A documentary celebrates her life
Less than a week after Julia Child died in California, television viewers will have a chance to see her again in a one-hour WGBH documentary. It opens with some long-ago public television programs, her high-pitched warble salutes a chicken she is about to cut and her voice assures the viewer "If I can do it, you can do it -- and here's how to do it."
"Julia! America's Favorite Chef," part of the "American Masters" series, was slated to run in January, according to Lucy Sholley, WGBH media relations director, but will premiere tonight. Written and produced by Marilyn Mellowes, Mrs. Child's life, from her privileged childhood in Southern California to her career as America's most revered home cook, is told through photographs and interviews. Many photographs were taken by her husband, Paul Child, whom she met while working for the Office of Strategic Services in Asia during World War II.
As history, the stills are fascinating, but it's Mrs. Child's voice and her thoughts on her life -- along with her sense of humor and humility -- that are notable. After Pearl Harbor, the young Smith graduate was determined to help with the war effort. "I had nothing to offer except I could type." After the war, when she and Paul Child went to France, she fell in love with the food, entranced by a dish of sole, which was filleted at the table, and by briny oysters and duck roasted on a spit. She began cooking classes with former GIs in Paris and told an interviewer: "It's such fun. The more I cook, the more I love to cook."
Among the illuminating reminiscenses are those of her editor Judith Jones, who convinced Alfred A. Knopf to publish "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," and recalls him saying, "I'd eat my hat if that sells." Jones adds: "I do think he ate a lot of hats." The book sold over 1 million copies and changed Americans' attitude toward food.
Finally, the behind-the-scenes look at Mrs. Child's television career, which began as "The French Chef" on WGBH in 1963 and continued for many decades through several other series, is endearingly detailed. When Mrs. Child moved to California in 2001, her entire kitchen was transported to the Smithsonian Institution. The documentary notes that visitors walk through the exhibit and many stop at a monitor showing her television shows to watch entire episodes, until Mrs. Child gets to her characteristic sign-off of "Bon Appetit!"
As food historian Laura Shapiro comments: "Something amazing happened when Julia stood up and looked into the camera."
"Julia! America's Favorite Chef" will air Wednesday night at 8 on WGBH 2; the program will be repeated Thursday night at 7:30 on WGBH 44.
