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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1962-03-08, Page 2Araban Nights in Boston, Mass.. To many a proper Bostonian, the very proper Copley Plaza Hotel — which has presided for decades past, like a doughty dowager, over Copley Square -- is still a hallowed and dignified. landmark. (The hotel's correct name today is the Sheraton - Plaza, but among Bostonians few but the cabdrivers really receg- nine this.) In, this hoteltea. dances were held, and debu- tante parties; and along its flower-deeorated entry corridor, prim Boston ladies used to sit the afternoon through watching the passing throng. The essence of proper Boston- ianism, however—a fact that is sometimes forgotten—is its com- plete sophistication. And so, re- cently, the gray-haired ladies still sat the length of the flower- decorated entry corridor barely looking up as the exotic, Arabian- , nights world of one of the rich- est men on earth passed before their eyes—the world of Saud ibn Abdul Aziz al Faisal al Saud, bearded, white -robed King of Saudi Arabia. Along the hotel's corridor, moved the princes of Saud's train In gold -threaded ghutra head gear, flowing robes swirling in flashes of red and blue and white and black; their body- guards wore scimitars, and ban- doliers across their chests. And, each night that week a small convoy of Cadillac limou- sines drew up in front of the hotel, after a 1 -mile run from the Nile Restaurant in Boston's Chinatown, Busboys and liver- ied chauffeurs took piping -hat dishes, neatly wrapped in alumi- num foil, from the cars and up r to the hotel's sixth floor. It was dinnertime for King Saud. His Majesty's meals (served also to his retinue of 30) includ- ed such delicacies as: Roast peacock stuffed with rice (at $16 each.) Roast lamb—the entire animal —stuffed with lamb chunks, rice, and nuts (at $180 each.) Rolled grape leaves (imported by the barrel from Damascus ) stuffed with lamb and rice. Squab; quail; a favorite appe- tizer called hoomis bi tahini (a seasoned mashed chick-pea); a favorite dessert called baglaiva (made of 26 paper -thin layers of pastry dough filled with walnut meats and drenched in honey). Ever since 61 -year-old King Saud arrived at Peter Bent Brig- ham Hospital in November for the removal of cataracts on both eyes and what was described as "minor" abdominal surgery, even the .staidest Bostonian had been awsre that he was in town. First, there were the reports of the four -room, 650 -a -day suite in the hospital, then the stories of the richly bound leather address books and leather key cases that the King gave the 179 other pa- tients in the hospital when he was discharged. The King's son, 8, -year-old Pr.nce Mashhur ibn Saud, also underwent an operation for 'the transplant of a tendon in a hand crippled at birth. The Little Prince, who had been treated at Walter Reed Hos- pital in 1957 at President Eisen- hower's behest, was recovering too. But he was the most western- ized of the group, dining on steak and potatoes and watching shoot - 'em -up horse operas on televi- sion. Before the King left the hos- pital, the Sheraton -Plaza prepar- ed for his convalescence by re- decorating his private quarters in white and gold, replacing hotel -style furniture in the suite of Queen Umm Mansour (one of Saud's four wives) with rare French antiques. The hotel also put down an Oriental rug in the royal party's private elevator. A dining room for twelve was set up in the King's section and a chair upholstered in gold bro- cade was obtained to serve as his temporary throne. Then the royal party's rooms were cut off from the rest of the sixth floor by a partition, while the eight- room section for the women Flow Well Do You Know SOUTH AMERICA? (who occasionally appeared in public, heavily veiled) was fene- ed off from the men's quarters by a floor -to -ceiling curtain.• Clearly looney was no problem, King Saud was paying $71,50' a day for each of the three-room suites, and the Nile Restaurant,, by appointment victualers to the exotic party, hired three more cooks. The daily bill was paid by the Arabian -American Oil Co„ the concern which hay the oil concession in Saudi Arabia. As King Saud convalesced, the seventeen adult princes in the party junketed through Boston's somewhat low-key night spots; the King himself made motor trips to Massachusetts North Shore and to the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, But by now the tales about the King and his court werebeginning to sound like the "Thousand and One Nights." Tall, thin, bearded Baker You- nus, whose title of Royal An- nouncer proclaimed him as King Saud's Pierre Salinger, seemed to delight in feeding conflicting stories to the press and it was hard to separate rumor (that the :King had bought fixtures for eight bathrooms) from fact (that his party purchased $11,000 worth of watches to hand out as tips), Boston's small colony of Arabian descent had scheduled a dinner for the King and 500 -odd guests, which promised to be one of the gustatory high spots in the his- tory of a city famous for such bland dishes as baked beans, codfish, and Indian pudding, As an added fillip, the Sheraton hotel chain planned to ship in a $50,000 gold dinner service from which Nikita Khrushchev dined when visiting San Fran- cisco, In the confines of the Plaza, all this was pretty much taken in stride. But the doormen at the entrance had their troubles when those who gathered to gawk at the King's free -spending adult princes. Back in the grand days of the Copley Plaza, Harvard boys called it the "Costly -Plea- sure," The old nickname was never more apt. From NEWSWEEK Has Gunl—Will Travel!!—Fed UpM 'It's sad, like seeing a Ray Robinson after his best days are past. You wish he wouldn't fight any more and you could just keep your memories." This was Richard Boone last month, talking about his own show. In his fifth season as star of CBS's "Have Gun, Will Travel," Boone virtually runs the series himself. As Paladin, the world-weary gunslinger, he is its sole drawing card; as its sometime director, he has called his own shots 26 times in the past three seasons. But he is not happy. "There is no such thing as an adult Western," Boone once told an interviewer. Yet, in an art form as stylized as a sonnet, actor Boone has achieved some adult entertainment. The special Paladin character has, of course, given him a leg up to begin with. Here is a hero who is a wencher, a bon vivant, and a mercenary —who even wears a mustacne, the badge of the Western heavy. But "Have Gun's" success de- rives from more than the novel character of its hero. Trying to account for it in part, Boone said: "We usually have twenty scripts when we start shooting for the year. That way, we have time to repair one if it's no good. and we use new writers—hungry writers, Established writers might sneeze out something con- ventional.", Even with hungry writers, however, Boone himself is by now fed up with the Western formula. "Every time you go to the well," he said, "It's a little further down. The show has car- ried one or two seasons too long," By the end of this month, CBS will decide whether to stretch Paladin over another season. If the network doesn't want him, Boone nevertheless keeps right on collecting on a $1.3 million contract that spreads his five -season earnings over twenty years. One night recently, Boone's controlled, lucid narration of "John Brown's Body," with a forceful cast behind him in a stark TV adaptation, proved anew that he can act without a gun in his hand. ile wants next to star in a stage play based en a harrowing novel about the dis- integration of German troops in World War Il. After that, more specials,' more plays like "The Rivalry," in which he played Lincoln on Broadway, and more films, His only worry now is that CBS won't share his low opinion • of "Have Gun." "One of those bush-league Napoleons," he said, "planted something in Variety a.,eut the sponsor being dissatis- find with the show. That's my only hope." ISSUE 8 -- 1962 CANDY COUNTER — Robert Lang's dream come true when he became president of a candy company for a whole day. The lad won the honor as a TV show prize. After Robert sampled the product for a few hours, he sent several cases of candy bars to pals, neighbors, school, church and vet- eran's .hospital back home. 1T S Jane Andrews. After many years of making cakes by the creaming method, the one -bowl method of mixing was developed. This method ells minates several time-consuming steps in mixing and also saves using several mixing dishes. Softened shortening is mixed with sifted dry ingredients and the liquid and eggs are added, usually in 2 portions, then beat- en for a specified number of strokes. Best results are gained with this method when all in- gredients are at room tempera- ture. Here is a yellow cake made by this one -bowl method, GLORIA YELLOW CAKE 2 cups sifted oaks flour 1';t cups sugar 2% teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt it cup shortening 1 cup less 2 tablespoons milk 11s teaspoons vanilla 2 eggs, unbeaten Sift flour, sugar, baking pow- der, and salt into mixing bowl. Drop in shortening. Add ?g cup milk, then Vanilla and beat 150 strokes, Scrape bowl and spoon often throughout entire mixing. Add eggs and beat 250 strokes. Add remaining milk and beat 80 strokes. Pour into 2 greased fl- inch cake pans and bake at 975 degrees F. for 25-35 minutes. (If you are mixing with an electric beater, add % cup of milk, then vanilla to dry ingredients and shortening and beat a low speed 2 minutes; scrape bowl and beater. Add eggs and remaining milk and beat on low speed 2 minutes). Frost with chocolate frosting and decorate with pecan halves. * Another quick -mix cake is tinted pink for birthdays or other festive occasions. This is baked in a 13x9x2-inch pan, PINK PEPPERMINT CAKE 34 cup shortening 21 cups sifted flour lVs cups sugar 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup milk ?/*, teaspoon vanilla 34 teaspoon peppermint extract a egg yolks 1 egg white Few drops red fecal :colcr"ag. Place shortening in bowl; sift ±1011±, baking powder, and salt into the bowl. Add z,b ettp of milk and beat 2 minutes on me- dium speed of electric mister, er 150 strokes by hand, 'Through- out mixing time, keep batter scraped from sides and bottom of bowl, Add remaining 7b cup milk, vanilla, peppermint ex- tract, 3 egg yolks, 1 e'g white, and red coloring, Beat an addi- tional 2 minutes on medium speed, or 150 strokes, Sorape bowl and beaters. Pour batter into a 13x9x2 cake pan (bottom lined with 2 layers of waxed Paper), Bake at 350 degrees F. aboutf10-45 minutes, Cool slight- ly, Loosen cake by running spa - tile around edge of the pan, then remove from pan by plac- ing tray on top of pan and turn- ing upside down. Frost With pink fluffy frosting (use remain- ing egg whites for this frost- ing). At a glamourous party which I attended recently, there was a table laden with delicious and beautiful things to eat, includ- ing a French chocolate cake — the kind you chill and do not bake, writes '.Eleanor Richey Johnston in the Christian Sol- enee Monitor, It was made in a circular ring mold. It was filled with whipped cream, and the center, where the cake and cream met, was ringed with deep red maraschino cherries. This was the most popular dessert at the party, and I have the recipe for you. It is easy and good; here it is: VNBAKED FRENCH CHOCOLATE CAKE I pound semi -sweet chocolate % cup grater 4 tablespoons powdered sugar 1% sticks butter (melt over low heat) 5 eggs, separated 5 tablespoons grated or ground almonds 2 tablespoons corn soya (a breakfast cereal) 1 tablespoon powdered sugar Break chocolate into medium chunks in saucepan; acid the water and place over very low heat. When chocolate is melted pour off 'water and discard. Place the 4 tablespoons powder- ed sugar in mixing bowl; add melted chocolate and melted butter; mix well by hand. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add grated almonds and eereel a n d nix. Beat egg Whites until stiff and dryand add to them 1 table- spoon powdered sugar, Carefully fold egg whitea into first mix- ture, Pour into greased ring mold and put into refrigerator; chill, When firm, turn out on serving pis t e and fill centre with whipped cream or lee cream. M1. 5 * Here is another cake which will make your friends say, "Tease give me the recipe," af. ter they have eaten. it, It is de, corated with -green 1 eat gum- drops and 'red maraschino cher- ries. MARASCHINO CHERRY -NUT CARR 1/2 cup butter 11/2 cups sugar 3 cups sifted cake flour 3 teaspoons baking powder i/ teaspoon salt 1 cup milk % cap chopped, drainedred maraschino cherries( about 16) }/z oup chopped pecans 'A teaspoon almond flavouring 3 egg whites Cream butter; add sugar gra- dually and cream well together. Sift flour, ,baking powder, and salt together and add to cream- ed mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients, Add the well - d r a i n ed maraschino cherries, nuts, and almond flavouring. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. With a rubber spatula or a spoon, fold in the egg whites with an up-anl-over mo- tion. Divide batter evenly into two 9 -inch cake pans that have been oiled on the bottom. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool on racks until pans are cool enough to handle, then turn out on racks end cool before frosting. Frost with 7 - minute icing and decorate. With all of its electric and telephone wires buried underground, this residential area has an open, uncluttered look. When a Town Goes 'Wireless' Conventional eleotriiication requires a jungle of poles and Three subdivisions in the Cedar Falls, lowo, area have gove completely "underground" That is, their electrici- ty hos. There isn't a wire or pole to be seen, except for street light poles, Municipal Utilities of Cedar Foils and Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. co-operated in the ex- perminent to see if the idea was feasible. They found that their first subdivision of 38 Cots cost $9,366 for under- ground installation, 2 407 more than the estimated .'° Transformer and service . IA. ±vires ' in this subdivision. ail i l ties arc inconspICuoa s,, above ground cost, Fears of .costly maintenance proved highly exaggerated. In a severe ice storm, 300 overhead services were lost but none of those underground, The companies are solid backers of underground wiring and feel that improved appearance, greater safety, low main- tenance and customer satisfaction make the slightly In- creased price per lot ($100 flat fee in this case) a bar- gain for both homeowner and community. Advances in the system will make it even more desirable,