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by Tom Stevenson For those so committed to food that they chose cooking as a career, Julia Child’s arrival—often unannounced—in their Deer Isle dining rooms was a vivid encounter. Donna Gormley, later the anchor for the 6 p.m. news at WLBZ Channel 2 in Bangor, remembers cooking breakfast crêpes at The Inn at Ferry Landing (perhaps in 1993) when she heard “that voice” at her dining room door: “My, something smells wonderful!” “‘Oh my god, oh my word,’ is what I thought,” as she returned to her stove, said Gormley. “I was speechless and terrified.” After breakfast, Julia entered Gormley’s kitchen. “Breakfast was delightful,” she said graciously. But that was insufficient for Gormley. She smiled, waited, and the instant Julia left, Gormley dashed to inspect Julia’s plate: there was not a nibble left. It was true. Julia had liked the crêpes. Lily’s Café owner Kyra Alex recalls that when Julia unexpectedly sat down for lunch (perhaps in 1998), “I was excited and anxious.” As she recounts in her 2001 book, Lily’s Café, Alex later accompanied Julia to her car. “I gushed and gollied with the best of them…all the while trying to act like it was nothing to be chatting with Julia Child.” Alex’s book, incidentally, contains the Julia Child’s Birthday Cake recipe which she baked for her three times at Julia’s request. Those who learned to cook professionally in the 1960s (her first book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, appeared in 1961) were particularly influenced by Julia. “You are why I am here,” Jean Hendrick, who ran the Pilgrim’s Inn (now the Whale’s Rib) kitchen, burst out to Julia at a birthday meal prepared in the early 1990s. Hendrick then asked her to autograph an armful of Child’s books she had collected over the decades. “I was shameless,” she confesses. When Rich Howe got word that Julia would be visiting his Penobscot Bay Provisions in Stonington, “I figured she would blow in and blow out in 10 minutes.” Instead she stayed for an hour, autographing books, suggesting a California bakery for Howe to be sure to visit, and persuading Howe to inspect the basement operation of Poulane, a legendary Paris bakery. Later he did. “We would never have dreamed of doing it unless Julia had pushed,” says Howe gratefully. Deer Isle was not Julia’s first Maine retreat. For many years she vacationed in Southwest Harbor where her husband Paul’s twin brother owned a seaside home. But eventually she began to visit Deer Isle with increasing frequency, in part due to her long friendship with Elena Kubler’s mother, Julia’s roommate at Smith College. In 2001-03 she rented a house in Oceanville. Jean Ford, then owner of Sargent’s Rentals, who suggested the house, remembers her graciousness. “She invited me to have lunch with her family at the house one day but I had just stopped by and I did not feel that it was appropriate for me to accept.” All were captivated by Julia’s warmth and vitality. “A pleasant and kind person,” says Howe. “So unpretentious,” says Alex who remembers Julia’s lunching outdoors without complaint one day “right next to some smelly lobster shells.” Hendrick tells how Julia insisted on thanking the full kitchen staff after her meal. “She even went to the back of the kitchen to thank the dishwasher,” says Hendrick. “A very classy lady.” Still, Julia also stuck to her standards. “She returned a glass of our house wine to the kitchen and then ordered a chardonnay instead,” remembers Hendrick. All three give Julie and Julia high marks, but their loudest praise is for Meryl Streep’s film portrayal of the real person they once met. “Superb,” says Alex. “Captured her beautifully,” says Hendrick. “That was exactly her body and exactly the way she talked. Nothing was overdone.” (Streep, incidentally, is 5’6” tall.) Howe agrees. “She was absolutely the spitting image [of Julia],” he says adding that the portrayal of Dorothy, Julia’s younger sister, who accompanied her on the visit to Penobscot Bay Provisions, was uncannily accurate. Howe recalls, too, with a smile, a remark by Dorothy as she entered Provisions: “I hope this isn’t one of those health food stores.” Julia Child died in 2004. Her 11 books, numerous TV shows, the Saturday Night Live parodies, 1.9 million entries on Google (147 referencing Deer Isle), a Facebook page (created in October 2008) and now Julie and Julia will keep her captivating persona and succulent recipes remembered for decades. But few will recall Julia Child with more devotion than her Island admirers whose careers were shaped by her love of cooking. Return to the Island Ad-Vantages home page. |
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