More TV Cooking Shows between James Beard and Julia Child

Category 1 Part 2

In continuing the write-ups on TV Cooking Shows which occurred between James Beard (1946 ) and Julia Child (1963) we will again focus this segment on those shows that were primarily on local stations and for which there is little or no current documentation:

• Swift Home Service Club - Jinx Falkenberg co-hosted this TV variety show which combined interior decorating, household tips and cooking. It was sponsored by Swift and Company and lasted about one season. It debuted May, 1947 and was one of the earliest NBC network daytime shows. A segment was captured and preserved at the Library of Congress in the Hubert Chain Collection.

Jinx Falkenberg, in her own right, was far more famous as a model. She appeared on over 200 magazine covers and about 1500 commercial advertisements in the 1930’s and 1940’s. ¹ She was picked by Liebmann Brewery as the first Miss Rheingold which placed her in promotional ads at every store that sold Rheingold. It quickly became the #1 beer in NYC.² In the early 1940’s she performed in a dozen movies. During the war, she traveled extensively in the Pacific theater providing troop entertainment. Her more famous show on NBC was called Hi Jinx. Together with her husband Tex McCrory, they covered controversial news issues and interviewed guests such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Bernard Baruch and others.³ She wrote a column for the New Herald Tribune and was on international assignments. For example, she covered the famous Richard Nixon-Nikita Krushchev kitchen debate⁴

• Meet Betty Furness - Betty Furness was a very popular movie actress starting in the 1930’s and ended up with roles in about 40 movies including Swing Time (with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers). She also served as a panelist on What’s My Line in the 1950’s and a TV show called Studio One and later from 1976-1992 as a Consumer Affairs reporter on the Today Show. Preceding these roles, she served as Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs for the Johnson Administration and as Chairwoman and Executive Director of the New York State Consumer Protection Board. Quite a varied and interesting career!

  However, the point of interest for this blog is in her 10 year relationship with Westinghouse as a promoter of their products in the kitchen starting in 1950 and subsequently with the TV home parlor show called Meet Betty Furness. One of her more famous lines was used in promoting their kitchen appliances - “You can be sure…if it’s Westinghouse.” She also sponsored a cookbook entitled “The Betty Furness Westinghouse Cookbook” published in 1954. Westinghouse also was the chief sponsor of both the 1952 and 1956 Republican and Democratic Conventions where she appeared in multiple ads.

• What’s Cooking with Barbara Angell - In an interesting twist on TV cooking shows; Barbara Angell hosted a show in Portland, ChezOregon from 1953-1956 that interviewed famous people and then they generally cooked a dish together. Notable guests included Louis Armstrong, Eleanor Roosevelt, Duncan Hines, etc. After the show, the attendees would rush in to taste the leftovers.

  

  Interviewing Duncan Hines and his wife

• Kitchen Magic - Fanny Craddock nee Phyllis Pechey “ was an English restaurant critic, television cook and writer”. Her family experienced severe financial strain due to extravagant spending and she spent her early years selling cleaning products door-to-door and making dresses. Then she started working at various restaurants and became enamored with the recipes of Escoffier. From 1950-1955; she and her husband wrote a column for the Daily Telegraph called Bon Viveur. They would also take over theatres; cook some dishes and serve them to the audience. She also wrote books under various pseudonyms. Between 1955-1975; she appeared in 24 different TV series.⁵ Her television career came to an abrupt end in 1976 when; in serving as an advisor to an amateur cook who had recently won a cooking contest and was asked by the BBC to prepare a meal for the Edward Heath ( the former Prime Minister ); she was extremely critical. Craddock behaved so derisively that The Daily Telegraph wrote afterwards. “Not since 1940 can the people of England have risen up in such unified wrath.” ⁶

King’s Queen - Bea Donovan (1901-1999) pioneered a TV Cooking show in the early 1950’s for King Broadcasting in Seattle, Washington which lasted for 25 years. “In the early days, she did her own planning, shopping and food preparation, then brought the finished food to the studio, which had a fake sink. She washed the dishes in a pan in the restroom.

She published a cookbook - Bea Donovan’s Favorites

During the mid-1940’s, she demonstrated home appliances at the Bon Marche. She also had a daily afternoon cooking show there .”⁷

Pranks on the set were commonplace. `One day, I'm talking my head off to the camera, and when I turn around to take the egg off the plate, the darned thing won't come off. The crew had glued it down.

``Another time, I smile into the camera and say, `And now I'll just pop this in the oven.' I opened the oven door, and it was filled with horseshoes.

``The set crew would laugh and giggle in the background, and I had to think of something to say.''⁸

• Cookery & The Grammar of Cooking & The Tools of Cookery - Phillip Harben (1906-1970) was an English chef with no formal training. He operated a restaurant starting in 1937 called Isobar; founded with Raymond Postgate The Half Hundred Dining Club (described as a poor man’s food and wine society); was in charge of the British Overseas Airways test kitchens at the end of WW2 and launched his first TV Cooking Show in 1946 called Cookery. This was actually the first TV Cooking Show beating that of James Beard’s by several months. He also experienced a few disasters while broadcasting live - eg. a rotten egg and forgetting to turn on the oven. In addition, he starred in two comedy films ( Lucifer & Man of the Moment).

  In 1955, he shifted to the new Independent Television (ITV) where he was featured in two programs - The Grammar of Cooking & The Tools of Cookery which ran until 1969. He wrote about 20 cookbooks and also cofounded a kitchen utensils company called Harbenware.⁹

  He was clearly a born entertainer and became quite popular. An example of his wit while on a tour to promote the national dishes of Wales: “ I hope no one gives me rice pudding- it was a punishment in my old school and although I like its taste I still feel chastised when I eat it.”¹⁰

Part 3 will be published in a few days

1. Wikipedia

2. Wikipedia

3. Wikipedia

4. Wikipedia

5. Wikipedia

6. Wikipedia

7. Bea Donovan, King’s Queen, Pioneered Live TV Cooking; Carole Beers; 9/1/1999; Seattle Times

8. Pioneers in Broadcasting; Don Duncan; Seattle Times; 8/22/1990

9. Wikipedia

10. Daily Post 9/25/1959 page 1