Julia Child: The Hollandaise Family

Nothing beats homemade Hollandaise sauce, which is pretty easy to do up, as Julia shows in this episode, first broadcast in 1972:

Tired Old Queen at the Movies: How to Marry a Millionaire

Steve Hayes reviews the 1953 comedy:

It’s high hilarity as Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe play three gold diggers on the make in Jean Negulesco’s How To Marry A Millionaire. Shot in glorious Technicolor and Cinemascope, it’s a love letter to Manhattan and three of the funniest and most glamorous gals that ever hit Hollywood. Rounding out the cast are Cameron Mitchell, Rory Calhoun, David Wayne, Alec D’Arcy and William Powell as their intended spouses with able comic support from Fred Clark. The girls are gorgeous, the settings are fabulous, the dialogue witty and sophisticated. It’s the perfect way to ring in the New Year.

Catch more fabulous movie reviews at Steve's YouTube channel.

Marriage News Watch, 1/26/15

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:




Update:  In response to the state's plea, U. S. District Judge Callie Granade yesterday issued a 14-day stay of her ruling striking down Alabama's anti-gay marriage ban; unless the Eleventh Circuit extends the stay on appeal by the state, marriage will be legal in Alabama on February 9th.  Full text of the ruling here.

Sunday Drive: World in Remembrance

Pathe News presents a summary of the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill on January 30, 1965 - fifty years ago this week.




I remember quite vividly watching the funeral - via live Telstar transmission from London - with my father on a wet and dreary Saturday in a motel room where we were staying while away from home. The set we watched it on was black-and-white, of course, but it was a very moving experience nonetheless: the only time I ever saw my father weep.

While serving in the Air Force, Daddy had been stationed in England and retained a love for the people and their great wartime leader, a fondness I seem to have inherited.

Waitin' for the Weekend

Alabama Gains Marriage Equality

Updated marriage map of the United States from Wikipedia.
Click here for legend.

Can you believe it?  The Washington Blade reports:

A federal judge in Alabama has become the latest to strike down a state ban on same-sex marriage, ruling against the Yellowhammer State’s prohibition on gay nuptials on the basis that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment. In a 10-page decision on Friday, U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade, an appointee of George W. Bush, issued summary judgement in favor of a plaintiff same-sex couple, finding Alabama marriage laws violate the couple’s right to due process and equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. “There has been no evidence presented that these marriage laws have any effect on the choices of couples to have or raise children, whether they are same-sex couples or opposite-sex couples,” Granade writes. “In sum, the laws in question are an irrational way of promoting biological relationships in Alabama.”

Judge Granade, appointed to the bench by George W. Bush in 2002, did not stay her ruling, which struck down both the anti-gay Alabama statute and constitutional amendment as being violations of the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U. S. Constitution. Full text of the ruling here.

Luther Strange, the Alabama Attorney General, has announced through a spokesman that he will appeal the ruling.

Look to Lockheed for Leadership (1940)

Lockheed airliner in Delta livery at Dallas, Texas, in 1940.

The triumphant progress and exacting production of the famed Lockheed aircraft are highlighted in this company film.

What's My Line, 7/27/52

Victor Borge is the Mystery Guest.

Gardens of Power and Passion

I never heard of this Monty Don fellow before, but I like his friendly, insightful explorations of the gardens of France, great and small; this is part one of three, and I'll post the others here in due course.

Marriage News Watch, 1/19/15

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:

Sunday Drive: Claire de Lune Samba