| Gregory Morrow |
I'm a big fan of that 1950 - 67 US game show classic _What's My Line_?
(shown on the cable Game Show Network nightly at 4:30AM - episodes shown
sequentially, currently they airing the October 1965 episodes..during the
week they are proceeded by the old b/w _Password_ series and on weekends by
the old b/w series _Beat The Clock_....).
I am especially fond of glamorous panelist Arlene Francis, who always
swished onto the set in drop - dead chic gowns and lent a very merry air to
the proceedings with her mischievous winks and knowing laughs. Erudite,
funny, and fashionable, she (and the show) was an example of what was best
about the "Golden Age" of television - something that is sadly lacking in
today's cruder and ruder times.
I discovered that she authored a 1961 cookbook, so I did a little digging
(the book is widely available for a few bucks on the various used book sites
such as www.alibris.com , etc.)
I googled "Arlene Francis Recipes" and got this hit from a site devoted to
50's cooking. There are several colour pics of Arlene here: (it's also a
decent "pop culture" site):
http://www.jetsetmodern.com/modernismsurlatable.htm
"There were also entirely new categories of food preservation, like
vacuum-packaged meats. With their introduction, cold cuts were no longer the
exclusive province of delis in major cities; the smallest backwater could
have pastrami, salami and frankfurters as fresh as anything found in New
York, if quite a bit blander. For a time, nearly every sort of meat product
was available vacuum-packed; the Standard Packaging Corporation was so
committed to the process, it issued a ghost-written promotional cookbook
"by" daytime television's most revered star, Arlene Francis. Called No Time
for Cooking, the volume was perfectly pitched to the era's housewives;
Francis was shown in her elegant New York apartment dishing up perfectly
styled food supposedly made in a jiffy, piling Dansk teakwood platters high
with cold cuts, and tuning bologna into party hors d'oeuvres. The inference
was clear: Milady could have it all - career, family, and a reputation as a
good cook and stylish hostess - if only she knew what products to buy and
how to use them."
Captions to two pictures:
"Long before there was Kelly Ripa, there was Arlene Francis, the most loved
and visible female TV celebrity on Fifties daytime television. In a
promotional shot, Francis is shown in her New York apartment offering
cocktail tidbits made of vacuum-packed meats and cheeses:.
"Arlene Francis again, this time piling a Danish teakwood platter high with
vacuum-packed cold cuts for consumption by her adolescent son, Peter Gabel,
and his friends. Now that's a mom!"
;-)
You can see discussion of Arlene and the whole _What's My Line?_ gang here
(there is also a *great* photo section - click on "Photos" in the left -
hand column). If you are a fan of the show, please join us and have some
fun!:
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/whatsmylineoncbs/
An extensive guide to _What's My Line?"_, including detailed episode guides
is here:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servle...et/showid-5501/
More on Arlene at her tribute site (she died in San Francisco of Alzheimer's
in 2001 at the age of 93, she is survived by her son Peter Gabel, who is an
editor at the Jewish learned journal _Tikkun_: www.tikkun.org ):
http://www.arlenefrancis.com/
"Now - LIVE from New York, let's play EVERYBODY'S favorite game: _What's My
Line?_!"
--
Best
Greg
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