The Wooden Spoon goes visiting
by Elaine Revelle
thewoodenspoon@Juno.com
   Timing, they say, is everything.
   And nowhere is it more true than in the theatre.
   Well, this issue’s Wooden Spoon “visi-tee” fits into that theme perfectly.
   When PCPA Theaterfest was drawn from the Guest’s advertiser mix, the timing (there’s that word again) was great. At first I was at a loss as to how to “interview” PCPA and/or just who (whom?) would I call and how would I begin.
   Then it hit me, it was that timing thing…again.
   Former Solvang resident Pat O’Connell, long time Theaterfest supporter and current PCPA board member, has a recently released book and was due at The Book Loft for a June signing. Perfect! The who, how and when all came together…I was off and running.
   Pat is “Pat Hitchcock O’Connell” as in Alfred Hitchcock. Her book, Alma Hitchcock: the Woman Behind the Man is a family story full of anecdotes and wonderful insights to her father’s film career and her mother’s integral role.
   We all grew up with the Hitchcock films. They shaped American cinema, became a genre unto itself and scared the beejeebers out of most of us…what a legacy.
   I called Pat and gracious as ever, she agreed to my interview with a cheerful “Sure, why not.” The signing went well, it was fun watching old friends show up to visit and say hi…and, in between, we talked food and family.
   When I first got to know Pat it was as a friendly, well-informed customer at The Book Loft. We discussed recipes, books, etc. and it was evident early on that she was a person I felt comfortable with and liked. Over the years, I have had no reason to change my mind and thoroughly enjoyed this visit.
   The only child of Alma (Reville) and Alfred Hitchcock, Pat was born in London. When she was ten, the Hitchcock family relocated to the United States when her father was signed to direct the filming of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca for David Selznick.
   “My father was under contract,” she said, “but was ‘loaned out’ to other studios. That’s how the contracting studio made money.”
   No slouch on the acting scene either, Pat returned to London when she was 18 to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. “I had a big part,” she said, “in Strangers on a Train. I worked with Robert Walker, Farley Granger, Leo G. Carroll and others on that one.”
   I got the feeling, however, once she met Joe O’Connell her role of choice was wife and mother. The O’Connells moved to the Valley in the late 1980s and quickly became involved with horses and PCPA. All in all Pat spent ten years here before her life changed. She lost her husband, stayed in Solvang for a few years after his death and four years ago made the move to Westlake Village.
   “I have two daughters in Westlake,” she said, “and I love being there.” A proud mother of three (all girls) and a grandmother of seven, she is quick to point out that the seven are “six girls and a boy.” Middle daughter Tere lives in Aptos with her husband and two daughters. Mary her eldest has three girls and lives with her family in Westlake. “But my youngest, Katie,” Pat adds, “is the one with the boy and her family lives just across the street from me.”
I couldn’t resist asking Pat just when it dawned on her that she had a very famous father. “You know,” she answered, “it never really did. I had a father who worked just like all my friends’ fathers. He went to work and made movies–that was his job.”
   I also wondered about his cameos. That, Pat explained was an outgrowth of his early film days. “Everyone on the set, from the directors on down became part of the crowd scenes, so he just kept that in when he did his own films. But as moviegoers caught on, he realized his ‘walk-on’ had to come early in the film so as to not disrupt the story.”
We talked about a number of the Hitchcock films, from Shadow of a Doubt (Pat’s favorite) to Rear Window (mine) and had several of the signing customers chiming in with tales and stories of the ones they most remembered.
   “Shadow,” Pat said, “was based on a Thornton Wilder story and filmed in Santa Rosa. My dad liked bringing menace to small towns. One time daddy found a perfect house for a new film–it was rundown with seedy paint. But when the owners found out that he wanted it for a movie they had it painted.”
“So,” she said with a chuckle, “he dirtied it up.”
   As always around me, conversation turned to food and the happy fact that Pat’s book includes a number of her mother’s recipes and menus. She agreed to share a couple and both sound mouth-watering.
I will try them, I promise…providing I can find the time.

BOEUF EN CROUTE
(BEEF WELLINGTON)
2 pounds fillet of beef (in one piece)
1 large (1/2 pound) packet puff pastry
(frozen)
2 ounces butter, to taste
1 small can liver pâté
1/2 pound mushrooms, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons milk

   Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Trim fat and skin from fillet. Roll out pastry very thinly to give piece 1-1/4 times the length of the fillet and wide enough to wrap around it with a good overlap. Spread the fillet all over with slightly softe4ned butter. Lightly spread some pâté where the meat is to lie along the middle of the pastry and over with chopped mushroom and season lightly. Place fillet on top of mushrooms. Bring up the sides of th3e pastry to make a neat roll and seal the edges together by moistening with a little milk, making a ridge on the top, which can be decoratively slashed. Seal the ends tightly. Place on a baking pan on middle shelf of oven for 20 minutes at 425 degrees. If browning too quickly, cover with foil. After 20 minutes, remove the boeuf en croute and turn the oven down to 350 degrees. Brush to top with a little milk to glaze it. Cover tightly with foil and put back in oven for 24 minutes (the heat of the oven will be reducing for a while so should be left at 350 degrees.) After 45 minutes of total cooking time, you should have a really rare beef within the crust. If you prefer it a little more well done, leave it in another ten minutes. Serve it as soon as possible when done as the beef goes on cooking in the crust if you keep it warm. Cut slices about an inch crosswise.

CREPES ELIZABETH
1-1/8 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
salt
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups of milk
butter
1 tablespoon Kirsch
3 tablespoons strawberries
almonds

   Sift flour, sugar and a pinch of salt into a mixing bowl. Beat eggs lightly, stir them into milk and gradually stir the combined liquids into the dry ingredients. Continue to stir until batter is smooth. It should just coat a spoon. If it is too thick, stir in a little more milk. Stir in one tablespoon each of melted butter and Kirsch and let stand for one to two hours.
   Heat a small frying pan, five to six inches in diameter. Put in 1/2 teaspoon butter and swirl the pan to coat the bottom and the sides. Pour in about two tablespoonsful of the above batter and again tilt the pan in a circular motion to spread the batter evenly and thinly to the edges. Cook for about one minute or until set and brown on the underside, turn and brown the other side. Crepes much be cooked quickly to be at their best. Slide each finished crepe onto a warm platter and continue to make until all the batter is used.
   Place two tablespoons sliced and sugared strawberries in the center of each crepe and roll it to enclose the filling. Put the rolled crepes in a shallow, buttered, ovenproof dish, sprinkle with blanched almonds, shredded and buttered, and put them under a broiler until the crepes blister. Serve hot with whipped cream sweetened and flavored to taste.