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Virginia Mayo and Dana Andrews
in The Best Years of our Lives
When Virginia was a teenager dancer,
she was recruited by vaudeville performer Andy Mayo to appear in his act
and she decided to use his surname as her stage name. Virginia soon
got her big break on Broadway in 1941 as a chorus girl in Banjo
Eyes.
The following year she went to Hollywood as a
Samuel Goldwyn
contract player. Mayo went from bit parts to leading lady roles within a
year's time and was cast opposite
Danny Kaye in four splashy
Technicolor films. Soon came some more notable roles such as Dana Andrews'
adulterous wife in Goldwyn's The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and
as James Cagney's bitchy gun moll in White Heat (1949).
Mayo's film career slowed down dramatically with the demise of the studio
system in the mid-to-late 1950s and the fact that she was pushing 40. She
was unfortunately then cast in a series of atrocious clunkers in the late
50s including Paul Newman's first on-screen leading lady in The Silver
Chalice (1954) which is on nearly everyone's ten worst films list and as
Cleopatra in The Story of Mankind (1957) a film in which nearly
everyone was miscast (Groucho Marx as Peter Minuit. Harpo Marx as Sir Isaac
Newton, Peter Lorre as Nero, Agnes Moorhead as Queen Elizabeth I, etc) and
which marked the end of nearly all of the cast's Hollywood stardom.
Mayo went on to do some TV and dinner theater, and eventually retired .But
film buffs stills seek our her films on TCM for her blond, cool
performances, and fantasizing that they could "Hold, the Mayo." while
tasting some home-made mayo on her birthday. She's worth it. Be sure to rent
out a copy of the classic White Heat to watch Jimmy Cagney hold the
Mayo.
The quality, consistency, and taste of a mayonnaise depends
on the type and quality of oil used. When you use an olive oil. the
consistency will be more oily and the flavor may be too strong for a
delicately flavored dish. When you want a more delicately flavored
mayonnaise, use peanut oil. For salad dressings and cold meats, use half
peanut oil and half olive oil. Another key factor in a successful mayonnaise
is the temperature of the ingredients. All ingredients (eggs, lemon
juice. mustard and other flavorings such as garlic, dill, etc) must be at
room temperature. Never use ingredients directly from the refrigerator.
The thickness of the mayonnaise is dependent on the amount of egg yolk used.
If you want a thicker mayonnaise, use less egg yolk. For a thinner
mayonnaise, use more yolk. |
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