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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1955-02-03, Page 2, ,TABLE T.ALI(S 9 eiaxArduws. Of course you've heard it be- fore, but it's worth repeating — and remembering — that cake - making is an art which requires precise measuring and mixing of all, ingredients for complete success, In other words, don't guess. Oven temperatures should also be checked carefully, and for butter cakes, make sure all. ingredients are at room tem- perature. * * * There is a standard method of mixing butter cakes which be- gins with creaming the shorten- ing, and adding sugar gradually. Separate eggs, beat yolks and add to creamed mixture (or, if eggs are not to be separated, add whole, beaten eggs). Sift flour, measure, add other dry ingredi- ents, and sift again. Next, add dry ingredients and milk alter- nately to butter -sugar mixture, keeping batter at same con- sistency throughout. And flavor- ing and, last, beaten egg whites. Variations of this method may be found in some recipes. * * * For butterless cakes, the method of mixing is this: in general, separate eggs and beat yolks until thick and lemon col- ored; add sugar gradually, beat- ing after each addition, Add flavoring and liquid, if any, and fold in sifted, dry ingredients. Fold in separately beaten whites. This method, also, may vary with certain recipes. * * g. Here is a new lemon chiffon cake that calls for only 6 eggs. It has the delicate flavor of fresh lemon and is crowned with a fluffy lernon frosting that doesn't require conking — just whip it up in a jiffy and spread It over your cake: LEMON CHIFFON CASE 21: cups sifted cake flour 11i cups sugar 1 tallespoen baking powder 1 teaspoon salt Ifs cup salad oil 6 eases. separated sv SAFER, TOO — Policeman in Rome, Italy, directs ever-in- creasing traffic through Rome's ancient streets from one of the new traffic control platforms which are bolted to corners of many buildings. They leave more room for the cars and at the same time provide a meas- ure of safety for officers' shins. s/a cup cold water 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel Sia teaspoon Dream of tartar Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together into a bowl. Make a well in this and add in order, the oil, egg e'olks, water, lemon juice, and peel. Beat with spoon until smooth. Add cream of tartar to egg whites and beat until very, very stiff. Pour the egg yolk mixture gradually over the whipped egg whites, carefully folding with a rubber scraper just until blend- ed. Do not stir. Pour immediate- ly into an ungreased 10x4 -inch tube pan. Bake at 326° F. for 70 minutes, or until top springs back when lightly touched. Af- ter removing from oven, turn pan upside down, placing tube part over the neck of a small funnel. When cold, loosen the sides with a spatula, remove cake, and frost, * * * LEMON FROSTING 14 cup butter Dash of salt 4 eups sifted confectioners' sugar 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel Cream the butter; add salt and part of sugar. Cream well and add remaining sugar alter- nately with lemon juice, cream- ing until light and fluffy. Add lemon peel and mix thoroughly. * * * If you're looking for a light, pretty cake for a dessert party or an engagement party, try this one made with buttermilk, If it is for an engagement party, bake it in heart -shaped pans. STRAWBERRY FLUFF CASE 1 cup butter 114 cups sugar 3 cups sifted cake flour a, teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon soda 1 cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla 6 egg whites ?; teaspoon cream of tartar 34 cup sugar Cream butter, add the 11/4 cups sugar gradually, and cream, together until light and fluffy. Sift together, flour, salt and soda, and add in small amounts alternately with buttermilk and vanilla, beginning and ending with dry ingredients, Beat egg whites until frothy, add cream of tartar, and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry. Gradually add sugar (the s/a cup), beating until stiff me- ringue is formed. Fold meringue into cake batter gently but thoroughly. Pour into three 9 - inch layer pans which have been lightly oiled and lined on the bottom with plain paper. Bake at 375° F. for about 25 minutes, until cake begins to draw away from sides of pan. When cool, frost with the following: STRAWBERRY FLUFF FROSTING 2 cups sugar 1 package (1 pound) frozen strawberries, thawed and drained 1/ teaspoon salt 2 egg whites Combine all ingredients in top of double boiler. Beat to blend. Place over boiling water and cook, beating constantly for 7 minutes, until frosting stands in stiff peaks. Remove and con- tinue beating until frosting is cool. SMALL BABY -- BIG BATTLE Nurse Rosemary Cardillo -watches over tiny Marilyn Terwilliger, who lies in a baby iron lung which saved her life when ski was stricken with polio when she was five weeks old. The March of Dimesrushed the respir- ator, and Marilyn, now a polio veteran of five months, is on ' the road to. recovery. Fashion Prints Her ,Springtime Edition Earlier than the first crocus, Fashion's perennial harbinger of spring, the print dress, is now blossoming In desginers' salons. Pictured below are some of the styles and fabrics you'll soon be seeing in the stores. ' CHIFFON — Shirtwaist treatment is given to this printed silk chif- fon in Caribe blue; belted, but- ton -front dress has bracelet - length sleeves, cuff -link style cuffs. SHANTUNG — Dior influence is seen in this white silk shantung border print for spring. Sleeve- less dress features flattened, raised bustline; long-torsoed bodice and full skirt. SWISS COTTON—High-luster pol- ished Swiss cotton print for springtime has fitted bodice; deep, open neck. It's set off by a self collar and a bow -tied satin belt. SURAH — Red -and -white silk surah print appears in this springtime dress which features self -pleating trim. It doubles as lining for the red -wool jersey coat. The secret of this next creamy frosting is the rich, sour cream you put in it. It's good on al- most any cake but especially delicious when spread between and on a delicate white cake. CREAMY WALNUT FROSTING 1 cup walnut meats, chopped 11/ cups sugar 34 teaspoon salt s/n cup sour cream 1 tablespoon corn syrup 1/ teaspoon vanilla Combine sugar, salt, cream, and syrup. Heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil slowly to 234° F. or to soft ball stage. Cool to lukewarm; add vanilla and beat until mixture loses its gloss. Stir in walnuts, Spread on cool- ed cake. If frosting hardens too fast, stir in teaspoon or more of hot water. Farm Testing Treated Seed Numerous Western farms be- came part-time experimental stations this year by pal ticipat- ing in on -the -farm comparisons between untreated seed ar d seed treated with mercurial fungi- cides. Results of the trials, in- stituted by Du Pont of Canada. have now been tabulated by the company's agronomists, and have proven so encouraging that this method of field testing un- der actual farm conditions will be carried out on a nation-wide scale during the next crop year. Alfalfa and clover were sub- jects of the pilot tests conducted this year. Other seeds, includ- ing wheat, oats, rye, barley, soy- bean and flax will be used in the enlarged programplanned for 1956. In each experiment, compar- able plots were planted with the same amount of treated and untreated seed. When the plants had reached maturity, an actual stand count was made in each section. A two -foot diameter hoop was tossed out at five ran- dom locations in each plot; all plants found encircled by the hoop were then counted. When the results were tallied, it was found that the• sections'. planted• with treated seed yielded great- er stands than those produced by untreated seed. Differences as high as 100 per cent (alfalfa) were recorded. Plants from the treated sections also appeared to be of higher quality. Seed disinfectants do not di- rectly influence germination, nor are they fertilizers. They are de- signed, however, for the impor- tant job of protecting the seed and seedling from the attack of seed -borne and soil -borne dis- ease organisms which cause seed rot and seedling decay or "damping off." Seed treatment, which costs only a few cents an acre, ensures plants a good start in life, allowing healthy initial, development of both root and top growth until the plant has become firmly established. The mercurial fungicides are said to be particularly effective when weather conditions, such as a cold or wet Spring, are un- favourable. "Could you," the specialist asked, "pay for an operation if I found one necessary?" "Would you," countered the patient, "find one necessary if I couldn't pay for it?" SWING TO SPRING—At least for a moment or two, and forget dreary winter days while you swing on the beach With Mary - Lou Lynn. How Purdom Sang With Lanza's Voice �eo� FILMLAND usually likes to keep its trick -work a secret. But it tells the truth to the public with "The Student Prince." MGM are candid about it, ad- vertising that it isn't Edmund Purdom's singing voice we hear. Although he is the star we see, the voice belongs to Mario Lanza. A remarkable story lies be- hind it all, and Edmund PurdOm recently told how it was done. Coincidence played its part. To begin with, Mario Lanza was to have starred in the film, and he pre-recorded all the songs for it, But difficulties arose and it was decided not to go ahead. The producers were left with songs but no picture. That was in October, 1952. Three months later, Edmund Purdom was placed on contract. The two events had nothing whatever to do with each other. After appearing in "Julius Caesar," Purdom 'found himself at a loose end and with nothing lined up for him. The film he was supposed to do was post- poned. Rather than waste time, he decided to take advantage of the numerous facilities offered free to contract players. He could take lessons in more or less any- thing he liked. So he studied various s u b j e c t s which he thought might be useful. Among them were fencing, dancing, dra- matic coaching—and singing. "Singing was the one thing Pd never tried before," he told me, "and rather to my own surprise I found myself developing into quite a good baritone under the guidance of Maestro Leon Cep- paro. "After a time, I felt that 1 was ready to have a go at singing in musicals if anyone asked nie. Which, when you come to think of it, is rather ironical, it's not niy own voice, after all!" From time to time, Hollywood studios make what they call general production tests. Their aim is to try out players in vari- ous parts as well as to experi- ment on them with different types of lighting, make-up and so on, Edmund Purdom was put into one of these production tests with Ann Blyth. Once again, fate was weaving its strange pattern. For Ann had been cast as Mario Lanza's co-star in "The Student Prince," and she had pre-recorded her songs at the same time as he had clone. Telling this, Edmund Purdom revealed a sidelight on Holly- wood's recording technique. Most songs are recorded several times and very often certain notes from one recording are better than in another. So the best parts are taken from each in- dividual sqund track and then "dubbed" on to one fresh track. In this way, it is possible to get a completely faultless song al- though the original quality may have - varidd considerably every time it was recorded. As it happened, Mario Lanza's voice in this case was so good that it wasn't necessary to re- cord him more than once. But when it came to duets with Ann Blythe, the two stars did their recordings quite separately. The best of Ann's sound tracks could then be blended with Lanza's. But the general production test that Edmund Purdom did with Ann Blyth was a straight acting one, without any singing. It was while they were doing it that Lillian Burns, the dramatic coach, suddenly exclaimed: "Ann and Edmund would make a won- derful team. What a pity you're not a singer, Edmund!" "I've been taking lessons," he remarked, and she looked thoughtful. Half an hour later, she burst out, excitedly: "I've got a great ideal" The idea was that Edmund Purdom should do "The Student Prince" to Mario Lanza's voice. At first, everyone thought the idea was quite crazy. It was one thing for an actor like Larry Parks to play the part of Al Jolson and mince to Jolson's voice—he was actually portray- ing the Owner of the voice. It was another thing for a star to have a voice "double"—and plenty Of musical stars do have regular voice doubles. But it was yet another thing again for an actor to mime to such a recognizable voice as Mario Lanza's. On top of that, Lanza would not be likely to give permission for his voice to be used unless he received credit for it. "There were a lot of prob- lems." Edmund Purdom ex- plained. "The main one was that the numbers had to flow out of the dialogue, "It was necessary for me to visualize how Mario Lanza would have played the scenes, otherwise the action would nev- er have looked convincing. One top of that, I had to pitch my voice so that when the dialogue went into song audiences would not be conscious of the fact that they were hearing a different man." Two months were spent on a test, Edmund had to learn two of the numbers, "Beloved" . and "Drink, Drink, Drink," The test itself ran for twenty minutes on the screen and, in the end, it was decided to go ahead with the plan. Edmund had to learn the eight other songs from the mu- sical, Arid here was another prob- lem, Mario Lanza is a tenor; Edmund Purdom is a baritone. You may not think this would matter. Oddly enough, it mat- ters quite a lot because, even when a star is acting to a "ghost" voice, he has to sing the num- bers himself. "You can't sing the impression that you are singing unless you are actually singing," Edmund pointed out. "Opening and clos- ing your mouth simply looks un- natural. My problem was that— though I hadn't realized it at first—the actual muscular move- ments of the throat are different for a tenor and a baritone. "When the scenes were filmed, I acted to a loudspeaker play - I back of Mario Lanza's voice, and I had to pitch my voice as near as possible to match his. I managed to reach the high notes, too, though I'm not going to tell you what they sounded like!" "Mabel, your sleep is showing!' ON A BENDER—Night-club entertainer Akiko. Suehiro does a backbend to show how easily she ripples off some "cool" notes on the trumpet. In addition she does some dancing and acro- batics while entertaining people in Tokyo. 7'A ti