A thousand apologies to the lady who emailed me looking for a Betty Feezor recipe for Vegetable Beef Soup. I went to respond and could not find the email anywhere!
Then, I got an email from a former colleague, David, who was reaching out to me about the same recipe. Turns out, John Carter, anchor at WBTV, had received the request and asked David if he could help find it.
I searched through all three volumes of Carolina Recipes with no luck. Then, I found the original, Betty Feezor’s Best. There was one soup recipe that could fit the bill: Saturday Vegetable Soup. I hope this is the one!
Here's the recipe:
Saturday Vegetable Soup
1 soup bone (leftover ham bone, beef or other)
Or 1/2 pound ground beef, browned
1 quart tomatoes
1 quart (or more) water
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 large onion, cubed
3 carrots, scraped and diced
Salt and pepper to taste
Savory or thyme to taste
Any other leftover vegetables in your refrigerator (peas, corn, beans)
If using leftover roast or meat bone, place in large pot cutting any pieces of meat from the bone. If using hamburger, brown in large pot in its own juices. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer and let cook for at least 2 hours.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
So, to cover all the bases, I’m posting the recipe here and I’ve sent it on to John Carter at WBTV. Hopefully, between the blog and his broadcast or email—we’ll have this covered!
Did anyone notice when the intro of the Paula Deen Network hit the news a few weeks back?
It seems that during that time after the lawsuit was half dismissed and half settled, Paula and her team spent some time away from the media glare and quietly huddled on the options. A cable network may have no longer been an option for her and the Paula Deen brand, but there were certainly a lot of supporters still out there.
Remember when the upcoming cookbook she had with a major publishing house started pre-selling at a huge velocity? I think the publishing house scuttled plans to publish it…but still, it was a remarkable show of support from her fanbase. Not only in the sheer volume of orders…but the money it would have made for the publisher and Paula Deen.
And I don’t think the lines outside of The Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah got any shorter? The line waiting to get in still wrapped around the building. People were still willing to pay and be seen publicly supporting her (even though she didn’t even own the restaurant anymore).
It seemed as if her fans were signaling that if she could make it through the more immediate and harsh media storm, her brand possibly had a way forward? It may take a while for the public to forgive and forget, but the Deen team seemed hunkered down and looking for a way to keep bringing Paula to her fans.
That initial wave of news on the Paula Deen Network was just the announcement that the online channel was on the way—but still a few months off. The accompanying video shows that they’ve been hard at work with a rather large production team and an audience of about 12 in her kitchen. The atmosphere felt both intimate and very festive. That audience looked happy to be in her company—and she seemed thrilled to have them there.
It’s interesting to note that the Paula Deen Network will be subscription based. It’ll be equally interesting to see if her fanbase will be willing to pay for access to the online recipes and videos that were previously free. If she didn’t have any sponsors to help foot the bill for the production costs, most--if not all of it (in theory)--would have to be covered by the money raised through subscriptions.
This first round of info asked you to sign up just to be on a list to receive the subscription info when it finally became available. I think they used that list of initial interest to help gauge the number of fans that could potentially follow her to the online channel and to also help them come up with an amount or amounts that would get them on the path to profitability.
On the evening of July 21, an email went out with three subscription rates and terms. The lowest rate was $7.99 a month for a subscription that lasts 12 months. That’s being pitched as the “best value” and includes extra incentives like 40% off an order from the pauladeenkitchenware.com site; BOGO 40% off a Paula Deen Live Event, an invite to attend a launch party in Savannah and a sneak peak video for a “Paula Colada.”
Other plans include an $8.99/month 6-month subscription as well as a $9.99 month by month plan.
This is going to be interesting! If the Paula Deen channel has enough subscribers, she may never need fear losing another lucrative sponsorship deal. The crazy part of this could be that if the fans really do line up, sign up and fork over $8 to $10 bucks a month, the sponsors will come running back for a chance to get in front of her subscribers.
This post has been several years coming. As soon as I realized the importance of Betty Feezor and the impact she’s had on our region, I knew this adventure was an absolute necessity.
When I worked in the Radio division, I was literally one floor away from Betty’s former studio. I’d walked by it hundreds of times, greeted by her smiling image on the bronze plaque on the huge, heavy wooden doors. You knew history had been made in that studio…but it was now mostly storage.
When I accepted my new job, I knew the clock was running out. Plus, the Feezor Studio had just been cleared…time to make it happen.
I was standing at the entrance to her studio one morning when Director of Operations & Engineering Don Shaw happened to pass by. I told him my idea and he suggested we track down John Murray. Mr. Murray had been with WBTV since 1975 and was now the Director of Live Broadcast. He worked with Betty for those last few years of her program. Luckily, we found him in the next studio over. He agreed to show me around the old studio and we met a few days later.
When I arrived for our meeting in the Feezor studio, I saw a copy of her Carolina Recipes Vol. 2 and a Top ‘o the Day cookbooks on a mixing board. He brought them from home to show me.
And it’s autographed! He said the whole crew got a copy of her latest cookbook—if you asked. The smart ones asked for a cookbook and gave it to their wives—so lucky!
Mr. Murray told me that the whole studio was brand new in 1955 and when he became full-time back in 1975, there two studios: one for day programs (news & Betty Feezor) and one for production work (filming commercials). When you first joined the station’s production crew, you started out on Betty’s show with the boom mic and then worked your way up to camera.
Betty’s kitchen set was in the far back corner on the right. That’s where the plumbing was—so her kitchen sink and the rest of the set had to go there against the wall.
The set has been long gone, but the plumbing pipes are still there. Here’s where they were and what’s left of them.
Her wood-grained cooktop island was actually built on wheels. Once the show was finished, they pulled a curtain around the set, wheeled her island to the prop area and another show would start broadcasting. Cue Clyde and Ty! If Betty needed to film a commercial separate from her live show, they would wheel the island into the nearby Patterson Studio and she’d be ready to go.
The remarkable breakthrough with Betty’s show was how they filmed her cooking segments. It was hard in those days to get a giant rolling camera near her cooking without getting in the way. Their solution was to hang a mirror from the ceiling at an angle and film the reflection. Brilliant!
If you look up to the top part of the studio wall, you’ll see two large empty spaces. Those were once glass-walled for the master control room and a viewing room for guests.
It’s all empty now. Interesting bit of trivia: Mr. Murray said they had also built a duplicate control room that was identical button for button downstairs.
I asked if there was anything left from the time when Betty was still on the air. He pointed to this picture and said, “see those ice cream scoops?”
He was pointing to these dome-like lights that, when angled, looked like a scoop of ice cream on a cone. Those are actually large utility lights that were used when they were not on the air. They kept the room illuminated, but not at the brighter, more intense level that studio lights shine. And here they still hang:
They kinda look like something from World War II. It’s a dull blue dome with the blocky, chunky numbers. But they still work and they used to shine down on Betty and the kitchen set.
Throughout the show, Betty would have to quickly switch gears from cooking, sewing or crafts to a live commercial. Mr. Murray said they had a cabinet full of props like empty Biltmore Dairy ice cream cartons or an empty box of frozen fish sticks. They’d finish her cooking segment, cut to a logo of her show, toss an empty product prop to her and then they’d come back live for the commercial. I’ve read and heard from many people that she never used a script and ad-libbed all those commercials. She had impeccable timing and knew all the points to hit for the client. “She was a pro all day long,” he said.
Towards the end of our time together, he said that The Betty Feezor Show had phenomenal ratings. There were only three major channels back then and the WBTV signal cast a very, very wide net over a lot of North and South Carolina. Plus, she was this super nice lady with an amazing personality that people enjoyed watching. Add to that, it was a staple of mid-day programming for more than twenty years! He said her show drew in a ratings share that was in the 60s. That’s unheard of…then or now. Her show’s success translated into advertising dollars that helped seed WBTV’s news department. How about that?!
I am so grateful that Mr. Murray took some time to share all of these stories and knowledge from his time on Betty’s show. I wanted to do a small video doing a quick walk through the Feezor studio to the spot where her set once stood. I asked if he would be willing to be in it and point us past the “Coach’s Corner” blackboard over to the wall with the plumbling lines, but he didn’t want to. I guess he’s much more comfortable behind the camera all these years!
Oh well, here’s a silent walk from just outside the Feezor Studio, through the doors and back to the spot where Betty’s kitchen set once proudly stood. There’s not much left there but the memories.
There are just a few people left at good ole Julian Price Place that actually worked here during the Betty Feezor years. John Steed, John Murray, Bob Lacey and Della Massey are the ones I’ve been lucky enough to know.
Della has this really amazing story that really captures what a kind, caring and thoughtful person Betty truly was. She told it to me a few years ago but doesn’t want to be on camera, so I’ll have to retell it here in print.
Della started working at Jefferson Standard Broadcasting Company in June of 1969. Betty had already been in full swing since the mid-1950s with her mid-day show. After each daily broadcast, it was typical for staff members to make their way to the studio and grab a bite of whatever Betty had prepared on that day’s program. Walking down to the studio had become part of Della’s routine as well.
Della says that she had one week that became very busy and wasn’t able to find time to drop by the studio. No biggie…she just was busy and kept working.
One day at the end of that busy week, she looked up from her desk to see Betty standing there. She smiled and asked, “Della, don’t you like my cooking anymore?”
Della said she was surprised and touched at the same time. This icon of Charlotte homemaking noticed her absence and was concerned enough to seek her out and make sure everything was okay.
Isn’t that a great story? She knew when someone wasn’t there and cared enough to reach out to them. How many of us can say that nowadays? That story has always stayed with me. Lucky Della! Thanks for sharing your story with me.
During our Spring Break visit to Washington, D.C., Duncan wanted to visit the American History museum. One of the exhibits turned out to be Julia Child’s kitchen.
I’ll be totally honest here, I’ve never spent quality time with Julia. I haven’t even seen that Julie/Julia movie, either. Shock! I know, I know…
I’ve got at least one of her cookbooks—I know that much.
But anyway, she was undeniably a remarkable personality who helped raise the art of cooking all while making it accessible on a national scale. She was already a legend by the time I started watching cooking shows.
And here, before me now, is her actual kitchen!
It’s like a normal, everyday kitchen. Much larger than mine—she could fit a table and chairs in there! And check out all those knives on the back wall. Apparently, they actually filmed some of her shows there?
Here’s the side view of her kitchen from another doorway.
Lots and lots of pots and pans, oh my!
Looking around the exhibit I see this display of her cookbooks. I would’ve thought she’d have published a ton of cookbooks throughout her career. What I’m noticing is this looks more like quality over quantity. Yeah, I may have a couple of those around somewhere…but not all of them.
There are several of these placards with interesting bits of information about Julia. This one explains all the knives on the wall.
“Knife Freak”—that’s hilarious! Plus, she was right there at the forefront when new home kitchen technology like the Kitchen Aid Mixer was introduced.
There’s another doorway on the opposite side of the kitchen. I head over and find Julia’s shelf of cookbooks!
You’d think she’d have a ton of them, right?
Not quite. Only a shelf and a tad more are actual cookbooks. They’re her cookbooks and I mean, literally…they are cookbooks by her.
Here they are: In Julia’s Kitchen, Cooking with Master Chefs, Julia Child’s Menu Cookbook, From Julia Child’s Kitchen, Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol I, Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol II, Baking with Julia, Julia & Jacques Cook at Home, The Way to Cook, The French Chef Cookbook, Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom, Victory Garden Cookbook, Larousse Gastronomique, World Atlas of Wines (Hugh Johnson), Composition of Foods and two copies of The Joy of Cooking on the second shelf.
Could you imagine having your kitchen be so important that it ends up in the Smithsonian? How about all your tongs and spatulas?! I think I’ll keep my eye out for more Julia Child cookbooks from now on! Bon Appetit!
Today I decided to go and eat at a restaurant for lunch. Usually, I grab it and eat at my desk. I know, it’s sad…
Anyway, I’m sitting in the booth and I look up at the tv in the corner. It’s playing Billy the Exterminator. Let’s just agree to disagree that this is acceptable television programming for the lunch hour. I don’t want to glance up from my plate to see snakes and cockroaches on the loose in Louisiana. Ugh…appetite suppressant.
I should've switched sides and watched Yo Gabba Gabba playing in the opposite corner.
Hooray! Frank from the show American Pickers on the History Channel will be on Bob & Sheri next week!
If you're familiar with the show, Frank is "The Bearded Charmer" who collects the old cans and advertising pieces. I'm always blown away when those two whip out unbelievable amounts of money for items. Can you imagine laying out hundreds for an antique John Deere sign or thousands for an old motorcycle engine? Plus, I don't think I could dig around in those old buildings. Too scared I'd find a snake--or, rather, it finding me!
I'm very excited and can't wait to hear the interview! One co-worker, Brad, overheard me talking about the interview and popped in my office to say he loves watching the show as well. Then I said that I could curl up in Frank's beard and take a nap. Oddly enough, he didn't feel the same way.