(left) Photo of Myra Waldo from a magazine ad.
*The following article was originally written for the CCE (Cookbook Collectors Exchange, a newsletter) in 2001. At that time, I was unable to unearth ANY information about the whereabouts of Myra Waldo, much less whether or not she was still alive. I even wrote to a prominent used book dealer in NYC who had been featured a number of times in cooking magazines; he’d never even heard of her! Internet searches failed to reveal any information about Myra either before or after my article was published in 2001. Now, a decade later, I decided to update the article for my blog. Dutifully, I entered her name on Google.com again—and much to my surprise, this time I was rewarded with obituary details. The answer to “Where’s Waldo” will be found at the end of this article.
In 2001, I had written:
Where’s Waldo? No, not the cartoon character that is hidden in a maze of pictures for kiddies to search through – this time the Waldo is Myra Waldo, someone you may or may not have heard of, depending on how extensive your collection of cookbooks happens to be or how knowledgeable you are about cookbook authors of the past.
When my curiosity about Myra Waldo was first piqued, a dig through my own cookbook shelves unearthed seven old paperback cookbooks, three of which were duplicates (with two different cover designs). Since then, I have acquired a respectable stack of Myra Waldo’s cookbooks, some through the Internet (Alibris.com), some from Carolyn George, a cookbook seller, with whom I became acquainted through the Cookbook Collectors Exchange, a few that CCE publisher Sue Erwin unearthed and even one that I located in a used bookstore. I already had this one title but bought it anyway, because it was only $2.50. (I always figure I can find a home someday for the duplicates).
Actually, I became interested in Myra Waldo in a roundabout way (I sometimes feel like Alice falling into the rabbit hole—one thing seems to lead to another). I was doing some research on Molly Goldberg, for a reason I no longer recall—it might have been in connection with my research on old time radio programs. During an Internet search on Google.com, I came across an article in which a writer accused Molly Goldberg and Myra Waldo of being one and the same person. OK, for all the youngsters out there, your first question may be “Well, who was Molly Goldberg?”)—so I will have to digress a bit, and no, they were not one and the same person).
Molly Goldberg was, in real life, Gertrude Berg. Gertrude Berg was an actress, born in 1899, who debuted in 1929 with her own radio show on NBC, “The Rise of the Goldbergs”, later shortened to simply “The Goldbergs”. It was second only to Amos & Andy in popularity. (Please don’t write to ask me who Amos & Andy were.) What’s even more incredible, given the times (when women were expected to stay at home, barefoot and pregnant), Gertrude Berg was the creator, principle writer and star of this weekly comedy series. Berg wrote most of the episodes, which, after a twenty-year run, numbered over 5,000. It may be hard to imagine, but in the decades prior to television, radio was made up extensively of shows—some as short as 15 minutes, most a half hour long—comedy, mystery, western, drama—you name it.
(In 1994, I wrote an article titled “DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL” which appeared in the May/June 1994 issue of the CCE. There were, in addition to all of the story-line shows, radio recipe programs too, a forerunner of today’s television cooking Shows. I rewrote and shortened “Don’t Touch that Dial” for my blog, renaming it “When Radio Was King” which was a June, 2009, post on this blog).
“The Goldbergs” followed the adventures of Molly Goldberg and her husband Jake, and their family through life’s everyday problems. The program had a phenomenal 17-year run starting in 1930. In 1949, the radio program made a successful transition to television. Truthfully, I don’t remember the radio version of the Goldbergs but I do remember the television show, which ran for about five years on TV. (We had the first television set on our street; my father loved having whatever was new and innovative in the way of appliances and household things). When it became clear that television shows of this genre were on their way out, Golberg revamped her show, moved “the family” to the suburbs and renamed the series “Molly”. Gertrude Berg passed away in 1966.
By this time you are probably wondering just what Myra Waldo has to do with Molly Goldberg. Just this: In 1955, Myra Waldo and Molly Goldberg collaborated on “THE MOLLY GOLDBERG JEWISH COOKBOOK”.
Molly is the primary character through the cookbook, speaking in first person, staying in her Molly Goldberg character, but Myra Waldo undoubtedly put most of it together. “THE MOLLY GOLDBERG JEWISH COOKBOOK”, published in 1955, was a combination celebrity/radio show cookbook and it remains in circulation to this day. I have a hardcover copy that is in fine condition. (I think I bought it from Jessica’s Biscuit, a cookbook seller).
But this is just one of the many cookbooks written or co-authored by Myra Waldo, whose first cookbook was published, I believe, in 1954.
So, who’s Myra Waldo? I’m glad you asked, but have to admit, it hasn’t been easy to learn much about this elusive cookbook author. The dust jackets of her cookbooks offer very little in the way of biographical information, and often it’s the same few paragraphs in dust jacket after dust jacket. More can be gleaned from the pages of her cookbooks, but, unlike James Beard and Elizabeth David, and the host of other cookbook authors who have had biographies written about them, there is little to be discovered about the private life of Myra Waldo.
Myra Waldo was a cooking expert and a world traveler and may have been the world’s most traveled cook for her time. She was a food consultant for Pan American Airways who, with her husband, attorney Robert J. Schwarz, traveled all over the world. During the decades in which she compiled numerous cookbooks, she was a familiar figure on radio and television, and in newspapers and magazines. In addition to being the food consultant for Pan Am, Myra arranged a monthly regional dinner for the Overseas Press Club in New York City. As a contribution to international relations, she prepared a famous Thanksgiving dinner in Moscow for the Ministry of Culture and Technicum Institute of Health and Nutrition. She was Special Projects Director for Macmillian Publishing from 1965 to 1970, and Food and Travel Editor for WCBS-New York from 1968 to 1972. Articles written by Myra Waldo appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, House & Garden, and The Diners’ Club. One of the most fascinating snippits of information that I learned about Myra Waldo is that she and her husband even spent eight weeks on a safari, after which they completed a film about their experience. It seems they were dauntless in their travels and went everywhere.
In her world travels, Myra, (like James Beard), collected recipes and menus where most tourists would collect souvenirs. Cookbooks with a foreign flair appear to have been her specialty, although she by no means limited herself to cookbooks of this genre.
“Before 1918,” Myra writes in her cookbook “COMPLETE MEALS IN ONE DISH”, “foreign food had but little acceptance and few enthusiasts in the United States. In the two decades or so that followed, Americans gradually began to be intrigued by the food of Europe and during that period Italian and French restaurants opened in profusion throughout the nation. But since the end of World War II, an enormous interest in the food not only of Europe, but also of the entire world has been growing swiftly all over the country….”
I agree with the above statement, but with a slight qualification. I think foreign foods have always had an acceptance in the various ethnic communities throughout the United States—Italian food in the Little Italys, German food in towns such as Cincinnati and Germantown, where the early population was predominately German. But I read somewhere that it was American soldiers during World War II who brought home with them an acquired taste for foreign foods; many of them also brought home War Brides who brought with them the traditional recipes of their native countries. (As an aside, I might mention that Sally Tisdale, author of “The Best Thing I ever Tasted” doesn’t agree with this theory—but we’ll review Sally’s book another time. I am always nonplussed by the synchronicity of things, as I am writing and researching. I first read about restaurant critic Colman Andrews in Ruth Reichl’s “Comfort Me with Apples”. Then I read about him in Sally Tisdale’s “The Best Thing I ever Tasted” – and although he was, apparently, a restaurant critic in Los Angeles for a number of years, I don’t recall ever reading anything about or by him before. Last I heard, he was/is editor of a food magazine).
In any case, there were far fewer foreign cookbooks available to us during the early decades of the 1900s—and oftentimes, those that were available were frequently written with European measurements.
Myra Waldo set out to change all that. In “COMPLETE MEALS IN ONE DISH” published in 1965, the author and her husband traveled throughout Europe—Robert Schwartz never seems to be addressed by name, he is always “My husband”—and each chapter is introduced with a delightful short story of where they traveled and what they saw, and how they happened to discover this dish or that. I was so intrigued with the short stories that I leafed through the entire book and read them all first, before the recipes.
My favorite story is that of Myra and her husband, while in Vienna, walking past the Hungarian Embassy. They began to discuss never having been to Hungary, looked at each other and retraced their steps. Inside the Hungarian Embassy they presented their passports – and before long, despite what Myra describes as “a slightly disquieting feeling of nervousness” they were on their way. As they drove through the countryside, in the middle of nowhere, – the radiator boiled over because the fan belt had become loose. While wondering what to do, they noticed a farmhouse off in the distance, so they walked to it, where they encountered a peasant woman airing bedclothes.
They attempted to communicate in English, French, and German, and when that failed, made their needs known with sign language. They carried off a bucket of water, promising to return the bucket and when they returned, tried to pay the woman.
Myra explains, “The woman waved it aside and motioned us to come inside the kitchen. A delicious aroma filled the air, and always curious I wanted to know what was on the stove. But, it appeared, that was the very reason we had been asked inside—to have something to eat. It was a meal-in-one-dish, a sausage stew made with potatoes and sauerkraut, hearty and delicious. We were embarrassed about eating her food, for it was obvious the farm was a poor one, but we were very hungry, and she was watching us for expressions of enjoyment in the food. It was very good—delicious, in fact. We drank a light white wine with the stew and enjoyed both enormously.
My husband, who has his points, came up with the perfect method of repayment. The woman wouldn’t take any money of course, but my husband opened a suitcase and extracted a box of Viennese candy, which we had brought along. He was right! She was ecstatic with pleasure and quickly and enthusiastically recited a list of names, apparently members of her family who would enjoy the candies…’
Myra and her husband left “amid many words of thanks on both sides, which she couldn’t understand, and which we couldn’t understand, but which everyone did understand”.
Don’t you just love it?
Other Myra Waldo cookbooks with a foreign flair were
PAN AMERICAN’S COMPLETE ROUND-THE-WORLD COOKBOOK, first published in 1954 and reprinted at least eight times, up to 1960;
“THE COMPLETE BOOK OF ORIENTAL COOKING”, first published in 1960 by David McKay Publishers;
“THE COMPLETE BOOK OF GOURMET COOKING FOR THE AMERICAN KITCHEN”, also published in 1960, by G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS (French cooking for American kitchens);
“THE ART OF SOUTH AMERICAN COOKERY” published in 1961 by Doubleday and
“INTER-CONTINENAL GOURMET COOKBOOK” published in 1967 by Macmillan Company. (one edition has a spiffy box to hold the cookbook in), but I also have a very nice hardcover edition published the same year. Was the boxed edition for something special?
“THE COMPLETE ROUND THE WORLD MEAT COOKBOOK”, was also published in 1967 by Doubleday & Company, and
“SEVEN WONDERS OF THE COOKING WORLD” was published in 1971 by Dodd, Mead & Company
**
“THE COMPLETE BOOK OF ORIENTAL COOKING” offers chapters on cuisine from Hawaii, Japan, Korea Phillipines, Indonesia, China, Indochina, Malaya, Thailand, Burma, and India.
“SEVEN WONDERS OF THE COOKING WORLD” is devoted to recipes from China, The Orient (other than China), Where East Meets West (recipes from Russia, Roumania, Greece, Turkey, Iran and Israel), Middle Europe (Germany , Austria, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia), Italy, the Latin Countries (Spain, Portugal, South America and Mexico) and France.
“THE COMPLETE BOOK OF GOURMET COKING FOR THE AMERICAN KITCHEN” adapts hundreds of French gourmet recipes for American kitchens (and palates) with recipes ranging from appetizers to desserts, and a glossary of different kinds of cheeses, a chapter of information regarding wines and an herb and spice chart. This is the kind of book that will make gourmet cooks out of all of us.
“INTER-CONTINENTAL GOURMET COOKBOOK” presents recipes from twenty-six countries, (too many to list), but including Australia, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan and Yugoslavia. What is most appealing about all of these cookbooks is that the recipes were all, obviously, chosen with particular care and are, in every instance, geared to the tastes of American palates. Each chapter is prefaced with an introduction by the author, whose writing is so appealing as to make you want to visit every one of these countries…being unable to do that, trying the many recipes might be the next best thing.
And, although “THE ART OF SPAGHETTI COOKERY” does not appear to have been classified amongst Waldo’s “foreign” cookbooks, it does contain recipes from many parts of the world; recipes such as Czechoslovakian potato noodle, Greek macaroni casserole, Bhat Aur Savia (Indian rice and spaghetti) and Chinese beef and noodles. As an added bonus, the author provides an interesting history of spaghetti in the Introduction. Makes no mistake about it, this is one cookbook author who always did her homework.
Another cookbook by Myra Waldo, while not strictly “foreign” has a European stamp, with recipes from France, Italy, Spain and Sweden.
This is “CAKES, COOKIES AND PASTRIES”, (187 great dessert recipes from around the world) first published by Crowell-Collier Publishing Company in 1962. Included are tantalizing recipes for goodies like Venezuelan Banana Torte and Viennese Poppy Seed Torte, Greek Pistachio Cookies and Swedish Honey cookies.
“MYRA WALDO’S DESSERT COOKBOOK” is written in a similar vein, offering recipes from many parts of the world. Included are recipes for yummy recipes such as Hungarian Plum Dumplings, Chinese Sesame Seed Bananas, Polish Almond Bars and Persian Rice Pudding. This, also, was first published in 1962 by Crowell-Collier Publishing Company.
“SERVE AT ONCE, THE SOUFFLE COOKBOOK, 1954, was published by Thomas Y. Crowell Company in New York.
“Myra Waldo has been testing and collecting souffle recipes for years,” we learn on the dust jacket of this book., “Her previous writing experience ranges from copy for cosmetics and chain stores to travel folders, and to assisting her husband compile two dictionaries. She is a member of the Gourmet Society of New York..” Aha, so now we know a bit more.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think many cooks (whether male or female such as you and I, everyday people in our kitchens, prepare souffles anymore). If I were to make an educated guess, it would be that we don’t want to take the time to do anything culinary that takes too much time. Our cake and brownie mixes come out of a box; our cookies are slice and bake. We cut to the chase with pre-cut and frozen onions and already minced garlic and a lot of things that come out of cans. I am just as guilty of this as the next person. I often start out with a mix of some kind and then “doctor” it. (and now someone has made a career out of doing just that on TV). When I start researching cookbook authors of half a century ago, I begin to realize how far we have strayed from “scratch” cooking. I think I’ll try some of these souffle recipes and get back to you on this particular issue.
Myra Waldo appeared to be ahead of her time with cookbooks that were for our health. “SLENDERELLA COOK BOOK” was first published in 1957 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Later, it appeared in paperback under the title, “THE COMPLETE REDUCING COOK BOOK FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY”. Another cookbook published in paperback was titled “COOKING FOR YOUR HEART AND HEALTH”, first published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in 1961, reprinted in paperback by Pocket Book in 1962 (cost of the paperback was fifty cents—imagine THAT!).
One book appears to have been originally published by Collier’s as a paperback, was “THE CASSEROLE COOKBOOK” (170 ingenious one-dish dinners). I think it might have been a takeoff from her earlier “COMPLETE MEALS IN ONE DISH” although the recipes are different. “The casserole” noted the author, “is the greatest single boon for the busy hostess. It permits her to join her guests instead of being confined to last-minute duties in the kitchen…” I agree, and reading both books, found many recipes that would be suitable even today. The back cover of “THE CASSEROLE COOKBOOK” notes that “Myra Waldo is the author of many Collier cookbooks, including “COOKING FROM THE PANTRY SHELF”, “GREAT RECIPES FROM GREAT RESTAURANTS”, “THE HAMBURGER COOKBOOK”, “COOK AS THE ROMANS DO”, “SOUFFLE COOKBOOK”, “CAKES, COOKIES AND PASTRIES” and “1001 WAYS TO PLEASE A HUSBAND: THE BRIDE’S COOKBOOK”. Incidentally, if you have this last title, it appears to be the most elusive of all Waldo’s books and, for some reason, the highest priced listed in Alibris.com. I am unable to determine whether 1001 Ways to Please a Husband and The Bride’s Cookbook are one and the same or two separate books.
“THE BRIDE’S COOKBOOK” was published by Collier as a paperback in1961 with numerous reprints. The copy my friend Sue Erwin located was printed in 1972. As cookbooks go, this one is a delightful departure from the norm. It’s the story of newlyweds, Jane and Peter, told in diary form by Jane; the recipes are good and the story line is cute. As an aside, while researching this and other cookbook authors, it has become apparent that quite a few writers of the 50s and 60s wrote a bride’s cookbook.
Another favorite Myra Waldo cookbooks is “THE DINERS’ CLUB COOKBOOK, (Great Recipes from Great Restaurants), published in 1959 by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, Inc. Recipes are from famous restaurants from coast to coast and there is even one from the Toll House in Whitman Massachusetts—where the original chocolate chip cookie was created. The recipe in the Diners Club cookbook, however, is a frosted daiquiri pie. Many of the restaurants no longer exist today, but it’s fun to read and the recipes sound delicious.
In 1960, Myra Waldo published “COOKING FOR THE FREEZER” and this was dedicated to preparing meals in advance. Written prior to the advent of side-by-side freezers and cross top freezers, the refrigerator-freezer shown on the cover with the author doesn’t look like it would hold more than a single meal but the author offers recipes that reconstitute satisfactorily after freezing and do sound good. Most of Myra Waldo’s cookbooks show, I think, the influence of her world travels.
Despite being a most prolific cookbook author throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s, publishing over 40 cookbooks, Myra Waldo appears to have all but disappeared from our culinary landscape. Most of my food-related books fail to mention her at all; James Trager, in “THE FOOD CHRONOLOGY” refers only briefly to her first cookbook, “THE SOUFFLE COOKBOOK” published in 1954, and Waldo’s 1967 “INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COOKING”. (As a yardstick of comparison, I noted that Irma Rombauer, who wrote only one cookbook (Joy of Cooking) ranks an entire lengthy paragraph in Trager’s Food Chronology, while Margaret Rudkin who introduced the world to Pepperidge Farm Bread and wrote “THE PEPPERIDGE FARM COOKBOOK” is acknowledged with nearly an entire page. Ida Bailey Allen who, you know, is the author of first cookbook I was introduced to as a child, is referenced nine times in Trager’s book, even though some of Allen’s books were little more than pamphlets and many were quite obviously promotions for the products that sponsored her.
And yet, as I leaf through cookbook after cookbook written by Myra Waldo, I am impressed with the quality of her writing. Recipes are written straightforwardly, directions are clear and precise. Any one of us could read her cookbooks, today, and follow her instructions. Sometimes we are gifted with interesting asides such as those in “THE COMPLETE BOOK OF GOURMET COOKING FOR THE AMERICAN KITCHEN” in which Myra explains how Baked Alaska was the unexpected and happy result of a laboratory experiment and tells us how sherbets came to 16th century France with Catherine de Medicis, bride of Henry II. Myra often gives us a food-related history lesson throughout the pages of “THE COMPLETE BOOK OF GOURMET COOKING FOR THE AMERICAN KITCHEN”. This cookbook, incidentally, is another favorite of mine. The stories she shares in COMPLE MEALS IN ONE DISH are heartwarming. Each chapter begins with a short memoir—and it is here, in this cookbook, that one gets a true sense of who Myra Waldo is.
Another mystery to this most elusive cookbook author is that her books were published by many different publishers, sometimes two different ones in the same year. Oftentimes, an author’s books will be published by the same publisher.
And where’s Waldo, today? I don’t know. I have been unsuccessful in my efforts to trace the elusive Ms. Waldo. If you know the answer to this question, let me hear from you.
BOOKS BY MYRA WALDO
This list is intended to be a guide; I have no way of knowing how complete the list is.
• SERVE AT ONCE, THE SOUFFLE COOKBOOK 1954, was published by Thomas Y. Crowell Company in New York.
• PAN AMERICAN’S COMPLETE ROUND-THE-WORLD COOKBOOK, first published in 1954 and reprinted at least eight times, up to 1960;
• THE COMPLETE BOOK OF ORIENTAL COOKING”, first published in 1960 by David McKay Publishers;
• DINING OUT IN ANY LANGUAGE/1956
• THE SLENDERELLA COOK BOOK/G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS 1957
• BEER AND GOOD FOOD/DOUBLEDAY & CO, 1958
• COOKING FOR THE FREEZER/DOUBLEDAY & CO, 1960
• THE COMPLETE BOOK OF GOURMET COOKING FOR THE AMERICAN KITCHEN/G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS, 1960
• MYRA WALDO’S DESSERT COOKBOOK/CROWELL-C0LLIER PUBLISHING 1962
• THE COMPLETE REDUCING COOK BOOK FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY, PERMABOOKS (paperback) 1957 (*originally published in hard cover as the Slenderella Cook Book)
• 1001 WAYS TO PLEASE A HUSBAND, 1958* (is this the same book as the Bride’s Cokbook?)
• MYRA WALDO’S BICENTENNIAL AMERICAN KITCHEN/POPULAR LIBRARY EDITION 1960
• COMPLETE BOOK 0F GOURMET COOKING FOR THE AMERICAN KITCHEN, DRAWINGS BY NATHAN GLUCK, 1960 (publisher?)
• THE COMPLETE BOOK OF ORIENTAL COOKING/DAVID MCKAY COMPANY, 1960 (Bantam Book published 1960)
• COOKING FOR YOUR HEART AND HEALTH/G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS, 1961 – POCKET BOOK EDITION, 1962
• THE BRIDE’S COOKBOOK, Collier Books 1961 (paperback) original copy right 1958. (*Is 1000 Ways to Please a Husband and The Bride’s Cookbook one and the same book?)
• CAKES, COOKIE AND PASTRIES/THE CROWELL-COLLIER PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1962
• COMPLETE BOOK OF VEGETABLE COOKERY, OR HOW TO COOK VEGETABLES SO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS WILL RAVE ABOUT THEM—AND YOU, 1962 (publisher?)
• COOKING FROM THE PANTRY SHELF, 1962 (publisher?)
• THE PANCAKE COOKBOOK, 1963
• THE CASSEROLE COOKBOOK/COLLIER BOOKS (paperback) 1963
• THE PLEASURES OF WINE/A GUIDE TO THE WINES OF THE WORLD 1963 (publisher?)
• COMPLETE MEALS IN ONE DISH/DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, 1965
• COMPLETE BOOK OF WINE COOKERY 1965 (publisher?)
• DICTIONARY OF INTERNATIONAL FOOD AND COOKING TERMS, 1967
• INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COOKING, ILLUSTRATED BY SIDONIE CORYN 1967 (publisher?)
• INTER-CONTINENTAL GOURMET COOKBOOK/THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 1967,
• THE FOOD AND DRINK OF SCOTLAND/HIPPOCRENE BOOKS 1996*
(this date may be incorrect. Possibly 1969?)
• SEVEN WONDERS OF THE COOKING WORLD, 1971
• CUCINA ORIENTALE, 1972 (publisher?)
• COMPLETE ROUND-THE-WORLD COOKBOOK; RECIPES GATHERED BY PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS FROM OVER 80 COUNTRIES WITH FOOD AND TRAVEL COMMENTS BY MYRA WLADO, 1973 (publisher?)
• THE MOLLY GOLDBERG JEWISH COOKBOOK/JOVE PUBLICATIONS, (PAPERBACK) 1978
• ART OF SOUTH AMERICAN COOKERY, ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN ALCORN, 1996 (publisher? Date accurate?)
Dates unknown:
• COMPLETE ROUND-THE-WORLD HORS D’OEUVRES BOOK
• COMPLETE ROUND THE WORLD MEAT COOKBOOK
• COOK AS THE ROMANS DO
• CREATIVE MEALS IN HALF THE TIME
• DICTIONARY OF INTERNATION FOOD AND COOKING TERMS
• DIET DELIGHT COOKBOOK
• FLAVOR OF SPAIN
• GREAT RECIPES FROM GREAT RESTAURANTS (possibly the Diner’s Club cookbook?)
• THE HAMBURGER COOKBOOK
• MYRA WALDO’S CHINESE COOKBOOK
• THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL BARBEQUE COOKBOOK
• THE PRIME OF LIFE AND HOW TO MAKE IT LAST
TRAVEL BOOKS:
• MYRA WALDO’S TRAVEL GUIDE TO EUROPE (no date)
• NEW HORIZONSA, USA
• MYRA WALDO’S TRAVEL & MOTORING GUIDE TO EUROPE, 1967
• MYRA WALDO’S TRAVEL GUIDE TO THE SOUTH PACIFIC, 1981
• JAPAN EXPO ’70 GUIDE, 1970
• MYRA WALDO’S RESTAURANT GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY AND VICINITY
• MYRA WALDO’S TRAVEL GUIDE TO SOUTH AMERICA
• MYRA WALDO’S TRAVEL GUIDE TO SOUTHERN EUROPE
• MYRA WALDO’S TRAVEL GUIDE TO THE ORIENT AND THE PACIFIC
And this is what I found on Google January 15, 2011:
Dateline July 29, 2004
“Myra Waldo, a writer who filled bookshelves with advice on places to see and their customs, died Sunday in her home in Beverly Hills. She was 88 and formerly lived in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The cause was congestive heart failure, her family said…Myra Waldo was born in Manhattan and attended Columbia University. In 1937 she married Robert J. Schwartz, a lawyer, who died in 1997. She used her maiden name professionally….” (Obviously, Wolfgang Saxon who wrote this piece – didn’t really KNOW anything about Myra Waldo. He concludes, “Ms. Waldo worked on special projects for the MacMillan Publishing Company in the late 1960s. From 1968 to 1972, she was on the air as food and travel editor of WCBS radio, a job that led to her 1971 “Restaurant Guide to New York City and Vicinity” which she continued to revise into the 1980s.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME, WOLFGANG? This is all you had to write about a woman who wrote over FIFTY books?
Jill Holzman, writing for Jewish Journal did considerably better with a short obituary about Myra Waldo Schwartz on August 5. 2004:
“Myra Waldo Schwartz, travel writer, food editor and critic, died July 25. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, Myra had numerous television appearances, a radio show on food on New York’s WCBS News Radio 88 and was the food editor for the Baltimore Sun’s This Week Magazine.
She wrote more than 40 books, including “The Complete Round The World Cookbook”, “Seven Wonders of the Cooking World” “The Molly Goldberg Cookbook” and “l,001 ways to Please Your Husband.”
Her passport bears the stamp of nearly every country, and the former president of the Society of American Travel Writers once described her as ‘The most traveled woman in the world,’ having visited every continent but Antarctica.
She is survived by her sister, Naomi Waldo Holzman; nephews Dr. Gilbert and Dr Donald Holzman, and their respective families. She remains an inspiration to her family, friends and fans.”
I’m only slightly mollified. It seems to me that Jill Holzman, being a family member, could have expanded more on Myra’s career. I would certain hope that, if I had written over forty cookbooks many of which were reprinted countless times in paperback editions (I know because I have a lot of them), my family had better have more to say about my illustrious career than a mere nine lines. And I have to say, I was saddened to learn she was living in Beverly Hills – not so very far from me when I was still living in the San Fernando Valley. I can’t help but wonder if she would have given me an interview, had I but known.
So, in 2011 when I ask you “Where’s Waldo?” you might correctly respond “In heaven” – or maybe she is peeking over my shoulder tonight, offering inspiration.
Happy cooking-and Happy cookbook reading!
–Sandra Lee Smith
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I “know” Myra. … She first caught my eye because of our name in common! I was shopping for Christmas and bought a hard bound boxed set of 2 small dimensioned cookbooks for my Brother-in-Law. Of course I HAD to glean through it before I wrapped it for him and wrote down a couple recipes. I was a professional cook at that time and use her Shrimp Soup at the restaurant and we became famous for it! But as in a lot of families … things change … and the Brother-in-law and the cookbooks are gone. I am not ashamed to say that I have been searching for that set of books ANYWHERE I can, and since this all happened in the late 60′s – early 70′s, You can see how elusive she can be!!! I have never found any record of a set like I described ever being produced. Even the publisher metaphorically stood blinking at me while crickets chirped softly in the background! You are the first one that mentioned a box presentation!! And the date and title feel like a fit. INTER-CONTINENTAL GOURMET COOKBOOK” published in 1967 . So many of her titles are specific … certain types of food or a geographical or sociological quality that group them together. I would not have done that for a gift cookbook for someone. But nice general gourmet recipes I would have. So I think you may have helped me hone my search. If you or any one else have this set and would like to sell it please contact me or even if you can just get me a copy of the recipe. She has a wonderful childlike openness to food from all over the world. She would have been something on her own TV show these days! But as far as filling in the gaps? … … I have no clue either. I can’t even find her book!! LOL
Hi Myra! What a delight to hear from you! In all the years I have collected Myra Waldo’s cookbooks…I have never before encountered anyone who actually knew who I was talking about. I wrote about her first in a newsletter called Cookbook Collectors Exchange – in the 90s or early 2000s…but then began writing on my blog about favorite authors of mine. OK, that being said–none of my books are two in a boxed set. The Inter-Continental book IS in a box and I suspect it was a special presentation copy given to her by Robert Huyot, President of Inter-Continental Hotels Corp. curious, I looked inside to see if there is a shrimp soup recipe and indeed, there is. But it’s a shrimp and pork soup–did your recipe have pork in it? If this isnt the right recipe, I’ll start going through my collection tomorrow to see if I can find another one. Also, I DO have some doubles of her books because when I was writing about her I began collecting the books and my editor at the CCE was finding and sending them to me, too. For instance, I have more than one copy of the Diner’s Cookbook and the copies I have are in very good condition. If you think the boxed Inter-continental cookbook is the right one, I will sell that one to you as I have another one, unboxed. I am never out to make money on books that I am prepared to sell & would sell any of them to you at a reasonable charge (say about $5.00?) plus whatever the shipping comes to. I also have some of her books in paperbacks–when I am searching for an author’s books I don’t care what edition I find, as long as I have a reading copy. Myra was so far ahead of her time but her books have really stood the test of time, I think, for anyone interested in “from scratch” cooking. If you had a restaurant, you surely know what I mean. Most of today’s cookbooks start out with a can of mushroom soup or a box of onion soup mix – I’m not putting those things down, just saying – it’s good to know how to make things from scratch, no matter what they are. BTW, this shrimp & pork soup is in a section of Thailand recipes Does that ring a bell? Let me know; if this isnt the one I will start looking through her other cookbooks. Best suggestion I can make for finding her books on your own is through the internet–Amazon or Alibris. something like that. I buy most of my cookbooks (especially pre-owned ones) from Amazon. Let me hear from you again!
Dear Myra,
I dont know how much space wordpress allows for comments but wanted to let you know, I have found 3 other shrimp recipes in Myra Waldo’s cookbooks. If you think any (or all) of them are what you want, let me know & I will type them up. In her “Complete Round The World Cookbook” there are two; an Asian Shrimp Soup and a South American shrimp soup. In her Complete Book of Oriental cooking, she has one from Thailand called Coconut Shrimp Soup.
do any of these ring a bell?
regards,
Sandra Smith
I was telling my husband about Myra’s “Portuguese Fish,” a dish which I made so long ago that I had forgotten about it. I believe I originally had found the recipe in Myra’s COMPLETE MEALS IN ONE DISH. This being the age of the Internet, of course I decided to Google her, and I linked to your charming blog.
She was a favorite of mine, but how I miss all of those great authors of decades past! (I actually came to meet Julia Child, James Beard, Craig Claiborne.) And some long-ago names tease at my memory. Cecily Blackstone? Poppy Cannon?
Another particular favorite of mine was Lillian Langseth-Christiansen of the now sadly defunct GOURMET Magazine.
Like you, I was saddened to learn that Myra had died in Beverly Hills, and for reasons much like yours. I was born on the Upper East Side of New York City, still live there most of the year — and my mother actually still was living there, too, when she died last year, not all that far from the famous cookbook store. (Mom, however, had been raised on the Upper West Side.)
Yet part of the time, I’m in Brentwood, only about four or five miles from Beverly Hills. Had I only known, like you, I, too would have tried to meet Myra.
I don’t know if you’re aware that “Slenderella” was a chain of exercise/ beauty salons in New York in the late 1950s and early 1960s. My mother went to one of them, wearing her leotard (a shocker!) under her coat. This chain did not last too long. It was way ahead of its time.
I will say that I am a pretty good cook by now, and I rarely need to consult a recipe. Yet since the older generation of my family all has died — in fairness, I am actually part of what now has become the current “older” generation — if I need to check out the precise measurements of a beloved family recipe, I do look at the MOLLY GOLDBERG COOKBOOK. (Also Jennie Grossinger’s.)
I look forward to reading your charming blog. Thanks so much. And I’m going to make that Portuguese Fish again, too….
Dear Judy, I LIVE for messages like yours. Sometimes when I have spent weeks (or sometimes months) researching a cookbook author, I wonder – will anyone really READ this…and then occasionally, I hear from someone, like you, saying yes, I loved that author or such and such a cookbok. Do you have the Portugese fish recipe? I will be happy to look any of them up. And some of the authors you mentioned are on my list of authors I want to do. A few – like Julia Child or James Beard – have been written about so extensively, I feel there’s nothing freshor new I could bring to the table – but many of the cookbooks authors from the 20s or 30s or 40s –so many of them are unknown, now, and it pleases me no end when someone writes & says they are trying to find their cookbooks. I first wrote about Myra when I was doing articles for a nice newsletter called The Cookbook Collectors Exchange throughout the 90s…and the woman who published it gave me carte blanch to write as much as I wanted. I spent months trying to acquire all of Myra’s cookbooks (and I think I have most of them including the Slenderella cookbook) but for a very long time, I had no idea what happened to her – not even the owner of a well known used bookstore in NYC knew who I was talking about. So it was left with a question mark until I decided to re-write my original article and while I was at it – did some googling (which we didnt have in the 90s) – only to discover she had passed away not long before and in Beverly Hills. I was crushed about that. Well, feel free to ask me anytime for recipes you can’t find – some of my Myra Waldo cookbooks are old discolored paperbacks but – still. and I think I ended up with 3 copies of the Diner’s Club cookbook when I was busy collecting her books. THANK YOU for writing! What a delight! – Sandy
ps Lillian Langseth Christensen – name sounds familiar and not just because of Gourmet (which I am sick about our losing) – did Lillian do an American-type cookbook
I’ll do some searching this afternoon. Also have the Molly Goldberg Coobook–did you read what I wrote about that? I have written over 300 posts on my blog and have to double check when various ones were posted…I have a separate list in WORD. I have a pretty good collection of Jewish cookbooks. Thank you again. – Sandy
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Hey, I was wondering if you have any idea who may own the rights to any of Myra Waldo’s books, specifically “Seven Wonders of the Cooking World.” The publisher is out of business, and I cant find any information anywhere. You seem to have more info about her life than anyone out there, so I figured I would ask. Thanks….jared
Dear Jared,
Well, I dont know the answer to your question but I do know that she had a couple of sons – and I think a niece wrote the obituary about her – I will be out of town until Friday but will check through my notes & see if I can find my hardcopy drafts of the last article. I CAN tell you she lived in Beverly Hills, California. I think went mostly by her married name by then & I think her husband was a lawyer. Will try to find out more for you. Back Friday, Dec 30. – Sandy
Hey Sandy, thanks for checking on that for me. Any information I can find will be helpful. Looking forward to hearing from you….jared
Hello,
I don’t quite know much about cookbooks or their authors, but your article was an extremely good read. It was a pleasure to read.
I have Myra Waldo’s book “Cakes, Cookies and Pastries” and it is rather good. I’ve only tried a couple of things in it though.
I’m 22, and from India, so I have a rather pathetic background in cooking really, but as a novice her book did give me a very enriching insight into baking.
Thanks for having written something substantial about the author.
Hello Nidhi – thank you for taking the time to write! I love Myra Waldo’s books and I think one of the things I always really liked about her writing is that they’re all easy to read, easy to follow. Sometimes you can find some of her cookbooks in used book stores or thrift shops–she doesnt have a big following anymore and she was such a talented writer. I’m sure you can find some of her other books & you will find them useful to keep on your bookshelves. – Sandy
Hi Sandy,
As I was making Szekely Gulyas for the “I don’t know how manyieth” time (page 221 of my hardcover edition of “Complete Meals in One Dish”), I also began to wonder about Myra Waldo. My dad first brought home the cookbook sometime in the ’70s. One of my fondest memories is making this stew with him. Thanks for the insights.
Thanks for writing, Judy. I think Myra is my all time favorite cookbook author of the 40s-50s decades; when you read one of her books, it’s like being in the same room and talking with her. She had such a friendly, chatty style. I think Marion Cunningham had a similar style. And she wrote so many cookbooks! Do you have any other Myra Waldo cookbooks? – Sandy
Hi Sandy,
I have been searching for the Myra Waldo cookbook I used to cook from as a teenager. I was so certain that it was the Round the World Cookbook and have ordered and received 3 of the wrong cookbooks (the first one was a softcover and the last two I ordered had a different cover featured on the website, not the one with an airplane circling the globe, so I was hopeful that the one I have been looking for would show up in the mail.) I don’t know when my mom purchased the book but I would have been cooking from the book from 1967 to 1971. I do remember several wonderful recipes from the book including Marinated Carrots and Italian Lamb in Egg Sauce. The first hardback version I received has a publication date of 1954 and the second one lists reprint dates from 1954-1960. I pick-up and put down the “project” of trying to find the fondly remembered cookbook and so was delighted to run across your article. Any thoughts on which of Myra Waldo’s cookbooks I might be looking for? Thanks so much in advance for any help.
Best regards,
Lisa
Can you tell me more about it, Lisa? I have most of Myra’s cookbooks and I have a few duplicates of some. Maybe I can help you out.
My bad, Lisa, I didnt realize your message was longer than what I first saw on my message board. Ok, was the cookbook an international one? International recipes? Myra did a lot of that kind of writing. tomorrow when I have more time–I will dig out my books (& I think I have most if not all of hers) –do you think you would recognize it from the cover? I can scan the covers & upload them. I can also do a search for Italian Lamb in Egg Sauce – that’s a good clue! (I love cooking detective work). I would be delighted to help you find your Myra Waldo cookbook.
Best wishes, Sandy
Thanks so much Sandy,
I have always thought it was an international one, in particular the Round
the World cookbook, but at this point in time I’m doubting my memory . Although the two books I purchased on-line did show a different cover on the website than what arrived in the mail which is why I took the chance and ordered the two books. I’m really having to stretch to bring back the memory of the book ( it has been forty years since I have seen the book) but I don’t remember it having the plane on the cover. Thanks for the detective work !
Best regards,
Lisa
Lisa, can you send me the titles of the books you do have? and maybe scan the covers of any you have th
Hi Sandy. Did you ever find out anything about the life of Lillian Langseth-Christensen? I’m aware of some of her publications as well as her writings in the old lamented Gourmet Magazine. Virginia
No Virginia, I’m sorry to say I haven’t but it sort of slipped my mind – I am kicking myself six ways to sunday for giving away an old collection of gourmet magazines that I had before we moved to Florida–I had years and years of issues going back to the 1940s. MY BAD – we didnt have storage units on every street corner back then (this was 1979) and I had to get ride of a lot of stuff. Thanks for the reminder; I’ll try to do some searching after the holidays (I know I wont get to it until they’re over with). Can you write to me and tell me what you have? My email address is ssmith00281@verizon.net. thanks! Sandy
Hi, Virginia–yes, I know its been a while since you and I exchanged some messages but I was wondering if you ever googled “Lillian Langseth-Christensen”? I just did and there is a link for a biography about her. Usually a bio will have a list of the author’s books. I didnt get that far this morning but thought I’d do a little more searching. The dust jacket for Myra Waldo’s round-the-world cookbook shows different people in different lands in a circle – but I removed the dust jacket to see what is on the cover of that book and it IS an airplane circling the globe. I’m interested in finding out what books Lillian Langseth-Christensen wrote. I suppose most of the collection of Gourmet magazine are stashed somewhere in a dusty cellar–it would be interesting if someone buys up the collection and maybe publishes some of the most frequently featured authors. Well, here I sit this morning browing through messages when I should be writing. ah, but half the joy of writing is in the reseach! regardsm Sandy
lISA, APPARENTLY, amazon.com bought up the Gourmet collection–google the author and look what all pops up. I dont recall seeing all of this when we started searching over a year ago. They also list about half a dozen or so of her books and I was able to find some of her Gourmet articles. I think there’s a good chance you can find what you are looking for now. I tried copying/pasting something of hers and got myself into a cyberspace jam with the margins. You can see what Gourmet published of hers, though. Let me know if you find what you were looking for. Good luck! Sandy
Sandy – Enjoyed reading your post, I’m not much of a cook myself but my best friend is and I’ve enjoyed encouraging him with gifts of cookbooks. I just happened to come across this ad on Tumblr and wondered who the heck Myra Waldo was – I have at least heard of the big names like Child, Beard, and Claiborne, but Waldo? So I googled her name and your article was the second one in the list. Thought you might enjoy this pic of Myra in a 70′s advertisement, if you’ve not seen it before. The copy calls her “America’s foremost cookbook author” – and now she’s unknown to all but a handful of cookbook fans like yourself. Ah well, glory fades fast, doesn’t it? Enjoy.
Hi, Russ – I live for comments such as yours. Yes, you are right about Myra Waldo. When I first became curious about her (way back in the 1990s!) I didnt have google. and inquiries to booksellers in NYC – notable used book sellers who are well known to book lovers -knew nothing about her. My first article about Myra was printed in a cookbook collectors exchange newsletter and I went with what I knew and gleaned from her cookbooks. She was really a prolific cookbook author! It was just in the past couple of years, as I was rewriting my original article and writing about her again, that I found an obituary and discovered she had passed away not long before this. I was greatly chagrined because I discovered she lived in Beverly Hills and until 2008, I was not that far from BH. But at least I was able to wtite “the rest of the story”.
Thanks for writing – Sandy
It has been my experience, Russ, that people who really love cookbooks and start digging into the past, begin to search for cookbooks written by writers like Myra Waldo and others I have been writing about. Their books become cherished because of the knowledge and wisdom they contain- and they are timeless. their recipes are just as good today as they were fifty (sixty, seventy) years ago. I hope your best friend keeps up his interest in cooking and cookbooks. It’s such a wonderful hobby – for, of course, we do have to eat and might as well enjoy what we’re eating!
I thoroughly agree that we should enjoy what we’re eating, which is why I am always happy to serve as guinea pig for my friend’s new dishes, and they are always good. I also think you did a fine job of summing up in one place what can be known about Myra’s life and work – it would be sad to think all that effort and love were to be entirely forgotten. Looking at my post above, it seems that WordPress dropped the URL link to the photo of Myra, so put your thinking cap on, and try this: kellyskitschen dot tumblr dot com slash post slash 41802178592. Or just go to Kelly’s Kitschen on tumblr, it’s about the fifth post down on her homepage. Myra looks like a lively, upfront gal, I’ll bet she was fun to know.
Russ, while I was able to log onto tumblr I couldn’t find a link for kelly’s kitchen no matter how many ways I tried to spell it. Am missing something somewhere – but was thinking–I believe I have some photos of Myra on some of her cookbook dust jackets. If I can remember how to scan/upload and post a photograph…I will. WordPress keeps changing its format leaving blogs-for-dummies-like-me in the dust. Had to chuckle over the name Kelly’s kitchen…my youngest son’s name is Kelly. (He has always disliked his name because it can be a girl’s or a boy’s name–I told him it was a boy’s name long before it became a girl’s name and there was once a race car driver whose name was Kelly. (I just have fond memories of a little boy who lived up the street from my family–when I was a little girl–and his name was Kelly). Well, I digress (I do that a lot) – but thanks for writing – Sandy .
Go to Google, type “kellys kitschen tumblr” in the search box, and it will be the first item that comes up. Scroll down to find the picture of Myra advertising Swift Premium Franks.
My thanks to Russ for finding this photograph of Myra Waldo! She was, as you can see, a beautiful woman–and a superb cookbook author!
I just found your website and am delighted to confirm my memories of the Round the World Cookbook; unfortunately, I can’t browse through it at the moment (it’s in a closed-up house in Maine). I would love a copy of the Chinese Beef and Noodles recipe with which we used to feed two grateful families, including four hard-working and low-earning academics teaching at the state university. Thanks so much for filling in the bare outlines of Myra Waldo.
Dear Ruth,
I have the ROUND THE WORLD COOKBOOK in front of me but have been unable to find a recipe for Chinese Beef and Noodles – there are several pages of Chinese recipes (under China) as well as a section of Beef recipes. Could it have another name? If you can think of any other identifying features I could look for, I’d be happy to do more searching. I’ll keep my copy on my desk until I hear from you again. I’m sorry to disappoint you. Regards, Sandy
Hi Sandy,
Thanks for your reply. The recipe included ground beef and fine noodles. We always referred to it as beef and noodles but no doubt it had a different title in the book. This is clearly not an emergency, but I’ll look forward to hearing from you again.
Best wishes, Ruth
Dear Ruth,
Well, this morning I dragged out Waldo’s Inter-Continental cookbook (the W’s are hard to reach right now–my granddaughter has been staying with me and a lot of my favorite author books are in that bedroom) – well, it wasnt in the Inter-Continental cookbook – the categories in that book appear to be middle-eastern. There are few Chinese recipes in Complete Round-the-World cookbook. I was thinking that US and Chinese relations might not have been especially cordial in 1954 when this cookbook was first published. I also noted that while it was first published in 1954, it wasa repritned several times, the last edition (the one I have a copy of) published in 1958, which leads me to wonder if any recipes were deleted in the later issues. There are only 7 Chinese recipes in Round the World – one a Beef & Peppers (but the meat isnt ground) and the other is called Beef And String Beans, Chinese name Dow Jay, Ngow Yok soong – and THAT recipe uses 2 pounds of beef or pork, GROUND. This one says “serve with boiled rice”
There is a separate category for Hong Kong but the recipes given don’t appear to be the one you are looking for.
I do have a lot of Chinese cookbooks, will try to go through some of those but I have no doubt that what you are looking for must have been in an earlier edition of Round-the-World cookbook. If I find anything else, I’ll let you know. – regards, Sandy
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I am working on more posts about cookbook authors. There are a lot of little-knowns out there. Stay in touch! Sandy
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