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How to Do It or The Lively Art of Entertaining
Whether it’s time for high camp or high tea, celebrated dishes or celebrity dish, Miss Maxwell delivers tips on entertaining that are entertainment enough in this classic, camp period piece, as relevant today to hosts and hostesses as it was when it was originally published in 1956. The ultimate book on entertaining, How to Do It dishes on what to do about bachelors as guests, not inviting the family, uncomfortable greetings, “inebriates,” and countless other factors that could potentially prevent your party from being This Year’s Important Affair.
Want to give a party? Darling, the cocktail party is so over. Miss Maxwell shares her secrets to livening up your soiree, from scavenger hunts to tea parties in the afternoon. The party bible for hostesses who can’t stand another humdrum How to Do It includes recipes (among others, dishes such as “Andalusian Gazpacho à la Joan Fontaine” and “Cole Porter’s Cherry Compote”), advice (Steer clear of bores. Really.), and trouble-shooting potential disasters (your guest is dominating the conversation―you’ll need to stop him now!). Don’t even contemplate entertaining without Miss Maxwell’s help.
Want to give a party? Darling, the cocktail party is so over. Miss Maxwell shares her secrets to livening up your soiree, from scavenger hunts to tea parties in the afternoon. The party bible for hostesses who can’t stand another humdrum How to Do It includes recipes (among others, dishes such as “Andalusian Gazpacho à la Joan Fontaine” and “Cole Porter’s Cherry Compote”), advice (Steer clear of bores. Really.), and trouble-shooting potential disasters (your guest is dominating the conversation―you’ll need to stop him now!). Don’t even contemplate entertaining without Miss Maxwell’s help.
- GenresNonfiction
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 18, 2022
The advice about entertaining is not earth-shattering; most of it involves simple good manners and consideration for others (host for guest and vice-versa). I was hoping for descriptions of royals and movie stars playing charades or going on scavenger hunts -- party pastimes invented by Ms. Maxwell.
The name-dropping is sometimes fun. I enjoyed the scattered anecdotes about certain of Elsa's buds, such as Noel Coward and Cole Porter. I loved some of the photographs, like the one of Joan Fontaine and Clark Gable participating in a cooking contest mounted in Hollywood by the author. Many of the photographs -- such as the ones of Elsa costumed as various outrageous characters -- were a lot of fun, too. But many of the famous people with whom she hobnobbed are unknown to me, or of little interest. The Duc di Verdura, the Baroness Lo Monaco, the Marquis Sommi, to name a few, failed to engage my interest. Nor did I feel edified by passages on seating protocol (we seldom have royals or aristocrats to dinner), or detailing how to get rid of a guest who has committed no worse a sin than being boring.
The book ends with a selection of recipes, many if not all provided by some of the author's impressive friends (Clare Boothe Luce, Cumberland House Orange Pancakes; Claudert Colbert, Snails; Alfred Lunt, Beef Patties with Capers; Mrs. Darryl Zannuck, Fudge; Perle Mesta, Cream Puffs with Peppermint Filling, etc.). I have not been tempted to try any of them, although I am normally a sucker for a recipe and the possessor of a large hoard of cookbooks.
The name-dropping is sometimes fun. I enjoyed the scattered anecdotes about certain of Elsa's buds, such as Noel Coward and Cole Porter. I loved some of the photographs, like the one of Joan Fontaine and Clark Gable participating in a cooking contest mounted in Hollywood by the author. Many of the photographs -- such as the ones of Elsa costumed as various outrageous characters -- were a lot of fun, too. But many of the famous people with whom she hobnobbed are unknown to me, or of little interest. The Duc di Verdura, the Baroness Lo Monaco, the Marquis Sommi, to name a few, failed to engage my interest. Nor did I feel edified by passages on seating protocol (we seldom have royals or aristocrats to dinner), or detailing how to get rid of a guest who has committed no worse a sin than being boring.
The book ends with a selection of recipes, many if not all provided by some of the author's impressive friends (Clare Boothe Luce, Cumberland House Orange Pancakes; Claudert Colbert, Snails; Alfred Lunt, Beef Patties with Capers; Mrs. Darryl Zannuck, Fudge; Perle Mesta, Cream Puffs with Peppermint Filling, etc.). I have not been tempted to try any of them, although I am normally a sucker for a recipe and the possessor of a large hoard of cookbooks.
July 16, 2022
Not as useful as I'd hoped for someone of my social status and living in the modern world.
An entertaining enough read, and the photos were neat, but largely seemed like a lot of name-dropping.
Overall kind of disappointing.
An entertaining enough read, and the photos were neat, but largely seemed like a lot of name-dropping.
Overall kind of disappointing.
January 12, 2012
Again with an "entertaining" book. This is Elsa Maxwell, a New York socialite, who - I guess - threw fantastic parties, and gives advice to other ladies on how to do so. What I'm most curious about, though, is how she managed to be such a *CHARACTER.* Find some pictures of her, for goodness sake. She went around, in 1950s NYC, constantly dressed as a man at these parties, and - I guess? - everyone loved her? I'd like to know more about Ms. Maxwell.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews