November 04

Loretta Jane Swit's  Birthday
 

Loretta Swit and Robert Alda in M*A*S*H.
 

Loretta Swit began her acting career on stage and moved to TV in 1969. After making guest appearances on  several popular TV shows, she landed her first full-time job in 1972  - which lasted eleven years -as Major  Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on TV's M*A*S*H. for which she received two Emmy Awards. When she won her "Hot Lips: role, Loretta  was staring as Christine Cagney in TV's Cagney & Lacey with Tyne Daly, but when the network decided to make it a series, the M*A*S*H producers  would not allow Loretta out of her contract.

She made a few films after M*A*S*H, most notably as the gossip columnist in  S.O.B. (1981) and most hysterically being chased by Satan-worshippers in Race with the Devil (1975). Loretta retuned to her stage roots and toured Canada in Shirley Valentine and in Same Time, Next Year and in a some ways returned to her "Hot Lips" roots, when she starred in The Vagina Monologues in Hartford in 2002.

A prominent animal-protection activist, Loretta testified before Congress in 1999 for the prohibition of "crush videos" --  sexual fetish films in which insects, worms,  and spiders are crushed on camera by women wearing spiked high heels. Subsequently, Congress enacted a statute affecting the legality of crush films which criminalized the creation, sale, or possession with the intent to sell of depictions of animal cruelty.

For Loretta s birthday,  we suggest pairing Race with the Devil with a traditional English dish made of mashed potatoes and sausages, called Bangers and Mash since it was scripted that "Hot Lips" was getting banged regularly by Larry Linville's character on  M*A*S*H. The term "bangers" in England refers to a type of hot dogs made during World War II (under rationing when meat was scarce) that exploded under high heat. On the cross-cultural front, The British band Radiohead also pays homage to this dish on the bonus disc to their 2007 album In Rainbows with the track entitled "Bangers + Mash."
 

Bangers and Mash
Ingredients
 
  • 2 medium potatoes per person
  • 2-3 link sausages per person
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable or canola oil per person
  • 1/2 medium onion per person
  • 1 1-cup package gravy mix for every two people
  • Salt
  • Butter to taste
  • Milk to taste


Read more at Suite101: Quick and Easy Bangers and Mash: Sausage and Mashed Potatoes is Simple Comfort Food http://www.suite101.com/content/quick-and-easy-bangers-and-mash-a147548#ixzz1COBPmUwU
8 large baking potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 TB  butter, divided
1/2 cup half-and-half, or as needed
1/4 tsp salt and pepper to taste

 
 1 pound beef sausage
1 cup diced onion
1 packet onion gravy mix
dash Worcestershire sauce

 
Instructions
 
  1. Preheat oven to 350º F.
  2. Place potatoes in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook potatoes until tender
    Drain, and mash with 1 TB butter and enough half-and-half to reach desired creaminess. Season with salt and pepper.
  3. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage until heated through. Remove from pan and set aside.
  4. Add remaining butter  and a dash Worcestershire sauce to the skillet, and fry the onions over medium heat until tender. Mix gravy mix and water as directed on the package, and add to the skillet with the onions. Simmer, stirring constantly, to form a thick gravy.
  5. Pour half of the gravy into a square casserole dish so that is coats the bottom. Place sausages in a layer over the gravy Pour remaining gravy over them, then top with mashed potatoes. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until potatoes are evenly brown.
  

Serves 4-6

Loretta Swit began her career in live theater and then began making TV guest appearances in 1969. In 1972 she landed the full-time role of Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan on the TV series M*A*S*H. The show became such a smash hit that (like fellow actors Gary 'Radar' Burghoff and Larry 'Major Burns' Linville) Swit remains permanently identified with her character, the uptight-yet-sexy nurse Houlihan. Swit later hosted the show Those Incredible Animals on TV's The Discovery Channel.


Read more: Loretta Swit Biography (Actor) — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/lorettaswit.html#ixzz1CO0jfqXe

© 2011 Gordon Nary and Tyler Stokes