The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child

I remember Julia Child and The French Chef TV series on PBS from my youth. I would mostly only watch the show periodically to compare her to whatever impersonation I’d recently heard or seen of her. She was very easily impersonated, which I guess is a testament to her unique character, or her unique voice at the very least. I used to do an impersonation as did just about all of my friends and I think most comedians of the time. My favorite and probably the most notable was that of Dan Aykroyd on Saturday Night Live. In it, he portrays her cutting what seems to be an artery and trying to improvise a tourniquet before eventually passing out from blood loss. I included the picture from the dust jacket in the safe’s compartment. It captures Julia wielding a mallet. I can’t quite tell what she’s bludgeoning, but she sure appears to be enjoying it. Taken out of context, she looks like a murderous maniac from an exploitative 80s slasher flick and serves as an ominous warning to any intruders.