Fun
Julia Child and David Letterman
Dear Ann,
Last Monday, Clara Parkes’s Daily Respite email sent us all off to watch Julia Child rescuing a potato pancake fail, scraping it off the counter and issuing her famous dictum: “When you’re alone in the kitchen, who is going to see?”
It being a Monday, I felt like I could benefit from more than one minute and forty seconds of Julia Child. The next stop on my YouTube queue was a 90-minute gift to the universe from Don Giller, “Julia Child Collection on Letterman, 1982-1994.”
And yes, I sat there for 90 minutes, on a Monday morning with stacks of work to do, knitting on my Trellis Top and laughing and laughing at Julia Child and David Letterman being perfect with each other. What chemistry they had.
I did this in the name of science, Ann. When I say you can Knit to This, I don’t mean It Stands to Reason That a Person Possibly Could Knit to This. I mean that I have tested the content by knitting to it. My word is my bond.
Highlights to look out for: Paul Shaffer’s theme song for Julia, her pronunciation of the Italian egg dish free-totta, seal jokes, and the appearance of at least three blow torches. On several of the episodes, Julia is promoting her then-new book The Way to Cook, which is still my all-time favorite cookbook. I remember hauling it home (it weighs 5 3/4 pounds, as Julia tells David) from the Barnes and Noble on Union Square and tearing off the shrink wrap with tremulous excitement.
Program Note: Early in the video, there is a Penn & Teller appearance, which seems like it’s a mistake because Julia Child is not in sight. Stay with it. It’s not a mistake.
Bon appétit!
Love,
Kay
Priceless
What an amazing coincidence to find this right now, as I was looking for a free way for my daughter who is a chef to watch Julia Child! I’m always telling her how I get the best recommendations from other knitters so thank you so much! She’s laid off from her chef job, pregnant and trying to keep busy. She doesn’t knit but is a most knit-worthy recipient of my knitting. I think she will love this!
Ahhh! So fun! Thanks!
How I miss that lady! At least we have these wonderful clips! Toss that potato. Now I want a grilled cheese!
Thank you for this! My 89-year old mother is a huge Julia fan. I sent her your link, which made her day. I don’t usually comment, but I look forward to and enjoy your daily posts. Thank you for all you do!
Oh my goodness I lurve them both, haven’t watched old David in a while either.
Thanks!
Ooooooh, sweet nothins! ((:
Perfect timing. I baked her orange cake last night. Will almost certainly watch this afternoon.
My copy of THE WAY TO COOK was a wedding present. It’s one of my favorites too: butter for everybody, so good.
You can’t go wrong with adding more butter.
I so agree!
I laughed so much had to stop knitting!! thanks!
I still remember her cooking a hamburger with a blowtorch because the hot plate wouldn’t work— we came upon some of these clips when our daughter chose Julia Child as the subject of her “Famous Californians” report in fourth grade (yep, we live in California— I asked her to pick Julia Child because her dad is a fan and I knew he’d get into it with her, which of course he did.). I remember my daughter and I falling apart laughing and calling my husband in to watch with us. 🙂 Ninety minutes is going to be great— thank you!
I’ll have to hunker down with this—bound to be entertaining. Don’t forget Dishing with Julia on PBS.
Can’t wait to watch this – what a treat!
We watched this last night. My husband said he was going to read, but I kept hearing snickering coming from his chair, so I glanced over: his ipad was in his lap but his eyes were glued to the tv screen. We watched all 90 minutes, although he said at the onset that he wanted to break it up and watch it in bits and pieces. I had forgotten how utterly hilarious and charming Julia could be……and Letterman just played along with her. That bit about the seals was so funny! Thank you for sharing this.
OMG! This was so much fun. Thank you for sharing it. My husband and I watched it last night, as I worked on a sweater, and had a good laugh and reminisced about Julia before the world of celebrity chefs. It was fun to watch her “control” Letterman. Not many guests had that skill.
This was great fun! Thanks so much for posting.
So much fun, I laughed through the show then ordered her cookbook. Such a fun group of clips
I loved noticing how Julia moved to wearing pants on the show. What a great commentary on American life.
I highly recommend the Book “Dear Julia” – correspondence between Julia Child and Avis DeVoto while Julia was writing “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. It captures their friendship and the development, writing and publishing of her book.