Julie and Julia

[BaalChatzaf]

This is a totally delightful biopic about the start of Julia Child as The French Chef. The Julia Child story is told within the writing adventures of Julie Powell who starts a blog on the adventures of making all of Julia Child's recipes (527) in 365 days. She managed to do it.

The story is very good natured and well acted. Stanley Tucci is excellent as Paul Child, Julia's loving and supportive husband. Julie Powell is well played by Amy Adams who is the quintessential perky young woman.

For those of you who plan see this pic, I have some very important advice. Eat a full meal before watching the movie. If you go on an empty stomach you will salivate profusely. A dozen of the recipes are actually cooked and serviced on screen. What can I say? Yum!

Ba'al Chatzaf

[kiaer.ts]

This is a totally delightful biopic about the start of Julia Child as The French Chef. The Julia Child story is told within the writing adventures of Julie Powell who starts a blog on the adventures of making all of Julia Child's recipes (527) in 365 days. She managed to do it.

The story is very good natured and well acted. Stanley Tucci is excellent as Paul Child, Julia's loving and supportive husband. Julie Powell is well played by Amy Adams who is the quintessential perky young woman.

For those of you who plan see this pic, I have some very important advice. Eat a full meal before watching the movie. If you go on an empty stomach you will salivate profusely. A dozen of the recipes are actually cooked and serviced on screen. What can I say? Yum!

Ba'al Chatzaf

My mother won't stop talking about this movie. She hates Meryl Streep, but loved her here, which for her is high praise.

[Chris Grieb]

Thanks for the recommendations.

I must add that a friend of mine told me that the first time he saw Julia Child on television he thought he watching a Monty Python sketch.

[BaalChatzaf]

Thanks for the recommendations.

I must add that a friend of mine told me that the first time he saw Julia Child on television he thought he watching a Monty Python sketch.

Dan Akyroyd did the SNL spoof on Julia. Julia cuts her thumb off and bleeds out on screen.

It was shown in the movie and I also saw it live when it happened many years ago. Very funny. There was something about Julia that just demanded spoofing. Bon Apetite.

I am convinced Meryl Streep can play anything and anybody. She is an acting genius.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Selene]

Thanks for the recommendations.

I must add that a friend of mine told me that the first time he saw Julia Child on television he thought he watching a Monty Python sketch.

Dan Akyroyd did the SNL spoof on Julia. Julia cuts her thumb off and bleeds out on screen.

It was shown in the movie and I also saw it live when it happened many years ago. Very funny. There was something about Julia that just demanded spoofing. Bon Apetite.

I am convinced Meryl Streep can play anything and anybody. She is an acting genius.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Ba'al, Ted and Chris:

I have also heard that this was going to be an excellent film. Agreed on Streep and the SNL skits were hilarious, especially because she would be getting progressively drunker with whatever alcohol she was adding to the recipe.

I never thought I would use this tidbit on Julia on OL, but...

• 
  Julia Child, Spy Chef

Associated Press

Julia Child <h1 id="article_capsule_headline">Julia Child’s Secret Ingredient Was Espionage</h1> August 14, 2008 01:55 PM by findingDulcinea Staff TV chef Julia Child was a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, according to the agency’s recently released official archives. <h2 class="section_title" id="dulcinea_section_title_0"> Julia Child, Spy Chef </h2> Julia Child freely declassified the secrets of French cooking for the American public, but a collection of documents show that she was privy to more confidential information than she let on. Before she became a domestic goddess, Child was stationed in China and Ceylon, working as a spy with the Office of Strategic Services, an organization begun by Franklin Roosevelt that was a precursor to the CIA. Child’s work in the OSS has not been a secret for years, but the National Archive has just made public 750,000 pages of documents that include the personal files of all its spies. Information is now available on other OSS employees who became famous in other jobs, including baseball player Moe Berg and historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Making OSS information public has been a slow process, and many of the organization’s employees were told never to speak of their spy work. Charles Pinck, president of the OSS Society, told the Chicago Tribune that documents reveal the organization to be significantly larger than he even he was aware; there were 24,000 employees, rather than the 13,000 previously suspected.

The OSS Society reports that the newly released documents, which contain files of notable employees, will be available on CD. The files include travel documents, applications, medical data and information about training and stationing. <h2 class="section_title" id="dulcinea_section_title_0"> Background: Repellent Recipes </h2> Long before she was famous for her kitchen concoctions, Child teamed up with male spies to create shark repellent for the OSS. She “literally cooked up a shark repellent,” Linda McCarthy, curator of an exhibit on female spies, told NPR. <h2 class="section_title" id="dulcinea_section_title_0"> Key Player: Julia Child </h2> Child studied cooking in France, and then made it a goal to present French cooking to Americans in a manageable manner. She published several cookbooks and a TV show; according to PBS, she taught Americans to “practice cooking as art, not to dread it as a chore.” <h2 class="section_title" id="dulcinea_section_title_0"> Reference Links: Spy and Kitchen Secrets Revealed </h2>

Sources in this Story

• Chicago Tribune: Julia Child, spy?
• Office of Strategic Services Society: National Archives to Open Official Personnel Files of the Office of Strategic Services
• NPR: The Lady Was a Spy
• PBS: Julia Child

As mentioned in the NPR story, the National Women’s History Museum hosted an exhibit in 2002 called Clandestine Women: The Untold Stories of Women in Espionage. It included profiles of women like Child who served their country and displayed some of the tools they had invented. Child received the Emblem of Meritorious Civilian Service for her spy work. <h4 class="resource_source">Source: National Women’s History Museum</h4>When I found out about this part of her life several years ago, it just made me love her more.

Adam

[kiaer.ts]

In the fifth grade we were assigned to write a short report/performance meant to have us speak before the class. I wrote a monty python type sketch of myself impersonating Julia Child.

I remember bringing a pot to school, I remember the accent, and I remember one line from the sketch, "You will pay obeisance to me!"

Should have known there was something a bit odd about me right then and there.