Ruth Reichl
Legendary food writer Ruth Reichl was restaurant critic for the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times and editor in chief of Gourmet magazine. She has been honored with six James Beard Awards and is the author of multiple critically acclaimed best-selling memoirs. In For You Mom, Finally, the reader discovers Ruth’s close connection to Cleveland through her remarkable grandmother, Mollie Brudno, an unheralded but important impresario in the mid-20th century who organized hundreds of concerts with the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Listen
Listen to a Spotify playlist of a selection of recordings made by performers who were presented in Cleveland by the mid-20th-century impresario Mollie Brudno.
Explore
Explore the nearly 150 photographs from the collection of the mid-20th-century impresario Mollie Brudno, donated to the Cleveland Museum of Art Archives by Mrs. Brudno’s granddaughter Ruth Reichl and family in 2015.
Visit Ruth Reichl’s website to catch up on her latest writings, find a recipe, read her blog, and more.
Ruth Reichl (official site) | For You Mom, Finally on Goodreads
Explore the digital representations of more than half of the nearly 8,000 postcards in Walter Leedy’s Postcards of Cleveland Collection at the Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University.
The Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery is a collection of Cleveland images that represent photographs dating from the late 1800s through the 1960s. Included are historic views of Cleveland neighborhoods, downtown, and industrial areas. Of special interest are 1930s industrial scenes by Arthur Gray and 1950s photos of African American life in the Scovill neighborhood by award-winning photographer Jasper Wood. A series of photographs of the Hough neighborhood were taken by Cleveland City government as documentation for an urban renewal program in the 1960s. Streets and buildings in the Tremont, Gordon Square, and Brooklyn Centre neighborhoods taken by the Board of Zoning Appeals provide glimpses of these areas from the 1930s through the 1970s. Clevelanders are represented through newspaper photographs and formal portraits by Cleveland photographers George Mountain Edmondson and Ethel Standiford. Views of lanes, courts, and alleys taken in 1939 by William A. Barnhill are preserved in his album Byways of Cleveland.
Read
Read an article appearing in the Monday, December 8, 1930, edition of the Hamilton Evening Journal in which Mrs. Brudno offers insights into the tastes of some of her celebrity guests.
Mrs. Emil Brudno
Clarence Darrow doesn’t like chicken; Bertrand Russell loves tea; John Haynes Holmes is fond of chocolate; Michael Strange eats almost nothing, and Judge Julian Mack likes caviar.
These intimate glimpses into the likes and dislikes of nationally known men and women are given by Mrs. Emil Brudno, president of the Cleveland Council of Jewish Women, and chairman of the program committee for 15 years, who has entertained many famous men and women in her home and numbers them among her personal friends.
“The last evening that Clarence Darrow had dinner with us,” Mrs. Brudno says, “he was so delighted because we didn’t have chicken. He commented on it and said, ‘There is only one kind of chicken that I like,’ and smiled a naughty smile. He enjoyed the steak we had that evening.
“Bertrand Russell loves very strong and dark tea. He is happiest with a pot of tea and his pipe. He can sit for hours discussing world problems and his own fascinating life. He has the most powerful personality of all, but is the timidest person I know,” declares Mrs. Brudno.
“His wife, Dora Russell, is not keen about food, and Michael Strange, poet and ex-wife of John Barrymore, keeps her girlish figure by eating almost nothing.
“Dr. John Haynes Holmes, clergyman and author, is very fond of chocolate dessert and candy and likes to read until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning, for which I scold him, but it does no good.
“Dr. Stephen Wise likes to tell what the other guests would like to eat, and so indicates his own preferences. He defers to his son in all discussions. Judge Julian Mack likes to eat caviar and Aaron Sapiro, the lawyer, hates chocolate and goes into the kitchen the very first thing.”
Read
Read about some of the artists mentioned in this interview.
About the Series
Behind the Beat is a series featuring composers and performers in the time of isolation. While the twin pillars of performing arts—global travel and gathering together for a shared experience—are impossible, artists are reflecting on their work, both past and future. Of particular interest are those artists with direct connections to the Cleveland Museum of Art. This series celebrates the legacy of music at the museum and uniquely illuminates aspects of the museum’s collection.