Boy, did she.
Born to a wealthy and prominent California family in 1912, Julia McWilliams was the type of mischivious girl-heroine that would have been at home in one of the children's novels of the day. Sneaking cigarettes, stealing the neighbors fruit, 'hitching' on the backs of trucks, she was lively to say the least. Always the center of her group, she was elected 'head girl' once she was sent to boarding school to live out her adolescence, as was the habit (and still may be) of wealthy families in those days. From boarding school to Smith, Julia was always a fun-filled, gregarious girl, good at sports, good (if not great) in the classroom. At 6'2 and 140, she was stick-thin, and always hungry.
But never near a pot or pan.
From college to New York City, and a variety of writing-related jobs, then back to California, to manage her now-motherless family and a magazine. Cooking never appears on her busy schedule. Then World War II, duty with the OSS in India and China, where she managed top secret correspondence and a good number of under-secretaries.
And fell in love with Paul Child, gourmet and artist.
War over, back to California, and art and cooking classes in order to impress the maybe-fiancee. Marriage, and attempts to cook, but no great successes. But a tolerant husband, guests ready to laugh with their charming, laughing hostess. And then Paul is transferred to France, and Julia Child encounters food on an entirely different level than ever before. The Cordon Blue quickly follows-she may not have been a natural, but the school could hardly have had a more determined student. New friends, new dishes, and the decision to write, with two other women, the book that became Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
Eight years she researched and worked to produce the first volume.
Upon publication, she became the public Julia that we've all seen since, on various television programs and book covers, always guiding and instructing.
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