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The
Rant
My Dinner with Dick and Jane
 I don’t often get formal dinner invitations in the mail, much less ones inviting me to dine with movie stars. The Health and Community Services Archive and Museum recently invited me to attend an “intimate” dinner at the Fairmont with Jane Powell and her husband, Dick Moore. My innards did a little dance as I held the ivory coloured invitation featuring a picture of Ms. Powell on the inside cover. She looked every inch the glamourous Hollywood celebrity.
 Jane Powell and Dick Moore were in St. John’s for a fundraising performance of A.R. Gurney’s bittersweet two-person play, Love Letters. I had been asked to host the event, which was a kick in itself but getting an opportunity to dine with the star of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and one of the Little Rascals, was the ultimate thrill.
Jane Powell was a star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during its heyday. Through the forties and fifties she made twenty musicals for MGM. Fred Astaire was her co-star in Royal Wedding. Howard Keel played her suitor in the classic, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
Dick Moore has acted in more than one hundred movies. He first appeared in The Beloved Rogue with John Barrymore at eleven months of age. A few years later he became one of Hal Roach’s Little Rascals. As a teenager he gave Shirley Temple her first on-screen kiss in Miss Annie Rooney.
I arrived to find most of the other guests already there, chatting with Dick and Jane. They insisted on being called by their first names. Jane Powell was stunning. She had close cropped hair, sparkling eyes and a bright smile. Her dress was an attractive short-sleeved black number, with upturned collar. Dick wore a dark jacket, blue shirt and patterned blue tie.
Dick Moore and Jane Powell were here to raise funds for the Rooms upcoming Cottage Hospitals exhibit, opening Sept. 26th. The Health and Community Services Archive and Museum helped develop the project. Dinner guests included archives’ volunteers Mary Keilley and Rosalie Mosdel – whose grandfather, Dr. Harris Munden Mosdel, started the cottage hospitals. Board chair Katherine Daley and fellow director, Ralph Stanley, were also present, as was Joan Dawe, chair of the board of directors for Eastern Health. Ralph Stanley, a consummate storyteller, captivated Dick Moore and yours truly with tales of his visits to post-communist Russia. He was sent there by the Salvation Army to negotiate the re-establishment of the Army in that country.
 Between courses of organic greens and goat cheese salad and creamed mushroom soup I had an opportunity to chat with Jane Powell. Surprisingly, apart from a few comments about Danny Kaye’s culinary skills, we didn’t discuss show people or show business. It turned out we have similar passions. We both love dogs and cooking. Within minutes we were swapping stories and pictures of our canine companions. Currently she and Dick have a cute white miniature poodle and black bichon. Their recently deceased dog was a black standard named Saxon. They were delighted to discover that my dog, Caesar, is also a black standard. We had a lively discussion about what great friends they make, as well as other attributes of the breed.
Jane also talked about some of her favourite foods and dishes to cook. Like me, she enjoys low and slow cooking, flavourful soups, stews and braises. We agreed on the perfection of a properly prepared pot roast, its robust flavours, tenderness and versatility – like its readymade gravy.
I’m sure both of us would have been very happy to find a hearty helping of pot roast on our plates that night. Instead we made do with a portion of tenderloin garnished with scallops. A few turned vegetables –carrot and parsnip – and a couple of baby red potatoes accompanied the beef.
By the time our dessert of vanilla mousse with bakeapple sauce arrived – which Jane thought tasted like apricot sauce – Dick and I had discussed our mutual admiration for Gourmet magazine editor, Ruth Reichl and discussed his picks for favourite and least favourite New York restaurants. He and Jane both enjoy Union Square Café for its flavourful food and consistently good service. However, they’re not so crazy about the noise level at Union Square Café. Dick’s least favourite dining establishment is Sirio Maccioni’s Le Cirque, which he described as “snobby” and “outrageously overpriced.”
My evening with Jane Powell and Dick Moore ended with the three of us sipping coffee and sampling some tasty white and dark chocolate truffles. As I sat there between these two icons from Hollywood’s golden era my imagination briefly conjured an image of us sitting together in Chasen’s restaurant in Beverly Hills. The year was 1954 and we were enjoying the premiere party for Jane’s latest picture, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Howard Keel, Jane’s co-star, had just called to say he was on his way. Meantime, folks were stopping by our table to offer Jane congratulations on her wonderful performance in the amazingly entertaining movie. What an evening that would have been. Still, the evening I had just had with my new friends in 2006 was darn good too. Thanks Dick and Jane. I’d love to do it again sometime.
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