Has anyone had the opportunity to work on the set of a cooking show? I would love to have been able to watch Julia or Fanny live. It would be fun to see outtakes of those shows. I've seen Fanny dropped the omelet but not of any Julia 'mistakes'.
Working on a cooking show
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Yes! For the dear departed Jeff Smith the "Frugal Gourmet." More like the old sodden Graham Kerr. Horrible experience as was working in his restaurants!
Did many live Demo's over the years accompanying Julia, James Beard, Jacques Pepin and others. HARD work, lots of fun , and lots of learning. Fun times!! Greg
Did many live Demo's over the years accompanying Julia, James Beard, Jacques Pepin and others. HARD work, lots of fun , and lots of learning. Fun times!! Greg
Neat. What did they do with all the cooked food? Did you use the dishwashers on set? The 'old guys' didn't seem to pre measure like Martha does. Nothing spontaneous with that one!
Sometimes especially during taping sessions, there were always enough people to eat the mistakes, the retakes and the final product. IN demonstration situations, we (often me and one or two others) made samples for each of the audience that came for the event.
We always limited the audience size to make it practical to serve those in attendance. On time the organizers ignored us. The catering bill was huge and it also means they didn't read the fine print! The bill was 3X the appearance fee! It made the papers!
We always limited the audience size to make it practical to serve those in attendance. On time the organizers ignored us. The catering bill was huge and it also means they didn't read the fine print! The bill was 3X the appearance fee! It made the papers!
Yes and YES!!! He was broke through-out much of the time and often missed pay checks and struggled to catch-up. His temper was out of control much of the day and taken out on employee's and tradesmen. Because of his finances we often couldn't get various supplies unless we paid cash and that would leave us without enough cash upon opening some days. If someone handed us a $20.00 bill first thing in the am we had to scramble through personal $$$ or run to t e bank to exchange. His getting a signed contract from PBS in Chicago and an cash advance was the only thing that saved him...just in time to sell! Greg
I never cared for Jeff Smith and the Frugal Gourmet. He always seemed to be imperious and phony to me, and a closet case. I always felt that he took advantage of the young men that worked on his show.
And I felt sorry for his wife, Patty, and his son’s, one named Channing IIRCC, the other son’s name escapes me, that he spoke of so often. It must have been very difficult to be married to a closeted gay male, and to have a closeted father.
But Greg, it must have been an interesting experience working on the show, even if it was difficult. Thanks for sharing your memories and thoughts here.
Eddie
And I felt sorry for his wife, Patty, and his son’s, one named Channing IIRCC, the other son’s name escapes me, that he spoke of so often. It must have been very difficult to be married to a closeted gay male, and to have a closeted father.
But Greg, it must have been an interesting experience working on the show, even if it was difficult. Thanks for sharing your memories and thoughts here.
Eddie
There’s a dark cloud of accusations that will always hover over Jeff Smith.
With Jeff, there's MORE than that! I was a named defendant in the trial as was one other over 21 person. I think more trouble happened at his first establishment while he was still the "darling " of Tacoma. Or at least I've been told that. No one under 21 ever worked in the two years at my location (The Judical Annex) because I managed it and we had a spirits license. I also did lots of hiring without JS'd help. His hires were obvious candidates for his antics...I can remember one.
His fall was swift. I another friend--good friend of Jeff's were together for a few days and as he went to bed that noght, we'd been having a conversation Jeff and his "boys" and wondering what might happen. The next a.m.'s paper said it all! Jeff's downfall was news for several months. His boys Jason and Channing testified as did Craig Wollman-his assistant. Patty his wife stood by him throughout. His health deteriorated fast and my last encounter was at the original Sur LA Table store in Seattle where he was loud and vulgar as the owner of SLT and I were conversisng with my mentor about a function he and I had done. They say that fame is short lived... Greg
His fall was swift. I another friend--good friend of Jeff's were together for a few days and as he went to bed that noght, we'd been having a conversation Jeff and his "boys" and wondering what might happen. The next a.m.'s paper said it all! Jeff's downfall was news for several months. His boys Jason and Channing testified as did Craig Wollman-his assistant. Patty his wife stood by him throughout. His health deteriorated fast and my last encounter was at the original Sur LA Table store in Seattle where he was loud and vulgar as the owner of SLT and I were conversisng with my mentor about a function he and I had done. They say that fame is short lived... Greg
