Cookbookaholic

Oscar’s Menu Has Come a LONG Way

Love the Oscars! When I lived and worked in NYC many moons ago, I worked in the film publicity business. I worked on two films that went on to win the Best Foreign Language Film award. I even got to walk around midtown with an Oscar—remember that story?! LOL!!!

About this time in all the build-up, we start getting bombarded with stories of the fancy meals that famous chefs are cooking up for the Governor’s Ball following the ceremony. Lots of expensive, exotic food served in small, well-presented portions. This coverage has always baffled me. Why do you cover the food that none of the skinny actresses will eat? It seems like no one in Hollywood ever bothers to eat regularly anymore…they’re all so super stick-thin skinny. I wonder if they honestly believe they look attractive?

Oh well. I picked up a copy of the Assistance League of Southern California’s Add a Pinch of Pizzaz at one of my favorite used book stores last year. I was too busy looking at the recipes on the pages that I completely overlooked the very interesting artwork on the inside front cover.

It’s the dinner menu for the awards banquet for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences on May 16, 1929.

It reads:

Hors d’oeuvres Varie

Celery Olives Nuts Rolls

Consomme Celestine

Filet of Sole Saute au Buerre

Half Broiled Chicken on Toast

New String Beans   Long Branch Potatoes

Lettuce and Tomatoes with French Dressing

Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream

Cakes

Demi Tasse

Quite a difference between that menu and the Wolfgang Puck extravaganza of today, huh? How do you even pull off a half-broiled chicken on toast anyway? This is dangerously close to what the hubby calls a “peanuts and mint” reception! Doesn’t it seem so basic? I wonder how many millions they spend on chefs and food for the ones now?

Do you care about the stories on what they're serving at the Oscars? Do you bother with a big food spread to rival the Big Game extravaganza? Or, do you pop up a huge bag of popcorn for everyone--wait a minute, that seems like a good idea! Then I can throw the popcorn at the screen if the "interpretative dance" for each Best Song nominee returns this year.

 

My Red Carpet Appearance

Yeah, this is as close to the Academy Awards Red Carpet that I’ll ever get!

 

The local Chick-Fil-A at Northlake Mall had a Red Carpet event complete with red carpet, red velvet rope and a “paparazzi” with flashing strobe! Dunc and I went to grab dinner for the family and I snapped a picture of the set-up. How fun!

Little known fact: I have actually held an Oscar. Yup! Back in the day when I lived in New York, I worked on a Russian film called Burnt by the Sun. It was nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category and won! The director, Nikita Mikhalkov, flew back to NYC and did a press tour.

I got to pick him up at his hotel and take him through the day of interviews. He wanted to take the Oscar to the Sony Pictures Classics offices—only we didn’t have any “secure” way to transport it. So I emptied out my burgundy bookbag (the same one I’d used in college a few months before!) and stashed Oscar in the back section. And then we walked all the way from the hotel to the Sony building!

I couldn’t believe that I was walking around secretly transporting an Oscar! I just wanted to run up to someone—anyone—and say, “Holy Crap! Look at what I’ve got in here!” Wow—and that sucker started to get heavy after a couple of blocks. It really is heavier than it looks!

 

p.s. I also worked on a Spanish film called Belle Epoque which also won the Best Foreign Language Oscar the previous year—but that director hightailed it back to Spain and didn’t come back to NYC.