The First Celebrity Chef

Bartolomeo Scappi, who was the personal cook of popes and author of the earliest illustrated cookbook, was the first man known to have scoured different cities for new ingredients and recipes and to have invented new dishes just for the sake of creativity. His banquets were renowned among prelates and nobles all over Europe.

Maggie Smith Knows She’s Hard To Work With, And She Wishes She Were Like Judi Dench

“The awful thing is, I’m very aware when I’m being difficult, but I’m usually so scared. And that’s shaming, at the age one is. Because every time I start anything, I think, ‘This time I’m going to be like Jude, and it will all be lovely, it will be merry and bright, the Quaker will come out in me.’ But it never works.”

Can Lyric Opera Of Chicago Survive The 21st Century?, Asks Leading Chicago Business Magazine

Lyric general director Anthony Freud, along with the company’s CFO and board chairman, remember the days (the ’90s and before) when their season sold out on subscription, describe the extra attention they’re offering subscribers today, and list half a dozen strategies they’re using to strengthen operations and increase income (which has been suffering).

Producing Plays In A Theatre “Desert”

“My small town was in what I call a new play desert. If you were a playwright, the closest market for your new play was a few workshop opportunities forty-five minutes away in the next city. There was a regional theatre, a theatre department at the local university, and a community theatre, but none of them were very open to producing or even reading new plays. After taking two playwriting classes at my alma mater, I found myself surrounded by ten or so students that had caught the writing bug with no outlet left to develop their plays once the semester was over. So I took it upon myself to provide that outlet for them and myself. I stepped out of the theatre “dojo” to provide an oasis in the middle of this desert.”

Spencer Hays, Business Magnate Who Gave A Huge Art Collection To The Musee D’Orsay, Has Died At 80

Mr. Hays had been a Bible salesman, an apparel salesman and a majority shareholder in a business employing college students to sell magazine subscriptions every summer. And he and his wife adored Paris, and French art. “The gift — the largest foreign donation of art to France since World War II — was announced by President François Hollande in a ceremony at the Élysée Palace in October after months of negotiations with the couple.”