Julia Child Memories: Bon Appétit! Premieres on WGBH in August 2009

July 23, 2009

Press Contact: Karen Frascona 617.300.5346 [email protected]

Julia Child Memories: Bon Appétit! premieres on WGBH in August 2009 Saturday, August 1, 1-3pm on WGBH 2/HD

Pledge special features three classic episodes of The French Chef, plus Meryl Streep, star of Julie & Julia, on portraying legendary public television chef Julia Child

In advance of the August 7th theatrical release of the comedy film Julie & Julia starring Meryl Streep as public television icon Julia Child, PBS is releasing the WGBH-produced Julia Child Memories: Bon Appétit!, a Julia Child retrospective including some of the most memorable episodes from Julia’s classic cooking series, The French Chef. This two-hour special weaves some of Julia Child’s favorite episodes of The French Chef with commentary from those who loved Julia the most. Testimonials include celebrity chefs Sara Moulton (chef, author, and star of Sara’s Weeknight Meals), Jacques Pepin (chef, author, and star of Fast Food My Way), Gordon Hamersley (chef/owner of Hamersley’s Bistro), and Lydia Shire (chef/owner of Locke Ober, Pignoli, and Scampo). In addition, we hear from Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep on what it was like to play Julia Child on the big screen, as well as from author Julie Powell, who wrote the book on which the film is based. Julia Child Memories: Bon Appétit! features cooking legend and cultural icon Julia Child who, along with her pioneering public television series, The French Chef, introduced French cuisine to American kitchens in the 1960s. In her passionate and sometimes breathless way, Julia forever changed the way we cook, eat, and think about food. Entertaining and real in a way that influenced every television cooking program and celebrity chef that has followed, The French Chef embraced Julia’s passion for food and teaching and reflected her inimitable joie de vivre. This two-hour pledge event includes three of the very best episodes of The French Chef — “Bouillabaisse à la Marseillaise,” “To Roast A Chicken,” and “The Omelette Show.” Now cooks and foodies of all ages and abilities can join WGBH in paying tribute to Julia Child while they enjoy some of her most-loved dishes from her original series, The French Chef. In her signature style and with bloopers intact, Julia demonstrates her fabulous abilities as America’s first, and favorite, television chef.

-more- About WGBH WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcaster, producing such celebrated national PBS series as Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Arthur, Curious George and more than a dozen other award-winning primetime, lifestyle and children’s series. Boston’s last remaining independent TV station, WGBH produces local TV productions (among them, Greater Boston, Basic Black and María Hinojosa: One-on-One) that focus on the region’s diverse community, while WGBH 89.7 FM is Boston’s NPR Arts & Culture station, offering a rich menu of classical, jazz, blues, news programming and more. WGBH is the leading producer of online content for pbs.org—one of the most-visited dot-org sites on the Internet—a major producer for public radio and a pioneer in developing educational multimedia and new technologies that make media accessible for people with disabilities. For its efforts, WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors, including Oscars, Emmys, Peabodys and duPont- Columbia Journalism Awards. Visit WGBH on the Web at www.wgbh.org. ###