ONG before Rachael Ray and Giada De Laurentiis, there was Julia — she of the tremulous voice, loopy mannerisms and killer machete chop. She taught us, among other things, that omelets could make a delicious dinner (all you need is two eggs and 20 seconds!), butter could transform any dish (frozen veg included) and a little bit of well-placed parsley could mask a multitude of cooking sins.
She also taught us that it’s never too late to find one’s calling. After spending nearly a decade toiling away on a manuscript twice rejected by Houghton Mifflin, Child finally published the first volume of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” with Knopf in 1961. She was 49.
Of course, none of this might have mattered had she not taken to the PBS airwaves with her pioneering show, “The French Chef,” in 1963. On Thursday at 7:30 p.m., WLIW21 will air three classic episodes as part of a two-hour special, “Julia Child Memories: Bon Appetit!,” featuring commentary from Meryl Streep and Julie Powell, star and author, respectively, of “Julie & Julia,” along with a who’s who of noted chefs.
“When people think about Julia Child, they really remember her hacking those lobsters and pulling those chickens up and spreading their legs apart,” says Laurie Donnelly, the special’s producer. “That really dramatic, wonderful, loving way in which she handled food.”
Still, Child was an unlikely television star. When famed French chef Jacques Pepin first met Child in 1960 through McCall’s food editor Helen McCully, he was told to expect “a big woman with a terrible voice.”
But Child had a personality to match her grand 6-foot-2 stature.
“It sounds corny, but the camera doesn’t lie,” says Pepin. “Julia was very comfortable in her skin. This is who she was.”