I’m always on the lookout for a good deal on Gabor memorabilia, so imagine my surprise when a copy of Orchids and Salami by Eva Gabor came up on Ebay at a price I was willing to pay. It didn’t have the dust cover and the book WAS used, but the binding was in great condition. Did I grab it? You bet I did! The book was delivered much more quickly than the estimate and the packaging was impeccable.
Orchids and Salami (with the dust cover)
The book was published in 1954, making Eva Gabor approximately 35 at the time of publication. At just over 200 pages, the book can easily be consumed in a couple of hours.
Eva discusses her childhood in Hungary, her loves (details on Charles Issacs are off-limits and that is fine), coming to America, theatre, film, buying and remodeling a house, and being a cheese cake. She’s a frustrated glamour girl, who likes hots dogs and beer, and she’d much rather be taken seriously as an actress than anything else.
Several passages stand out.
She tells the story of one of her first loves in Hungary, a solder. He proposed, but her parents said they couldn’t marry. Eva mentions that, at the time of publication, they still corresponded with each other. I though that was sweet.
Another story involves a very young fan of 13 years who was completely infatuated with Eva. His father, in an effort to protect his son from heartbreak, approached Eva to give her a heads up that the boy would find a way to meet her while she was in town. Eva ended up having dinner with the family and answering the boy’s many personal questions. She and the boy then shared a cab to the theatre. While enroute, the boy asks Eva how old she is. Eva tells him and he replies that she is old! Ah, young love!
Included in the book are her recipes for cooking hamburgers and for Eggs Eva. Eva’s not a cook, she doesn’t like it. This means the recipes are almost foolproof. I say this as one who has to look up a recipe in order to boil an egg.
The Eva you see in the book is an imperfect creature. She makes mistakes, she works hard, she loves, she loses, she learns, and she keeps pushing. And through it all, she keeps the glamour girl image going.
Did I write a structured review? Nah, I’m still too excited to have the danged book to write something that makes sense. Should you read this book anyway? Yes!