Appetite For Life_ The Biography Of Julia Child Part 15

She told Simca that her boudin boudin recipe had too much fat in it. On the other hand, she rarely cut down on the number of eggs or amount of cream called for in a traditional recipe, though they were not afraid to improve on a traditional recipe. recipe had too much fat in it. On the other hand, she rarely cut down on the number of eggs or amount of cream called for in a traditional recipe, though they were not afraid to improve on a traditional recipe.

"Food is not static," French chef Jacques Pepin recently observed. "It shows a lack of intelligence to criticize someone who is changing a recipe. Food progresses like language progresses. When it becomes static, it dies. Food has to move forward. Escoffier would be the first one if he were alive today to make changes and learn. If he were alive today, he would be the first one to use the food processor." Indeed, Julia insisted that, when possible, they should use the new machines on the market. ("We have to keep up with new household inventions, Simca!") Some of the differences between the two major books of Julia's career are accounted for by the changes occurring in the decade of the 1960s. Indeed, even the mail between Julia and Simca took half the time to arrive. Xeroxing now saved much time. Wondra flour was invented, as were new machines such as the Cuisinart. Cake mixes were better and thus challenged them to make their cake recipes more outstanding. Even frozen and canned food improved, and Julia encouraged Simca to visit and learn about these changes, though Simca never did.

Most importantly, recipes were now more sophisticated and detailed, thanks in part to the influence of Julia and Simca. There were more and better-quality cooks. Many of the present recipe writers were Simca's former students in Paris. The world was growing smaller.

By 1970, Julia's letters revealed a subtle change in her estimation of the audience for this volume. She informed Simca that public food is on the whole worse (because of the lack of trained chefs and the cost of hand labor), but "home food, among those who cook and there is a growing number, is far better." (She contrasted these serious home cooks with "the a.s.semblers," as she called those who a.s.sembled frozen and canned foods.) These improved home cooks and the growing number of professional cooks who read Julia's books brought about a change in her perception of their audience, explaining the relatively increased difficulty of Volume II. "The chefs and men are interested in our book," she told Simca, and "it does very much interest the serious and intellectual types, of which there are a lot in this country."

An ironic change Julia noted during her frequent movement back and forth between the two countries was that France was becoming more like America every day, and not just in the increased number of its supermarkets. The French were using more canned milk, she pointed out to Simca, but we cannot do it because it is not traditionally French, "because that is very American and would shock those romantic people (which means most of the Americans) who still think French cooking is very special and that they do not use such canned things. Little do they know how the two countries are coming ever closer together." Perhaps this was a pivotal reason to preserve the cla.s.sic dishes of France.

By the summer and fall of 1969, months before she was finished with the book, Knopf was starting to print up three-chapter sections and Avis DeVoto was brought in for copy editing and proofreading; a three-part interview and prepublication of recipes was being prepared for McCall's McCall's magazine; and Ruth Lockwood was organizing a new series for magazine; and Ruth Lockwood was organizing a new series for The French Chef to The French Chef to be shot in color and to appear at the time of the publication of the book. The pace was hectic; the stress and testing added pounds. Julia and Paul were on a protein diet (Paul gave her five-pound dumbbells for her fifty-seventh birthday), and she and Ruth were half seriously talking about finding a plastic surgeon for a face lift. be shot in color and to appear at the time of the publication of the book. The pace was hectic; the stress and testing added pounds. Julia and Paul were on a protein diet (Paul gave her five-pound dumbbells for her fifty-seventh birthday), and she and Ruth were half seriously talking about finding a plastic surgeon for a face lift.

Though Julia believed the ma.n.u.script could easily take five more years, she had only five months. She and Judith cut the eleven chapters down to seven, leaving out enough recipes to fill another volume. Frustrated by the many months locked away with her typewriter, Julia was actually looking forward to her television teaching schedule. She took the minimum amount of time for two family weddings and a ceremony at Smith College, where she received one of five medals (three of the five alumnae were honored for their volunteer work).

Two crises saddened her private life and interrupted her work. The first was the sudden death in August 1969 of Brooks Beck, her friend and lawyer. He died of a pulmonary embolism after difficult hip surgery at the age of only fifty-one, leaving three children with his widow, Wendy. The second crisis occurred while she was racing for a deadline in February 1970 and her gynecologist informed her that there was a small ma.s.s on her right breast. This time she had only a biopsy, which showed the lump was benign. The news left them feeling released from "bondage" and Paul, with what he called his "capacity for self-torture," in "a state of nerve-wracked joy." Their friends Herb and Pat Pratt celebrated this, as well as the seventh birthday of The French Chef The French Chef with a bottle of Griotte-Chambertin '62. with a bottle of Griotte-Chambertin '62.

NO MORE COLLABORATION.

What became increasingly clear to Julia during the last two years of work was that she no longer wanted to write books and that she could no longer collaborate with Simca. Writing Volume II demanded she do nothing else but work on the book. It was "too confining." As early as August 1968 she told Simca that it was "too d.a.m.ned much work and no let-up at all. Fistre [fichtre Fistre [fichtre, meaning 'screw it']." By the following February she said, "I have no desire to get into another big book like Volume II for a long time to come, if ever. Too much work. I am anxious to get back into TV teaching, and out of this little room with the typewriter!" Nineteen months later, her resolve was even firmer.

The second reason was the growing intractability of Simca and an equally stubborn drive in Julia to make her own independent decisions. The contrast between Simca's temperament and that of Julia had always been there, but the more intense working conditions made their differences more acute. Julia was more than annoyed when Simca left to return to Paris to vote for Pompidou just when an important journalist flew in for a joint interview. But the sharpest criticism of Simca would be found in the letters of Paul, who implied that Simca was neurotic and undependable (as usual, Julia added a disclaimer in the margin of his letter). Julia's "exhaustive research goes for nothing," Paul wrote Charlie on June 21, 1969. "Simca will NOT listen to anything Julia says.... NO MORE COLLABORATION has become the watchword."

Though she would not allow open criticism of Simca to go unchallenged, she did confide in M. F. K. Fisher, sharing with her a French article she also sent to Simca. In the copy to Mary Frances, mailed on September 1, 1969, Julia highlighted the line "Every Frenchman is convinced he is a connoisseur who has nothing to learn from the experts." It had taken her fifteen years, she added, to learn this truth, which was "exactly what has been bugging me in my collaboration, and why I can't take any more of it. I don't know why I have been so dumb, but it is something one can hear, but not feel viscerally because how can anyone (but the French) have such arrogant nonsense as to live by that conception."

No evidence suggests that Julia tried to drop Simca from the team. Indeed, all the letters suggest that she kept her partner fully informed and asked her repeatedly for more research. "I think that the trouble with our collaboration is that the recipes do not come out as Simca, but as Julia-which is natural because I have to be le responsable le responsable. There is no reason at all why you should be wedded to me in English!" Julia insisted, sending her the names of editors at Gourmet Gourmet and at England's and at England's Wine & Food Wine & Food. She talked to Beard and others about publishing articles by Simca. "The more Julia tried to include her, the more Simca resented Julia's skyrocketing success," says Phila Cousins. Simca pulled away from her partner and concentrated on her cooking cla.s.s with small groups of devoted American students. In the end, it was to be the fame of the French Chef that drew their careers apart.

On the personal level, they remained sisters devoted to each other and presided, often together, at what many called the Bramafam/La Pitchoune culinary salon, even after Julia found out that Simca had never even tried Julia's French bread recipe.

AMONG THE FOODIES.

Although it was growing, the cookbook world at that time was still small. Small enough so that they all knew each other, as evidenced by Julia's comings and goings in the 1960s and early 1970s. Julia went back and forth to their cooking schools and celebratory dinners in New York. She attended a big foodie dinner hosted by Jose Wilson at her summer home in Rockport (only Pierre Franey, former chef at Le Pavillon, and Craig Claiborne could not make it). When James Beard and then Franey and Claiborne came up to the Beverly Music Circus to give cooking demonstrations, she was in the audience, keenly aware that none of them were trained performers. Each year there were more books and more cooking shows on television.

The rising stakes in the food world were first signaled by Claiborne's properly devastating review of Michael Field's book for Time-Life (readers should "mourn in the name of Georges Auguste Escoffier, Careme, Vatel, and Ali-Bab"). M. F. K. Fisher called the review, repeating a rumor, "a personal vendetta." (Claiborne, ironically, ended up doing the haute cuisine haute cuisine volume for the Time-Life series.) Field retorted in volume for the Time-Life series.) Field retorted in McCall's McCall's with an attack against Claiborne's favorite New York City restaurants. with an attack against Claiborne's favorite New York City restaurants.

The food world seemed to be ushering in the "ME decade" of the 1970s, with its mood rings and mood swings. The narcissism of the Manhattan food world echoed what food writer Robert Clark called the "gay camp culture: set pieces of b.i.t.c.hery, betrayal, and revenge dramatized by drag cliches [such as] Callas-like opera divas."

The flak the foodies were catching was from outside the tent. Lit by the Vietnam War and rioting, the food world looked mighty self-indulgent and trivial. The swelling egos and endors.e.m.e.nts brought out several blasts from writers. When a Nora Ephron article satirizing the "food establishment" appeared in New York New York magazine the previous September, Julia felt "fortunate to be living quietly in Cambridge rather than getting all involved with that to-do." Mary Frances told her the article was "delicious" and Ephron a "bright girl," then asked if she didn't think the caricature of Claiborne looked like Vice President Humphrey. magazine the previous September, Julia felt "fortunate to be living quietly in Cambridge rather than getting all involved with that to-do." Mary Frances told her the article was "delicious" and Ephron a "bright girl," then asked if she didn't think the caricature of Claiborne looked like Vice President Humphrey.

Julia was in Cambridge and Mary Frances in the Napa Valley, but they were indeed still a part of the food world. Julia was in deep with the Time-Life project, thoroughly enjoying wining and dining with editor-in-chief d.i.c.k Williams and his wife, Mary. She enjoyed their company, but did not need a job with Time-Life. More important, Julia's natural instincts still served her well: her immediate reaction was always to be frank and honest. She never developed a hard edge, like those whose "backgrounds geared them to compet.i.tiveness and Big Time urban living," as she put it. "In a world of megalomaniacs," says Russ Morash, "it is refreshing that Julia Child is always so self-critical." The self-criticism came, her neighbor Jean deSola Pool claimed, because "Julia has self-esteem and extraordinary intelligence." She is "a focused and centered lady," adds cooking colleague Lynne Rossetto Kasper, "one who knows who she is, her desired place in the world, and is fulfilled by it."

In 196869, a spate of articles exposed the close business connections among publishers, food writers, and the manufacturers of food and cooking equipment. Pointing out that there were twice as many cookbooks published in 1969 as in the year before, writers charged the food authors with a cynical approach to the intelligence of their audience. Too many recipes were untested, stolen from others, or taken verbatim from recipes developed by food manufacturers. There were no standards or certification procedures in this "profession."

"It's a world of self-generating hysteria," Nika Hazelton told Nora Ephron, whose article began with Time-Life's book-launching party being disrupted by Claiborne's review that morning. Ephron chronicled the sellouts: "French's mustard people turned to Beard. The can-opener people turned to Poppy Cannon. Pan American Airways turned to Myra Waldo. The Potato Council turned to Helen McCully...." Then she described the "mortal combat" between the home economists and writers concerned with the "needs of the average housewife" and the "purists or traditionalists" who tout primarily French haute cuisine haute cuisine, lumping Julia among the "Big Four" of this latter group. "Julia Child has managed thus far to remain above the internecine struggles of the food world" less because of her "charming personality" than because she lives in Cambridge. Ephron's last volley was against the food fakery and "the influence of color photography on food." It all made for delicious gossip.

Julia may have seen herself as a moderating factor among her bickering colleagues, because when Simca told her about French rivalries and backstabbing, Julia suggested she act the role of James Beard and bring the French cooks together. "All he has done in the USA is to bring food types together-that's what you might be able to do in Paris." Part of Beard's generosity flowed from his eagerness to recruit acolytes. A difference between James and Julia, said their mutual friend Clark Wolf, was that "Julia was more attracted to accomplished success, she likes more complete people, whereas James likes people unformed; James had proteges, Julia never did."

Julia clearly favored James Beard and Samuel and Narcissa (Bisquit) Chamberlain, the latter now retired in Marblehead (his Clementine in the Kitchen Clementine in the Kitchen was published first pseudonymously in 1943). She thoroughly enjoyed their company. Beard called himself the "biggest wh.o.r.e" in the food business, but Julia believed in his generosity. The names of Julia and Jim, who frequently cooked together in Julia's kitchen or onstage, were almost p.r.o.nounced together by their friends, sounding like "GiGi." "Julia is essentially a con-able woman," Paul told a reporter. "She's naive in the was published first pseudonymously in 1943). She thoroughly enjoyed their company. Beard called himself the "biggest wh.o.r.e" in the food business, but Julia believed in his generosity. The names of Julia and Jim, who frequently cooked together in Julia's kitchen or onstage, were almost p.r.o.nounced together by their friends, sounding like "GiGi." "Julia is essentially a con-able woman," Paul told a reporter. "She's naive in the nicest nicest possible way. She just can't believe people have bad motives, when it's a palpable fact." possible way. She just can't believe people have bad motives, when it's a palpable fact."

Dione Lucas, wracked by a double mastectomy and a collapsed lung, was fading slowly from her influential place in the cooking world. Stepping from the wings in 1969 was a young man from Australia named Graham Kerr, who called himself "The Galloping Gourmet." Ruth Lockwood told Julia to watch his noontime program, and her New York friends (including Beard and Field) telephoned to say they "hate it." Julia disliked both his cute and funny way of making semis.e.xual remarks and his apparent lack of seriousness about his cooking. They were horrified by his behavior and his cooking techniques, as he himself would be two decades later when, after burning himself out, he soberly transformed himself and his cooking. Unrefined though his first programs were, he had then what only Julia had, a warmth and rapport with the television audience.

Julia tried to keep out of the backbiting and b.i.t.c.hery that occasionally marred the cookbook scene, a world characterized by what Paul called "s.n.a.t.c.h-grabbing." Michael Field had taken Simca and Julia's recipes and reworded them for his Time-Life book on France, and Gourmet Gourmet pirated their garlic mashed potatoes. But when the subject came up in correspondence with Mary Frances, she said there was "no such thing as an original recipe," shrugging at the common practice of lifting from others' work. pirated their garlic mashed potatoes. But when the subject came up in correspondence with Mary Frances, she said there was "no such thing as an original recipe," shrugging at the common practice of lifting from others' work.

Though Karen and John Hess's food criticism was directed at most of the food world, including Julia, there was one voice that singled her out for particular vituperation: Madeleine Kamman, a French woman (married to an American) who had worked in her aunt's restaurant in France and studied briefly with Simca. Julia met Kamman during the busy final months of preparing her Mastering II Mastering II ma.n.u.script, but invited her into her home and was in turn invited to a dinner at the Kammans'. The Childs found her cooking "outstanding" and her intentions "ambitious," according to Paul. ma.n.u.script, but invited her into her home and was in turn invited to a dinner at the Kammans'. The Childs found her cooking "outstanding" and her intentions "ambitious," according to Paul.

Kamman opened a cooking school and then a restaurant nearby in Newton and published The Making of a Cook The Making of a Cook in 1971. One of her students wrote a signed letter telling Julia to beware: Kamman demanded her students destroy their copies of in 1971. One of her students wrote a signed letter telling Julia to beware: Kamman demanded her students destroy their copies of Mastering the Art of French Cooking Mastering the Art of French Cooking and not watch and not watch The French Chef The French Chef because it was not "authentic." (Yet Kamman's resume boasted of her L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes certificate.) "Mrs. Child was neither French nor a chef," she informed everyone who would listen. Mrs. Kamman's unhappiness and anger would alienate many beginning students, but she eventually did become a fine teacher of advanced cooks. Though she will no longer speak on the record about Julia Child, the quotes from her newspaper interviews and her letters to Julia tell the story. Kamman, the letters reveal, began by seeking out a relationship with Julia and then moved to condescending innuendo and veiled attacks, referring to Julia's surgeries and to her not being a mother. because it was not "authentic." (Yet Kamman's resume boasted of her L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes certificate.) "Mrs. Child was neither French nor a chef," she informed everyone who would listen. Mrs. Kamman's unhappiness and anger would alienate many beginning students, but she eventually did become a fine teacher of advanced cooks. Though she will no longer speak on the record about Julia Child, the quotes from her newspaper interviews and her letters to Julia tell the story. Kamman, the letters reveal, began by seeking out a relationship with Julia and then moved to condescending innuendo and veiled attacks, referring to Julia's surgeries and to her not being a mother.

One of Julia's letters to Simca, dated November 10, 1969, suggested the "feud" was a one-sided affair: Madeleine Kamman and her husband came to dinner several weeks ago.... She is, obviously, very ambitious, and someone said that she intended to push us off the map! How long did she have lessons with you? Well, good for her, is all I can say, and I hope she is as good as she thinks she is, as we do need more professionally trained people in the business.

A year later Julia wrote a letter asking the food editor of the Boston Globe Boston Globe to take favorable note of Kamman's cooking school. Julia's seeming aplomb in handling what would eventually become twenty years of personal antagonism on the part of Kamman, reveals an aspect of her character that Ithiel and Jean deSola Pool, her professorial neighbors, have best articulated: "Julia has a strong ego and knows who she is and likes herself," declares Mrs. deSola Pool. to take favorable note of Kamman's cooking school. Julia's seeming aplomb in handling what would eventually become twenty years of personal antagonism on the part of Kamman, reveals an aspect of her character that Ithiel and Jean deSola Pool, her professorial neighbors, have best articulated: "Julia has a strong ego and knows who she is and likes herself," declares Mrs. deSola Pool.

Julia only once gave away her hurt and anger, as well as her humor, when she answered a question from Harvard's Inst.i.tute for Learning in Retirement in 1985: "How do you feel about criticism?" After a reasoned discussion of the question and an example of the criticism of "one woman" in her life, whose "put-downs and belittlements ... I remember them all" had acc.u.mulated over the years, she adds, with a wink, that if the woman comes close, "I shall grab her by the short hairs (wearing gloves, of course), and I will grind her alive, piece by piece, in my food processor."

There was also little time to fret about the feuds while celebrating the many positive reinforcements, including new young cooks who needed encouragement and help. Indeed, for Julia the conviviality and warm friendships far outweighed the petty words and thievery. A greater challenge came with the rising food consciousness first triggered in 1962 by Rachel Carson's The Silent Spring The Silent Spring (warning about DDT and malathion), then by nutritionists Adelle Davis and Euell Gibbons, which led to the brown rice, bean sprouts, and tofu wave of healthy eating as well as to what Harvey Levenstein called (and so well doc.u.mented) "nutritional terrorism." (warning about DDT and malathion), then by nutritionists Adelle Davis and Euell Gibbons, which led to the brown rice, bean sprouts, and tofu wave of healthy eating as well as to what Harvey Levenstein called (and so well doc.u.mented) "nutritional terrorism."

Julia and Paul flew through a snowstorm to attend a dinner for 1,800 in New York honoring the French President in the Waldorf-Astoria's biggest ballroom. She left the final chapter of her ma.n.u.script (eight months before publication date) to attend this state dinner with Presidents Pompidou and Nixon. The bejeweled and beribboned sat at tables for twelve, filling balconies and boxes and corridors, with the decibel level wiping out every note the musicians offered. Julia sat at one of the two tables for people in the food world, a table sponsored by Foods From France, a French government organization that would help with the WGBH filming in France, scheduled for later in the year. Beard sat at their table, which held magnums of Meursault, Beaune, and champagne. Julia loved the social whirl and glamour, and Paul (despite being distressed by the presence of Nixon) thought his wife was "smashing" in an aou dai aou dai of Siamese silk, wine-dark, sea-blue pants with a long, flowing turquoise overshift-"made in Bangkok, though inspired in Vietnam." of Siamese silk, wine-dark, sea-blue pants with a long, flowing turquoise overshift-"made in Bangkok, though inspired in Vietnam."

Color and noise served as prelude to a new stage in her very public professional life.

Chapter 21.

RIDING THE S SECOND W WAVE.

(1970 1974) "We must come in with a bang and not go out with the Hoover."

RUTH LOCKWOOD.

AS EDUCATIONAL television executives watched the black-and-white demonstration tape on the monitors at WGBH, they saw the camera focus on the French tart Julia was preparing, then zoom in on the strawberries. Suddenly the picture burst into color: the strawberries were red! "Everyone stood up and applauded," remembers Ruth Lockwood. It was the first time they had seen color and the contrast between the strawberry and the white television executives watched the black-and-white demonstration tape on the monitors at WGBH, they saw the camera focus on the French tart Julia was preparing, then zoom in on the strawberries. Suddenly the picture burst into color: the strawberries were red! "Everyone stood up and applauded," remembers Ruth Lockwood. It was the first time they had seen color and the contrast between the strawberry and the white creme patissiere creme patissiere was breathtaking." Paul remarked, "Christ may be risen, but I am nearly flattened." was breathtaking." Paul remarked, "Christ may be risen, but I am nearly flattened."

Five years later, those hopes for a color television in every home and a French Chef in French Chef in living color were realized. Now the technology was available at WGBH (the 1965 demonstration had taken a dozen technicians from New York City to arrange) and Julia had completed the second living color were realized. Now the technology was available at WGBH (the 1965 demonstration had taken a dozen technicians from New York City to arrange) and Julia had completed the second Mastering Mastering volume. Next, on October 6, 1970, the New England press and media reporters were given a demonstration of the first program, on bouillabaisse, to air the next day. volume. Next, on October 6, 1970, the New England press and media reporters were given a demonstration of the first program, on bouillabaisse, to air the next day.

THE FRENCH CHEF IN COLOR IN COLOR.

In the spring of 1970, WGBH had began filming with a grant from Polaroid. Producer Ruth Lockwood had no trouble getting a large block of money from the company because The French Chef The French Chef, even after four years of black-and-white reruns, still had Nielsen ratings equal to its highest. The money covered filming both the typical demonstration programs as well as scenes taped in France. Three technicians in direction, filming, sound, and lighting, with handheld cameras, would accompany Julia and Paul on a film tour of France. The budget also included a makeup specialist, 35 millimeter movie footage and equipment, payment to Paul for still photography, and travel and hotels for the group in France. Even the theme music was to change, to what Paul called a "bouncing cancan" tune.

While Harvard students and townies rioted in Harvard Square against Nixon's Cambodian incursion, Julia and her crew filmed for several days in early spring in the markets of Boston's North End in order to work out the color implications and teamwork. After a full dress rehearsal (a "walkthrough" with real food), the team filmed two programs a week for three weeks in the studio. Finally technicians spliced scene footage into the demos: Julia's buying capers and garlic at the North End street market was edited into the nicoise salad show. By the end of April, Julia and Paul were in France awaiting the arrival of the crew and correcting the proofs for her Mastering II Mastering II.

The French Chef and her crew filmed olive pressing in Opio (near Plasca.s.sier), the fish market in Ma.r.s.eilles (eighteen years after her posting there), baking fish at Les Oliviers (outside St.-Paul-de-Vence), cheese at Chez Androuet in Paris, kitchen equipment at Dehillerin, the preparation of frog's legs at Prunier's, and duck pressing in Rouen (they shot between midnight and 5 A.M A.M. at La Couronne, where Julia had eaten her first French meal in 1948). On a hot day, in a tiny bas.e.m.e.nt in the rue du Cherche-Midi in Paris, they filmed Lionel Poilane making bread. Calvel, who had taught Julia the final secrets of bread making, was also filmed in his school. Julia stressed in several letters to friends that they were collecting historical, rare footage of artisa.n.a.l skills rapidly disappearing in France. They also filmed a modern French supermarket, thanks to Jacques Delecluse, husband of Paul's former emba.s.sy a.s.sistant.

Back in Boston, they spent July editing and preparing voice-overs, and September and November filming new programs (including two on breads). In a studio of her own for the first time, at 125 Western Avenue, Julia and the French Chef French Chef crew filmed twice a week, each day preceded by a rehearsal day. The stakes were higher than during those first years when the black-and-white film had to be kept running. Now 134 stations nationwide would carry the show. As Ruth Lockwood frequently said: "We must come in with a bang and not go out with the Hoover." crew filmed twice a week, each day preceded by a rehearsal day. The stakes were higher than during those first years when the black-and-white film had to be kept running. Now 134 stations nationwide would carry the show. As Ruth Lockwood frequently said: "We must come in with a bang and not go out with the Hoover."

Julia was excited about the new series. Because she had not filmed during the four years she spent completing the book, she forgot (in her eagerness to get out of her isolated writing closet) how grueling and all-consuming filming was. It ate up twelve to sixteen hours in a day, especially when bread rose too fast or chocolate melted under the sixty-five floodlights. The procedure, in Ruth Lockwood's words, was now "very sophisticated." It was "a Persian Circus," said Russ Morash, no longer on the series. "The committee got larger and larger."

The thirty-five-person Boston crew included eight volunteer "a.s.sociate cooks" (Julia honored people by giving them t.i.tles) who both watched the monitors for proper cooking angles and washed dishes. Paul took rolls of black-and-white photographs for newspaper publicity. The days she was not filming, Julia was writing, buying food, testing and preparing food, or rehearsing (to say nothing of the inevitable press interviews and her own correspondence). She and Paul chose this concentrated, exhausting film schedule to allow themselves blocks of time during the next two years to live in France. She prepared thirty-nine programs so she could have a regular slot on any station's season program.

Jan Dietrichson sat in the audience "hypnotized-like a rabbit under the gaze of a cobra," according to Paul. Dietrichson, their dear friend from the University of Oslo, was spending the winter semester at Harvard and staying in the Childs' house. He was amazed by the daily crisis and chaos of shooting. Laughter was Julia's release, and Paul remained her "balancing wheel," noted Dietrichson.

The first week of October, WGBH used Julia's French Chef French Chef set to host eighty press and media reporters from the area reached by WGBH. They were fed a catered lunch of recipes from set to host eighty press and media reporters from the area reached by WGBH. They were fed a catered lunch of recipes from Mastering II Mastering II, then previewed the first show, "Bouillabaisse a la Ma.r.s.eillaise." The Boston Globe Boston Globe reporter called the "l.u.s.ty, peasant concoction" a fitting debut for Julia. reporter called the "l.u.s.ty, peasant concoction" a fitting debut for Julia.

LAUNCHING MASTERING II MASTERING II.

Almost the same week that radicals bombed the MIT offices of their next-door neighbor, Ithiel deSola Pool, Julia's new book and new series appeared. The political turmoil almost encircled them as they launched this second wave of her culinary career. Mastering the Art of French Cooking II Mastering the Art of French Cooking II was published by Knopf on October 22, 1970, nine years after the release of the first volume. It had a first printing of 100,000 copies (matching the advance). was published by Knopf on October 22, 1970, nine years after the release of the first volume. It had a first printing of 100,000 copies (matching the advance).

Twelve days after the official publication date, the new series of her weekly French Chef French Chef began on PBS with "Bouillabaisse" on October 8 and "Napoleon's Chicken" on the twelfth. The cooking series launched the book. According to Julia's introduction, the second volume was a "continuation" of the first and would "bring the reader to a higher level of master[y]" and "add to the repertoire." Its princ.i.p.al feature was French bread: "the first authentic, successful recipe ever devised for making real French bread-the long, crunchy, yeasty, golden loaf that is like no other bread in texture and flavor-with American all-purpose flour, in an American home oven." She gave proper credit to Professor Calvel as well as to Paul, who added a large tile of asbestos cement, pan of water, and red-hot brick to the oven-baking process. According to letters to Julia, many people (at least half of them men) took the nineteen-page recipe (with its thirty-four drawings) through to its conclusion. began on PBS with "Bouillabaisse" on October 8 and "Napoleon's Chicken" on the twelfth. The cooking series launched the book. According to Julia's introduction, the second volume was a "continuation" of the first and would "bring the reader to a higher level of master[y]" and "add to the repertoire." Its princ.i.p.al feature was French bread: "the first authentic, successful recipe ever devised for making real French bread-the long, crunchy, yeasty, golden loaf that is like no other bread in texture and flavor-with American all-purpose flour, in an American home oven." She gave proper credit to Professor Calvel as well as to Paul, who added a large tile of asbestos cement, pan of water, and red-hot brick to the oven-baking process. According to letters to Julia, many people (at least half of them men) took the nineteen-page recipe (with its thirty-four drawings) through to its conclusion.

The book was dedicated to Alfred Knopf and included in its 555 pages were seven sections: soup (much enlarged), baking, meats, chicken, charcuterie (new), vegetables, and desserts. She identified her culinary context as la cuisine bourgeoise la cuisine bourgeoise ("meaning expert French home-style cooking"). Certainly the charcuterie may have been French, but no French home cook made bread every day or flamed baked Alaska. The recipes in the vegetable chapter, for example, were both traditional ("meaning expert French home-style cooking"). Certainly the charcuterie may have been French, but no French home cook made bread every day or flamed baked Alaska. The recipes in the vegetable chapter, for example, were both traditional (pommes Anna) (pommes Anna) and original. Her audience, as suggested by the wording of her introduction ("part of your training," "stepping out of the kindergarten," "start you off in a whirl of success") and the detail of her recipes, was the relative amateur; but the difficulty of many of the recipes, including the one for bread, a.s.sumed a more sophisticated or advanced cook. and original. Her audience, as suggested by the wording of her introduction ("part of your training," "stepping out of the kindergarten," "start you off in a whirl of success") and the detail of her recipes, was the relative amateur; but the difficulty of many of the recipes, including the one for bread, a.s.sumed a more sophisticated or advanced cook.

The number and quality of the ill.u.s.trations also enhanced this volume. They included thirty-eight pages on the modern equipment made available since the first volume had appeared. Admitting to a "rather holy and Victorian feeling about the virtues of sweat and elbow grease" in their first volume, which "reflects France in the 1950's," they now "step into contemporary life" and "[take] full advantage of modern mechanical aids." Only in the second edition, more than a decade later, were they to add the food processor for dough making. These ill.u.s.trations, and a wealth of drawings on the recipes (twelve drawings for pate en croute) pate en croute), were carefully integrated with the text. The most respected American cookbooks thereafter would be influenced by these 458 careful ill.u.s.trations.

On September 27, 1970, in the Crystal Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel, PBS helped Knopf launch the volume, with Hartford Gunn, the president of PBS, as host. Two days later a press conference was held in the Royal Ballroom of the Americana Hotel, and on October 22, the official date of publication, the Ford Foundation (one of PBS's sponsors) gave a party in its garden for Julia and Simca. The party naturally focused primarily on Julia, much to Julia's distress; Paul a.s.sured her that this was inevitable because Mr. Ford "never heard of Mrs. Beck." Such fanfare signaled the distance Julia had traveled since the first collaborative book when their own feeble promotion was all they had.

Gael Greene in Life Life magazine said that in her set of highly compet.i.tive New York City foodies, everyone was testing Julia's bread. Noting as well the three-page bisque recipe and the thirty-eight pages of basic accessories for the kitchen cook, she added that if "Volume I was mud-pie stuff," Volume II "is no longer Child's play." Greene's nod to the bisque recipe was confirmed by Mimi Sheraton, in whose copy the pages on shrimp bisque were still stuck together with food stains some twenty-five years later. magazine said that in her set of highly compet.i.tive New York City foodies, everyone was testing Julia's bread. Noting as well the three-page bisque recipe and the thirty-eight pages of basic accessories for the kitchen cook, she added that if "Volume I was mud-pie stuff," Volume II "is no longer Child's play." Greene's nod to the bisque recipe was confirmed by Mimi Sheraton, in whose copy the pages on shrimp bisque were still stuck together with food stains some twenty-five years later.

There were two negative responses to the book. In the New York Times New York Times, Nika Hazelton said the volume was "heralded like the second coming," praised the "elegance and accuracy" of the book, then snipped about its excessive detail, saying an ideal reader needed to have the kind of mind "that people [do] who learn to drive a car by having the workings of the internal combustion engine explained to them in full detail." She suggested rewriting a recipe before using it. For example, the three-page roast suckling pig in The French Chef Cookbook The French Chef Cookbook had swollen to five and a half pages in this new book. A second criticism came later, when Karen Hess said that Mrs. Child included too many dishes had swollen to five and a half pages in this new book. A second criticism came later, when Karen Hess said that Mrs. Child included too many dishes en croute en croute. Indeed, the French Chef's French Chef's "Operation Chicken" recipe became transformed into "Operation Chicken" recipe became transformed into poularde en croute poularde en croute, and joined filet de boeuf en croute, gigot farci en croute filet de boeuf en croute, gigot farci en croute, and jambon farci en croute jambon farci en croute. Not surprising, considering how many years they had been caught up in making bread, brioches, puff pastry, and the like.

In 1970 the level of cookbook criticism was still amateurish and the food world small enough so that few were qualified to a.n.a.lyze new books with any depth or candor. Julia's stature loomed large in this world: at fifty-eight, she was a beloved television personality with her first volume already a cla.s.sic, its techniques and recipes "adopted" in numerous magazines and cookbooks. An exception to the amateur's level of reviewing was Sokolov's review in Newsweek Newsweek, which declared it a "daunting book. It leaves Volume I behind in a shower of spun sugar and makes that honorable world of the trout mousse and ca.s.soulet seem in retrospect as naive as Spam.... It is hard to conceive of a cookbook to follow this one. It is without rival, the finest gourmet cookbook for the non-chef in the history of American stomachs."

For her French bread recipe, Julia was honored by the Confrerie de Ceres in France. Public response was vigorous and sustained. Julia was delighted by the number of men who were cooking. When readers complained about a problem that was clearly of their own making, Julia was privately critical; when their difficulties were based on her own error or lack of clarity, she wrote back in detail and took steps to make minor changes. She answered all questions. As with the voluminous television mail, she created form letters for common queries concerning her published work.

Knopf's promotion was better planned than any promotion to date. The media blitz began a year before the publication: Vogue did a June 1969 feature on Julia's Provencal kitchen did a June 1969 feature on Julia's Provencal kitchen (Esquire (Esquire would later do a full inventory of her Cambridge kitchen); would later do a full inventory of her Cambridge kitchen); House Beautiful House Beautiful presented the kitchens of five "master chefs," including Julia (first), Beard, Lucas, Field, and Claiborne. Just before publication, she was on the cover of presented the kitchens of five "master chefs," including Julia (first), Beard, Lucas, Field, and Claiborne. Just before publication, she was on the cover of Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly. The most effective stroke was McCall's McCall's cover and three-part profile of Julia and the "Making of a Masterpiece" (October, November, and December 1970). During the filming in La Pitchoune, Simca was awkward and stiff before the camera, and cover and three-part profile of Julia and the "Making of a Masterpiece" (October, November, and December 1970). During the filming in La Pitchoune, Simca was awkward and stiff before the camera, and McCall's McCall's slighted Simca (which angered Julia and hurt Simca). The slighted Simca (which angered Julia and hurt Simca). The New York Times New York Times made amends with a profile. made amends with a profile.

Knopf gave them a real author's tour, despite the insistence of WGBH that she stay home and continue her taping. With Jane Friedman, then a twenty-two-year-old Knopf publicist (who later became a vice president), Julia, Simca, and Paul traveled to Minneapolis, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and Boston. "We had a ball," says Friedman, who booked them into hotel suites for entertaining the press: There was not then such a thing as an "author's tour," but I figured that with the keen interest of local public television stations and the book departments of department stores (such as Marshall Field in Chicago) ... we could have a good tour. We flew into a city, did all the media, and had a big party co-sponsored by the public television station and the department store that was sponsoring the demonstration the next day (and always always took out a full-page ad). In Minneapolis I saw nearly a thousand people on the street at 7 A.M. waiting to go into Dayton's department store for the demonstration in Sky's Restaurant to make mayonnaise (that is all Julia did!) and then she would sign books. took out a full-page ad). In Minneapolis I saw nearly a thousand people on the street at 7 A.M. waiting to go into Dayton's department store for the demonstration in Sky's Restaurant to make mayonnaise (that is all Julia did!) and then she would sign books.

At the second stop, at Halle's department store in Cleveland, she dropped an egg in a blender with the lid off and the chocolate mousse mixture shot a splat on her face. "Now you see why I always have a towel stuck in my ap.r.o.n!" But the funniest moment, according to two attendees, was her disapproval of the pots and pans arranged behind her. "How wonderful of Halle's to put these up here so I can tell you Never, Never, buy a pot this thin," she said, flinging one after the other over her shoulder onto the stage behind her. "All of us chuckled," said a man in attendance, "thinking about how the poor Halle's buyer must be twisting in agony at the review of his/her choices." The Bunsen burner representative singed her eyebrows and beehive hairdo at another stop. These stories became legend.

They appeared on the Today Today show (Simca took an immediate dislike to Barbara Walters), were given a luncheon by the editor of show (Simca took an immediate dislike to Barbara Walters), were given a luncheon by the editor of McCall's McCall's, Shana Alexander (a "lovely creature," thought Paul), and Julia was interviewed by David Frost. Simca continued touring while Julia resumed taping the television series so they could get back to France for Christmas. By November 1, her butcher, Jack Savenor, and George Berkowitz of Legal Sea Foods, her fish dealer, displayed the volume for sale on their counters. Their loyalty through the decades was reciprocated by Julia. When Savenor was caught in a scandal about possibly short-weighing his customers the following year, Julia remained fiercely loyal, blinded (according to Paul) by his charm. When asked, she informed a reporter she disbelieved the charges.

PROVENCE, JAMES BEARD,.

AND RICHARD OLNEY.

The plane from Paris to Nice, flying over the Rhone River, descended from the mountains and canyons of coastal Provence, banking left over the Mediterranean and gliding low along the rocky coast, past Cannes, St.-Tropez, and Cap d'Antibes. Lower and lower it moved over the water, until finally, and to the relief of Paul, sand appeared beneath them and the plane touched down at the Nice-Cote d'Azur airport at water's edge. Julia was always exhilarated by the flight and by the sun and palm trees. For Paul it was deliverance mixed with some pride in his having overcome his fear of flying. When they were not rushed, they took the train from Paris or drove a rented car on a slow gastronomic journey south. Marc Meneau, before he earned any of his three Michelin stars at L'Esperance in Vezelay, remembers Julia stopping to taste and encourage his cooking.

With thirty-nine programs in the can and the book launched for the Christmas 1970 season, Julia and Paul, nearly caramelized from exhaustion, had only five weeks in France. The pattern of their busy lives was ill.u.s.trated in the activities of the coming months. They returned to Cambridge before February to tape thirteen more programs and to begin renovation on Julia's office, the guest room, and the bathrooms as well as to install a new security system (by 1973 crime in Cambridge increased by 38 percent). On May 5, the morning after she narrated Tubby the Tuba at the Boston Symphony, the Childs left for three months in France, during which they took a tour of Norway with the Pratts. By August they were back in Cambridge to film twenty-six more programs, then back to France with plans for another book based on this color series. The book would use the television recipes, which she now typed out before before each show and mailed to the newspapers. They rarely missed a Christmas at La Pitchoune until 1973, when Julia began writing monthly recipes for a magazine and finishing a new book. each show and mailed to the newspapers. They rarely missed a Christmas at La Pitchoune until 1973, when Julia began writing monthly recipes for a magazine and finishing a new book.

At La Pitchoune, they sipped Chinese tea in the morning on the olive terrace (the mulberry terrace at the side of the house was for shaded afternoon c.o.c.ktails or barbecues). Under the mulberry tree, Julia drank "reverse [or Ivan] martinis," dry vermouth flavored with lemon and a dash of gin. They looked out to the Esterel Mountains and on a clear day to the distant sea, listening to the sounds of frogs and nightingales. Only at night would the quiet be occasionally disrupted by the noise of rock music and motorcycles as local youth gathered at the "ranch" down the hill. Julia and Paul were rather more disturbed by the building boom in the region, which threatened to turn the Riviera into a French Miami Beach. Even Simca and Jean were now building another house just below them, to be called La Campanette, perhaps antic.i.p.ating (sister-in-law) France (Fischbacher) Thibault's desire to reclaim the old house, which Simca named Le Mas Vieux.

Upon arriving at La Pitchoune, Julia's first efforts were always to warm the house, restock the kitchen with produce from the market and household products from the Casino supermarche supermarche. She wanted some frozen puff pastry in the freezer for an ever-growing number of visitors. Initially, there were quiet days for reading newspapers and magazines and keeping up with what Paul called their "weekly dose of Watergate medicine," which left him with a bad taste in his mouth but feeling good. Avis's witty reports-especially by 1974 when "Nixon [was] melting like a Popsicle in the sun"-kept them amused. Paul's rantings against Nixon, he admitted, reminded him of Julia's late father's ranting about the liberals. They also read contemporary biographies, such as Nancy Milford's Zelda Zelda and Eric F. Goldman's and Eric F. Goldman's The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson.

Julia always had her eye out for her own or a neighboring cat who would come for a daily feeding and eventually stay. As Paul told his brother: "A cat-any cat-is necessary to Julia's life." When she was in Cambridge, she kept in touch with Simca concerning the lives of all the cats and dogs of the compound. Indeed, as late as the mid-1990s, the Thibault family was still caring for one of "Julia's cats." cat-is necessary to Julia's life." When she was in Cambridge, she kept in touch with Simca concerning the lives of all the cats and dogs of the compound. Indeed, as late as the mid-1990s, the Thibault family was still caring for one of "Julia's cats."

In Plasca.s.sier she was "Madame Shield," the tall American who smiled and chatted with each shopkeeper and market seller, especially with the wine merchant in Gra.s.se whose son ran Le Cygne, one of the Childs' favorite New York City restaurants. When they went to Gra.s.se to shop, they carried a large Styrofoam box with plastic bags of ice cubes to keep their market produce from wilting while they enjoyed lunch at Restaurant des Oliviers.

Because Boston in 1971 was "still a gastronomical wasteland when it comes to restaurants," Julia and Paul loved the great simple country restaurants of Provence with their garlicky odors emanating from kitchens and their sunny terraces shaded by heavy grape arbors. Julia detailed the restaurant food in letters to Beard and Fisher. Paul's letters described Julia's cooking. During their summers in Provence, Paul depicted the olive and jasmine world for Charlie, who was describing for Paul his spruce and granite Maine.

Paul painted in the small cabanon cabanon across the driveway while Julia cooked, tested, and wrote programs for future taping, composed her monthly recipes for across the driveway while Julia cooked, tested, and wrote programs for future taping, composed her monthly recipes for McCall's McCall's, which would eventually const.i.tute her second French Chef French Chef cookbook in 1974. She was moving far beyond the recipes of Simca to her own creations. When Simca and Jean came down from Paris, they shared meals and recipes with each other. One day Julia served them her new creation, named after a recent and scandalous film cookbook in 1974. She was moving far beyond the recipes of Simca to her own creations. When Simca and Jean came down from Paris, they shared meals and recipes with each other. One day Julia served them her new creation, named after a recent and scandalous film (La Grande Bouffe) (La Grande Bouffe) shown at Cannes, shown at Cannes, La Grande Bouffe aux ecailles et au chocolat La Grande Bouffe aux ecailles et au chocolat (the scales were sliced almonds covering the outside). Julia read and made a few corrections on the ma.n.u.script of (the scales were sliced almonds covering the outside). Julia read and made a few corrections on the ma.n.u.script of Simca's Cuisine Simca's Cuisine, the first American book by Simca herself, and one that Knopf would publish in 1972. Julia and Judith had talked Simca into doing the book, though the woman who worked on translating the ma.n.u.script into English had difficulty working with the irascible author.

Julia was occasionally caught between Paul's continued dislike of Simca and her own devotion to her colleague, whom she got along with much better now that they were "just friends" and not collaborators. She agreed with Paul that Simca was stubborn, opinionated, proud, and an "eccentric whirlwind," but Julia was still faithful. Paul had little in common with Simca, who he thought had a voice that could "be heard in Montevideo" and an interest level focusing solely on clothes, gossip, manners, and bridge. And he was not crazy about the "feeble fops" who crowded her parties.

The guests they most enjoyed were Sybille Bedford (now working on the second volume of her biography of Aldous Huxley), her companion Eda Lord, and Jim Beard. These three friends were gay, but Paul, who used the term often, would never have called them "fairies," a distinction based on cla.s.s as well as the absence of precious behavior. When Beard visited, he and Julia spent all day in the kitchen together, though they also enjoyed testing the best restaurants in the area. Their mutual friend Peter k.u.mp believed Beard and Child shared an upbeat att.i.tude toward life and a joy of cooking. When they prepared a meal together, Paul called it la cuisine de l'enfant barbu la cuisine de l'enfant barbu (bearded child). (bearded child).

After Simca, Julia probably most enjoyed cooking with Beard. Her letters to him are full of food talk and gossip, news of restaurant meals and new inventions. She kept him informed about France, he kept her up on the New York gossip. ("He loved the skullduggery and the b.i.t.c.hiness in the food world," Barbara Kafka told me recently, "and he was not a bit player himself.") When Julia learned in France from a student of Gaston Lenotre the secret of using a blowtorch to brown creme brulee and other dishes, she immediately wrote to tell James about it (and to say she was buying one). Always fascinated with gadgets, she would use the blowtorch to brown food and unmold aspic at La Pitchoune, where she had no broiler.

When Beard came to visit, they drove him to visit Richard Olney, an American cook and painter now settled permanently against a rocky hill in Sollies-Toucas, just east of Toulon on the coast. Olney and his brother James, a professor of English, dined at La Pitchoune on several occasions. Though Julia considered Olney creative and eccentric, she thought that he should do more to build a career. She wrote to Mary Frances that she could not find his books in bookstores in the United States because "he won't do anything to make himself known."

Olney was an instinctive cook who eschewed rules and formal education in cooking. He published recipes in Cuisine et Vins de France Cuisine et Vins de France in the 1960s and published in the 1960s and published The French Menu The French Menu in 1970, which is when Julia went to meet him. (When his masterpiece, in 1970, which is when Julia went to meet him. (When his masterpiece, Simple French Food Simple French Food, was published in late 1974, he stayed with the Childs in Cambridge and she reported to Simca and Mary Frances that she liked the book-"it is entirely honest, entirely Richard"-that his reviews were marvelous, and that "he is a natural on TV.") He also demonstrated cooking at Luberon College in Avignon. One summer Madeleine Kamman, visiting from her cooking school in Newton, Ma.s.sachusetts, came to Olney's cla.s.s and was overheard saying of Julia that she was "going to Boston to teach that bag to cook."

The professional tension-one need not call it a battle, except perhaps in Kamman's mind-between her and Julia escalated in the 1970s, as their correspondence in the Schlesinger Library attests. Kamman told one newspaper she had "learned nothing" from the Cordon Bleu or L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes (with Simca, who had refused to write an introduction to her first book) and indeed it was she (Kamman) who "taught them something!" Yet her publicity continued to list among her credits the school created by Child, Beck, and Bertolle. At first Julia did nothing, then wrote to ask the publisher never to mention her name in publicity about Kamman (they stopped). Then Julia repeated to a reporter the rumor that Kamman dominated Olney's cla.s.s, perhaps an impression she received from Olney himself, who had become very nervous when he discovered Kamman in his cla.s.s. The following year (1974), when an article in the Washington Post Washington Post claimed Kamman was an "enemy" of Simca and Julia, Kamman wrote a letter accusing Julia of gratuitously twisting the facts to harm another woman and claiming that she had been helping Olney by offering to teach a beginning cla.s.s in Avignon so he could teach the advanced cla.s.s. She also reprimanded Julia for saying that men are better cooks than women and accused her of making the Kamman family suffer. Julia did not respond, nor did she publicly talk anymore about the issue. She simply sent copies of all of Kamman's letters through the years to her lawyers. claimed Kamman was an "enemy" of Simca and Julia, Kamman wrote a letter accusing Julia of gratuitously twisting the facts to harm another woman and claiming that she had been helping Olney by offering to teach a beginning cla.s.s in Avignon so he could teach the advanced cla.s.s. She also reprimanded Julia for saying that men are better cooks than women and accused her of making the Kamman family suffer. Julia did not respond, nor did she publicly talk anymore about the issue. She simply sent copies of all of Kamman's letters through the years to her lawyers.

Julia lent La Pitchoune to family, including Dorothy and Ivan Cousins and their family, and she rented to friends from the OSS and their diplomatic world, including Janou and Charles Walcutt. Others in the food world, such as Gael Greene and Peter k.u.mp, visited or rented La Pitchoune. k.u.mp, a native of California and student of Simca, who remembers the Childs attending Simca's weekly c.o.c.ktail parties, would open a professional cooking school in New York City under his own name in 1974. k.u.mp in 1994 told me that four people changed American cooking: "Beard, Henri Soule [Le Pavillon], and Claiborne created this big bonfire and Julia came along with the match."

The Walcutts, in turn, lent Julia and Paul their Paris apartment for April 1972. At 81, rue de Longchamps, in Neuilly, Julia lived again in her beloved Paris and tested restaurants, including Drouant, Chez Les Anges, Prunier-Duphot, Chez Garin, La Truite, and Tour d'Argent. She wrote detailed reports of her dining to Beard and to Waverley Root (The Food of France (The Food of France, 1958), whom she invited to dinner so they could meet. He had stayed two nights at La Pitchoune when Michael Field was renting it and wrote to inform Julia that he "admired" her kitchen. But he was suffering from a slipped disk and their meeting did not occur until February 1973.

Her month in Paris studying restaurant cooking coincided with the emergence of what Henry Gault and Christian Millau (in their Nouveau Guide) Nouveau Guide) would later call "nouvelle cuisine," a term first used in 1742 but which now referred to a group of young chef-entrepreneurs who owned their own restaurants and valued originality, simplicity, and lighter sauces. Paul Bocuse, the Troisgros brothers, Michel Guerard, Alain Chapel, and Roger Verge were the stars, and all of them were influenced by Fernand Point (as well as by Andre Pic and Alexandre Dumaine). Nouvelle cuisine was characterized by the aesthetic presentation of the dish, or, as Julia quipped about American nouvelle cuisine (in a phrase that would be repeated for twenty years), "the food is so beautifully arranged on the plate-you know someone's fingers have been all over it." would later call "nouvelle cuisine," a term first used in 1742 but which now referred to a group of young chef-entrepreneurs who owned their own restaurants and valued originality, simplicity, and lighter sauces. Paul Bocuse, the Troisgros brothers, Michel Guerard, Alain Chapel, and Roger Verge were the stars, and all of them were influenced by Fernand Point (as well as by Andre Pic and Alexandre Dumaine). Nouvelle cuisine was characterized by the aesthetic presentation of the dish, or, as Julia quipped about American nouvelle cuisine (in a phrase that would be repeated for twenty years), "the food is so beautifully arranged on the plate-you know someone's fingers have been all over it."

Julia described for James Beard their collapse at La Pitchoune with post-work fatigue and colds, followed by a revival of holiday celebration. Olney came for Christmas dinner. On New Year's Eve the Childs and Kublers dined with chef Roger Verge at Le Moulin de Mougins, then joined a crowded party at Simca's home. Paul detested Simca's parties and described this one in detail to Charlie-the blaring television and record player turned to high, the crowd of giggling people, the forced conviviality. An artificial note in their harmonious natural world. He also described their reluctance to leave Provence: "I walk around, look at the olive trees, smell the lavender, bend my ear to the nightingales, taste the dorade, the loup, the pastis, but in a few days, after the tidal wave of Boston-Cambridge has rolled over me, these living vital impressions will be glimmering, evanescent, dream-like, vanishing."

They returned from Europe after each visit with written programs ready for the intense filming schedule of more French Chef French Chef programs in color. For a few months it appeared they would not be able to continue the series when Polaroid, a.s.suming another company would pick up programs in color. For a few months it appeared they would not be able to continue the series when Polaroid, a.s.suming another company would pick up The French Chef The French Chef moved on to support another program. They had been underwriting her program since 1965. No company stepped in to a.s.sume sponsorship, undoubtedly because PBS did not allow commercials. When news got out, the public response inundated Polaroid, who quickly resumed their $80,000 grants. moved on to support another program. They had been underwriting her program since 1965. No company stepped in to a.s.sume sponsorship, undoubtedly because PBS did not allow commercials. When news got out, the public response inundated Polaroid, who quickly resumed their $80,000 grants.

Julia was both happy to be renewed and reluctant to continue the demanding work of filming. When she received a letter from Madeleine Kamman about rumors of her retirement, she hastened to inform her she intended never to retire. The French Chef The French Chef which now featured themes such as "Open House" and "Sudden Company," moved to 9 which now featured themes such as "Open House" and "Sudden Company," moved to 9 P.M P.M. on Sundays, with a rebroadcast at 5 P.M P.M. the following Sat.u.r.day. Because the letters and press inquiries never let up, Avis DeVoto was hired to write Julia-replies to letters that came into WGBH.

The tapings continued despite various anniversaries, including their silver wedding anniversary on September 1, 1971, and Paul's seventieth birthday the following January. They had to wait to celebrate the birthday of Paul and Charlie until August 1972, when the Child family also celebrated Julia's sixtieth birthday in Maine. She would later tell The New Yorker The New Yorker, "One of the good things about getting to be sixty is that you make up your mind not to drink any more rotgut wine." For her birthday, Paul penned another poem to his "birthday queen" and to the "Recognition that the years don't count" because her "leaves are e