title. If this book were written by a journeyman travel writer and if it were priced above its very modest $29.Read more › Go to Amazon

5.0 out of 5 stars a book to make you dream! I found this book to be very charming, not at all self-indulgent as the review says. Of course there is lots of material relating to the Mayes, that's part of the charm--they can be our eyes and ears since we can't be there. The anecdotes are entertaining and thought provoking, the photos are breathtaking! I appreciate her advise and help in attaining the "look of Tuscany". The recipes are a nice feature to round out the book. Go to Amazon

2.0 out of 5 stars Enough already!! In my opinion Ms. Mayes is doing for the literary world what Thomas Kincaid has done for art.I was absolutely entranced with Italy after reading UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN.........and equally so with BELLA TUSCANY. I must admit that while I truly enjoyed the photographs contained in IN TUSCANY I was less than satisfied with the written content. I feel that the passion Ms. Mayes felt with her first book, and so openly shared with the readers, has wained with each successive book and she is nothing but commerical at this point.I feel she has allowed celebrity and money to corrupt her art ..... much the same as Mr. Kincaid. So, when will we see the Bramasole tea towels or the Cortona coasters??? Go to Amazon

#Steven Rothfeld: 9780767917469: Amazon.com: Books

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theplottdump · 1 year ago

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🌿 Family Photo!

Now Everyone Say 'The Watcher forgot to put all the roofs up!' Everyone: euuuruughhhhh

Look how happy everyone gets to be in the ancillary save where nothing matters. 😭

BACK ROW: (Left to Right) Leanne 5000, Sunny Plott, Chad Chinsley, Valerian Plott, Altus Goth, Antoinette Goth, Cabbage Goth, Norma Goth, Hinoki Plott, Fynn Plott, Senga Simcraft, Manservant Henry, Alejandro Garcia, Poppy Plott, Marlee Martino, Olive Plott FRONT ROW: (Left to Right) Dahlia Plott, Beau Plott, Willow Plott, Aster Plott, Helena Noble, Kale Plott

#cabbage and norma #fuck you i'm not tagging everyone #but i'll list em below the cut #side plott

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doctorsimcraft · 8 months ago

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"You're all unhelpful and you should feel bad." Lou growled, "I'll just spray paint a sign or something. Girls love graffiti."

Cabbage tilted his head nervously at the candy displays, "You guys think Norma likes the tiny marshmallows or the big ones?"

"UNHELPFUL AND SELFISH."

#Gen 2 #Sims4legacy #SimsLegacy #SimcraftLegacy #Heir 2 #DoctorSimCraft #Archive #Theodora #Gen2HighSchool #TheWindenburgArc

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hungrycookiee · 7 years ago

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Happiness is cheese and pasta and you can find happiness at Cucinetta. The cosy Italian Osteria opened in 2017. Since then, the South Yarra osteria has transitioned to current owner, Giocomo of Caffe Cuccina. The ‘no fridge’, same day strategy is Cucinetta’s pizzazz. When there’s literally no room for frozen, you know it’s as fresh as Nonna’s. Head chef Attilio Nuscis, rotates his menu weekly, just like Nonna would. The only difference is the giant wine glasses – seriously, they’re hilariously large.

This article was written for the AGFG.

Simple small-plate dining

We’ve all had BIG PLATE Italian food. Giant plates of bolognaise, ‘pineapple’ on pizza – oh the horror. It’s not the type of food Italians eat, but an Americanised version that has made its way onto Aussie shores.”We want to focus on small plates, that emphasise all our Italian backgrounds”, explains Giacomo. Not only is Cucinetta exceedingly intimate (there’s only 21 seats), but the food is wonderfully simple.

Food inspired by the Italian regions

We visit Southern Italy for Burrata flown from the foothills of Naples. The uncanny, milky creaminess settled by peperonata, a chunky ‘stew’ of sweet bell peppers melted in olive oil, onions and tomatoes. Pan roasted Octopus takes us to the Italian coast, tender and elastic, bouncing against the god of the vegetables -potato. Luscious lamb rump is sous vide, the final touches, drenched in red cabbage and wine jus. Pasta is made in-house and boy it makes a world of difference. The gnocchi is soft and delicate, a texture you can’t find at any old Italian.

The verdict

At a mere 29 square metres, Cucinetta proves small size packs a punch. The food is small plate dining, inspired by the regions of Italy. I adored the delicious simplicity and homely charm. Don’t forget the large wine glasses and wines picked out by the sommelier. Cucinetta is underrated in the noisy world of Melbourne dining. The team have kept it simple and true to the Italian soul. Delizioso!

Rating : 4.0 cookies out of 5 Must order: The menu changes weekly!

Burrata Cheese and Peperonata

Pan-roasted Octopus on Potato Velutata

Pan-roasted Lamb Rump w/ Red Cabbage, Wine Jus

Homemade Gnocchi alla ‘Norma’

Tiramisu

Giant wine glasses

Hungrycookie dined courtesy of Cucinetta for the AGFG.

Cucinetta Shop 4/3 Murphy St South Yarra http://www.cucinettamelb.com.au/index.html

Cucinetta – We’ve found Little Italy in South Yarra Happiness is cheese and pasta and you can find happiness at Cucinetta. The cosy Italian Osteria opened in 2017.

#australia #Food #Italian #Melbourne #restaurants #south yarra #southside #wine

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easyfoodnetwork · 5 years ago

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Inside Norma G’s, which remains open for takeout in Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood | Michelle and Chris Gerard/Eater Detroit After decades of structural racism, Detroit’s Black restaurateurs are facing both health and economic crises This story was originally published on Civil Eats. In late February, Lester Gouvia was looking forward to transitioning out of the slow season and seeing business pick up again. The owner of Norma G’s, a full-service Caribbean restaurant with 113 seats, a full bar, a menu that includes beef patties, curry goat, and jerk chicken, Gouvia says things were on track at the beginning of March. But in the second week of March, as coverage of the coronavirus picked up and Metro Detroit confirmed its first two cases, Gouvia noticed a sudden slowdown. “Normally, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are busy for us,” he says. “When I saw that Thursday slow-down, I was like, ‘Okay, there’s a problem there.’” Gouvia’s suspicion was confirmed the next day when 90 percent of the restaurant’s revenue dropped. Three days later, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order closing public establishments to prevent the spread of the virus. For restaurateurs with a dine-in model, that meant making an urgent, difficult decision: convert to carry-out and delivery or close the doors completely. Gouvia chose carryout. “In the Caribbean, food and drink is an important part of our culture,” Gouvia says. “I wanted people to come and have an experience.” As the first sit-down restaurant to open in Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood in 30 years, Norma G’s was also a part of revitalization efforts for the east side neighborhood. “Many Black businesses don’t have the agility to pivot to a different business model.” For all these reasons, Gouvia found the switch to carryout especially challenging. But, for now, it’s keeping the doors open. “I look around by myself and I think, ‘All the work I put in, it wasn’t for this.’ But in order to keep my brand and stay in business so people don’t lose track of me, this is what I have to do.” The coronavirus has hit the Black population in Detroit especially hard — in health as well as economic impacts — but that’s not where the racial inequity ends. While many Black restaurateurs like Gouvia are hanging on, Devita Davison, executive director of the FoodLab, an organization that provides incubator space and other support for food businesses in Detroit, is concerned about what’s to come. Black restaurateurs have long struggled with the racist structure of the food world, and that is most evident in the vast differences they often experience when it comes accessing capital. Therefore, they are often less equipped to weather a storm this big. And Detroit, which has seen a boom in restaurant culture in its downtown area in recent years, is a stark example of those disparities. “Many Black businesses don’t have the agility to pivot to a different business model,” says Davison. For that reason, she worries they may be less likely to see their restaurants standing after the economy reopens. So far, Ima, a casual full-service restaurant serving Japanese-style noodles and rice bowls, and Detroit Vegan Soul have both temporarily closed one location. However, the Block Neighborhood Bar and Kitchen — a casual gastropub — has permanently closed. Pivoting, Trimming Hours Like Gouvia, Nya Marshall decided to invest in the under-resourced east side of the city when she opened Ivy Kitchen and Cocktails at the end of 2019. She wanted to hire folks from the neighborhood, and she was driven by feedback from neighbors who wanted to see a fine dining restaurant in the East English Village neighborhood. The 60-seat Ivy Kitchen offered small plates such as buffalo cauliflower and mezcal wings and entrees like farro etouffee and short rib stroganoff. There was also a 12-seat bar. “We are offering an elevated dining experience to Detroiters because I felt like we were left out of that experience from a cultural perspective,” says Marshall. “The social component of the dining experience was what the [business] model was predicated on,” she adds. “Carry out and delivery was never a component.” Marshall hadn’t been open for 90 days when the coronavirus forced her model to change. The business went from serving what Marshall estimates to be 800-1,000 guests a week to between 30 and 50. She had to furlough most of her employees, going from a staff of more than 20 to just three people. At first, she maintained her normal business hours, but it was so slow that she cut down to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Her menu changed, too, converted into what Marshall describes as “comfort and family style” meals such as fried chicken with roasted red mashed potatoes. A Beacon of Light Since mid-March, Detroit has become a hotspot for the coronavirus, which is disproportionately impacting the Black community all over the country. The city’s population is nearly 80 percent Black, and that group accounts for approximately 65 percent of confirmed cases and 77 percent of deaths. The three counties that make up metro Detroit account for a significant number — 80 percent — of the state’s cases. Now, restaurateurs like Gouvia and Marshall, who chose to open their business in neighborhoods that have long been disinvested in, are operating in the epicenter of the virus. So, there’s also an added risk to their staff members. In the second week of March, Sam Van Buren, co-owner of Detroit Soul — a counter service restaurant offering soul food classics with a healthier twist — fell ill. He didn’t know whether or not he had the virus. Van Buren’s wife ended up staying home with him. The restaurant was left “kind of flying on one engine,” says co-owner Jerome Brown, whose wife was the only cook remaining. View this post on Instagram This is the #NormaGsCuisine crew ready and waiting for your arrival. Hope everyone is safe and doing well! Shout out to Renee our kitchen mom for making our cloth masks...Angelo left his in the wash today... lol. A post shared by normagscuisine (@normagscuisine) on Apr 21, 2020 at 1:47pm PDT Eventually, Van Buren was tested, and his results came back negative for the coronavirus. Still, the co-owners had to decide how to proceed in the current environment. They didn’t have to alter their business model but did see a small decline in business, and decided to stay open for their community. “Our core mission kicked in [because] we wanted to be a beacon of light in the neighborhood from a health and economic perspective,” Brown explains. They retooled the menu by giving customers the chance to buy larger portions at a time, and they only allow five customers in the building at a time. But they’ve kept the days and hours of operation the same, for the sake of maintaining a sense of normalcy for their customers and their employees. “We want to be a symbol of stability in the neighborhood,” Brown says. He adds that Detroit Soul wants to be healthier option against fast-food options that “contribute to the continual decline of health within our ethnic group.” “We talk about people needing to keep their health and immune system up and be as healthy as they can be during this time,” Brown says. “So we were real pressed, like, ‘We gotta be here with these greens, we gotta be here with this cabbage, we gotta be here with this baked chicken.’” Black Business Owners at a Disadvantage FoodLab’s Davison is monitoring the impact of the virus on the restaurant industry. She says Black-owned business and businesses owned by other people of color are being hit the hardest. Not only has the coronavirus brought to the forefront the racial, gender, and economic disparities in the restaurant industry, it’s exacerbating them. High-profile restauranteurs and hospitality groups backed by wealthy investors are leveraging public relations firms to frame them as the heroes on the frontlines to save the industry, despite closing restaurants, furloughing and laying off workers. “It may seem absurd that the vast and varied ecosystem of American restaurants are represented by celebrity chefs and fast-food executives who are exclusively male and overwhelmingly white, but not really when you understand that in this capitalist system resources flow in the direction of power,” explains Davison. Recently, when the Trump administration announced the Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, the executives and industry leaders named to represent the food and beverage industry included high-profile chefs Thomas Keller and Wolfgang Puck, and chains and restaurant groups such as McDonald’s, Darden Restaurants, and YUM! Brands. “Where are the women? Where are the Black people? Where are the queer [and] nonbinary folks?” Davison asks. “Who will advocate for immigrant and undocumented workers? The restaurant industry is nothing without all of these people, yet all you have in the White House economic group are white men?” The latest blow to neighborhood restaurants came from the Small Business Administration’s $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), created to offer businesses with fewer than 500 employees a loan to cover payroll costs for eight weeks. Many small businesses scrambled to apply to the first round of loans only to learn that but large restaurant groups were awarded with multi-million-dollar loans. The chains Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Potbelly, and Shake Shack have since announced plans to return the money. And while a second round of loans opened on Monday, Ashley Harrington, of the Center for Responsible Lending told CBS News, “that upwards of 90 percent of businesses owned by people of color have been, or will likely be, shut out of the Paycheck Protection Program.” In Detroit, dozens of restaurants have set up GoFundMe campaigns to raise money to help their employees. Last month TechTown Detroit, a tech startup and local business incubator and accelerator, offered an emergency fund to provide qualifying small businesses with grants worth up to $5,000. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, in partnership with the City of Detroit, recently created a $3.1 million COVID-19 for eligible small businesses ranging from $2,500 up to $10,000. Marshall applied for all of these forms of support, but has yet to receive any funding. Gouvia applied for the TechTown and DEGC grants and was awarded both. Brown applied for four grants and loans, including DEGC and PPP, which he was approved for, but is waiting for funds. Davison says that Black-owned businesses are often missing a component that could help them to weather this storm: a marketing and communications strategy. “[If] you haven’t even built a [strong] communications and marketing infrastructure, you can’t communicate with your clientele that you’re pivoting,” says Davison. Restaurants need to be able to tell their clientele, “here is what our menu looks like, here’s how you can reach us, here’s how you can order delivery, here’s what our hours are,” she adds. Marshall, who does her own PR, agrees. “If these stories and initiatives aren’t being pushed, if no one is advocating on your behalf, people are not aware that you exist,” she says. While many restaurants have relied on delivery apps like Grubhub and UberEats, much has been reported on their predatory practices, squeezing neighborhood restaurants out of 30 percent of commission from each order (Neither Gouvia nor Marshall use them for that reason). However Black and Mobile, a black-owned food delivery service launched in February 2019 in Philadelphia has recently expanded to Detroit, is working with up to 20 Black-owned restaurants from midtown, as well as the east and west sides of the city. When the virus passes, Davison says she also hopes to see discussions take place about crisis management strategies. “When we get through this, I’m judging our impact and our successes on how many Black and brown entrepreneurs’ doors were we able to keep open,” she says. “And then we can start having conversations about how we help them to recover and how we help them to become resilient.” • Black-Owned Restaurants in Detroit Are Hard Hit by the Pandemic [Civil Eats] • COVID-19 Shows That It’s Time for the Hospitality Industry to Listen to Black Women [E] from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2YkJbWd

http://easyfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/2020/05/black-owned-restaurants-in-detroit-are.html

#EasyFoodNetwork #ComfortFoodRecipes #EasyRecipes #GoodFood #BestComfortFoodRecipes #TastyFoodv

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bestdaysofarcip · 8 years ago

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Stop and Let Me Off

Day four, we ventured into town on the public bus. I had never seen a bus so packed. There was a conductor on the bus collecting the fares and even though some people were getting from the back of the bus, he managed to squeeze through and collect everyone’s money. We were packed on that bus like sardines. People were standing between me and the seat in front of me. There was no such thing as having my own space. The people did not seem to mind at all.

The director of Young Life Ministries told us to get off at the Hilton Hotel bus stop. However, we did not know that the bus would not come to a complete stop. It just slowed down and we had to jump off while the bus was still moving. I yelled, “Stop, I want to get off.” The passengers replied, “Jump off, they don’t stop the bus.” I thought to myself, this is a different world than the one I come from.

We met Pete and Norma, our leaders from Young Life. They took us across the street to Barcessi Café for lunch. Everyone ordered a hamburger. I was the only one who ordered chicken. I could not eat it. It looked like someone forgot to pluck it so my meal consisted of Mboga (cabbage), Lumonde (potatoes) and Butunda (possum juice). We did some window shopping but all the while I was thinking about the bus ride back. Thank God, Pete and Norma took us back to the guest house.

The next morning, in my quiet time, I was still thinking about getting around by bus and having to jump off every time. A particular scripture verse I had read several times came to me. Psalm 86:1 - 4, “Bow down Your ear, O Lord, hear me; For I am poor and needy. 2 Preserve my life, for I am holy; You are my God; Save Your servant who trusts in You! 3 Be merciful to me, O Lord, For I cry to You all day long. 4 Rejoice the soul of Your servant, For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” After reading these verses I had to face the fact that I was going to enjoy my time in Kenya and I was the only one who could stop me.

Sometimes the enemy can have us focus on little things to make you lose your joy. It was only the fifth day of the six weeks when I made up my mind that I would not be in Kenya six weeks and not enjoy myself. The next day, I had a great time. Pete and Norma took us to a small game park. There were ostriches, zebras, buffaloes, and giraffes just grazing and walking so gracefully in their natural habitat.

That afternoon, we were invited to have dinner with a lady named Stella. My husband had met Stella’s brother Steven here in the United States. When Steven learned that we were going to Kenya, he asked if we could take a gift to his sister. He dropped off the gift to us two days before we were to leave and he gave us his sister’s phone number. We called her when we arrived. She came to pick up the gift and invited us to dinner a few days later.

When we arrived at the house there were several other people present. There was a Bishop from the famous Anglican Church. Stella’s sister, her two daughters, a brother-in-law and his 17-year-old daughter. Stella wanted someone there to be company for our children. She also had two of her neighbors there. Whenever she had visitors, she liked to share them with someone else. They were all (East) Indians but they spoke English.

When dinner was served there were some Indian and African dishes. Everything looked so good but very spicy. I had to take a sip of water after every spoonful. Soon it was time for us to leave and I learned that the invitation is extended to have many come to dinner was commonly done when visitors come to a Christian home in Africa not just for people from outside the country. This was the best day of my trip so far.

#storytime #Center in the Park #senior citizens #Stop and Let me Off

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cinephiled-com · 8 years ago

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New Post has been published on Cinephiled

New Post has been published on http://www.cinephiled.com/city-los-angeles-proclaims-celebration-virginia-weidler/

City of Los Angeles Proclaims ‘A Celebration of Virginia Weidler’

When screen legend John Barrymore declares a 12-year-old girl he worked with as “Hollywood’s greatest actress,” you can’t help but take notice. Born 90 years ago today, classic movie fans remember Virginia Weidler as Dinah Lord, Katharine Hepburn’s precocious sister in MGM’s The Philadelphia Story. She was the girl who played “Lydia the Tattooed Lady” for a bewildered Jimmy Stewart and Ruth Hussey and who did everything she could to sabotage Hepburn’s impending nuptials to George Kittredge. Young Weidler was brilliant in the film, and that performance, along with her role as Little Mary, Norma Shearer’s daughter in MGM’s all-star, all-female The Women, is what she is most known for today. Many people are not familiar with her remarkable career before these two films. Virginia Weidler made over 40 films in her relatively short career and had very successful stints at Paramount, RKO, and other studios. She was still a teenager when she made her final film in 1943. She continued to appear on the stage for several years and in 1947 married naval officer Lionel Krisel and raised two boys, Ron and Gary, before she died in 1968.

For several years, I’ve been involved with an online group to honor the work of the brilliant child star. Founded by Baltimore-based Pete White, The Virginia Weidler Remembrance Society has researched every aspect of Weidler’s career, her films, and her contemporaries, and in 2014 successfully lobbied Turner Classic Movies several for a six-film tribute called “Starring Virginia Weidler.” This year, to mark the 90th anniversary of Weidler’s birth, White contacted the Los Angeles City Council (including councilperson José Huizar who represents Weidler’s Eagle Rock birthplace) to honor the hometown girl. They agreed about Weidler’s contributions, and issued a beautiful proclamation signed by every member of the City Council that details Virginia’s achievements and concludes with the following:

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that by the adoption of this resolution, the City Council of Los Angeles recognizes VIRGINIA WEIDLER for her career accomplishments as well as her contributions to her country, her city, and to all who knew her and that March 21, 2017 is a celebration of Virginia Weidler.

I had the great pleasure of presenting this proclamation to Virginia Weidler’s granddaughter, Lindsay Rock Krisel. “All of us in the family are absolutely thrilled that Ginny’s work is still remembered and celebrated,” Lindsay said upon receiving the resolution. “She was born into a creative, expressive, weird, wonderful family who came to Los Angeles in the 1920s, drawn to America partly because of their reverence for Walt Whitman. She was an incredibly devoted mother — my dad says it was like growing up in a musical. I never got to meet her, and it’s an odd thing that when asked to imagine my grandmother, I usually picture her as a child. But even in her most famously precocious moments on film, she always maintained an honesty about childhood — a curious, mischievous, authentic energy. It is a privilege to be in her family, and a privilege to live in a place that cherishes its memories, and the accomplishments of its young citizens.”

As Lindsay said, Ginny (as she was known by her family and friends), was born into a showbiz family of immigrants in Eagle Rock, California, on March 21, 1927. Her parents, former opera singer Margaret Weidler and architect Alfred Weidler, had children: Sylvia, Renee, Warner, Walter, George, and Virginia. While the three Weidler boys appeared in several films together, including Shirley Temple’s Dimples, and had long careers as successful musicians, it soon became clear that Virginia was the standout actress in the family.

Weidler’s first credited role in the movies was as Europena Wiggs in Norman Taurog’s Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934) starring Pauline Lord, W.C. Fields, Zasu Pitts. Ginny went over big and, with Paramount looking to get in on the boom started by Shirley Temple at 20th Century Fox, several more projects were planned for the young girl. She was also loaned out to RKO and other studios and quickly gained a reputation for being one of the most reliable and skilled actresses around who could hold her own with all of the great stars of the day.

Weidler consistently received raves for her acting. She was a sensation as Little Sister in her next film, George Stevens’ poignant Laddie (1935) with John Beal and Gloria Stuart, and made many other films, some of them true starring vehicles. Virginia’s movies during the 1930s included Freckles (1935), Girl of the Ozarks (1936), The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1937), Love Is a Headache (1938), and Bad Little Angel (1939). She worked with many of the top stars in Hollywood and received praise from all quarters. In 1939, Ginny co-starred with John Barrymore in Garson Kanin’s The Great Man Votes in 1939. That’s when Barrymore, impressed by Weidler’s incredible talent at such a young age, first gave her that nickname, a claim he repeated the following year when he visited his friend and former co-star Katharine Hepburn on the set of The Philadelphia Story. “I’m thrilled to be seeing Hollywood’s greatest actress in action again,” Barrymore told Hepburn after watching the cast shoot a pivotal scene. “Oh, thank you, John,” Hepburn replied. “No, Kate, I was talking about Virginia Weidler!” Hepburn laughed, and didn’t take offense. She knew they were lucky to have Virginia in the film.

Weidler’s films continued into the early 1940s. In addition to her important role in The Philadelphia Story and her appearance in The Women, Virginia played one of Charles Boyer’s daughters in All This, and Heaven Too (1940) with Bette Davis; sang and danced alongside Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in the Busby Berkeley musical Babes on Broadway (1941), and starred in the Technicolor extravaganza Best Foot Forward (1943) and The Youngest Profession (1943) which turned out to be her last two films.

I had the pleasure of talking to the late Robert Osborne about Weidler on several occasions. He was a huge fan of her work and told me how his mentor in Hollywood, Lucille Ball, loved Virginia (they worked together on Best Foot Forward). When I got the chance to talk to Jane Withers at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, she became teary-eyed when discussing her old friend. Pete White has also spoken to some of Ginny’s friends and colleagues and was impressed by what they had to say about her. “Not one person has ever said a single unkind thing about Virginia Weidler. Even those she only touched professionally all remark on her kindness, helpfulness, and professionalism. Tommy Dix (Weidler’s love interest in Best Foot Forward) brought me to tears last year with the things he had to say about her and he only knew her during the making of that film over 70 years ago! Former actor and M*A*S*H producer Gene Reynolds knew her for many years and felt the same tender way toward her. All of these people whose lives were touched by Virginia seem to agree with what actress actress Jean Porter wrote years ago — that Virginia was the nicest person they ever met.”

Although there are very few public photos of Virginia Weidler once she left the movie industry, her granddaughter shared this priceless photo taken of Virginia during the time she and her husband were living in Cuba in the 1950s when they would often visit the home of Ernest Hemingway. That’s Ginny and her husband, Lionel Krisel, looking at the camera, Ernest and Mary Hemingway looking at Ginny, and a couple who won a trip to visit the legendary author in a game show with the final answer “Ernest Hemingway.” Lindsay also shared that when the Duke of Windsor would visit the Hemingways he would specifically seek out Ginny as a dance partner!

While some of Weidler’s bigger films are screened regularly on TCM, click here for a very special birthday treat — you will find links to several early films of Ginny’s that are hard to find. You’ll also find the full text of her friend Jean Porter’s poignant and heartfelt tribute to the actress. Finally, check out the great clip below from The Philadelphia Story that is one of my favorite scenes ever in which Dinah Lord, in cahoots with her sister Tracy (Katharine Hepburn), puts on quite a show for a reporter (James Stewart) and photographer (Ruth Hussey) who are trying to crash Tracy’s wedding.

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#Child Star #MGM #The Philadelphia Story #The Women #Virginia Weidler #Features #What's Hot

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