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/servlet/ShowMainServlet/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
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/servlet/ShowMainServlet/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
