Party with a star! Or at least her recipe...

Yes, cooking can be a chore, but the Betty Crocker writers sometimes wanted it to have a little glamour. Home cooks would likely never be invited to party with Bob Hope or Paulette Goddard, but General Mills seemed to think that having a star's recipe could be the next best thing.

Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book (1950; mine is first edition, seventh printing) was fortunate enough to get a favorite recipe from Joan Crawford! What kind of concoction could we expect from this star and darling of film noir? Perhaps a good stiff drink?

Uh... not so much. Melt American cheese with a #2 can of kidney beans and some diced green peppers! Dee-lightful!

I think I'll pass on partying like Joan Crawford, "three time academy award winner of the movies." I also think the cookbook writers better concentrate more on recipes than on stars. (Crawford was nominated for Academy Awards three times, but won once. The third nomination was AFTER this collection came out, so I wonder where the writers got their information.) I love that they felt compelled to specify "of the movies," too, just in case readers confused Crawford's awards with all the other Academy Awards.