Fashion, Movies, Food Laura McLaws Helms Fashion, Movies, Food Laura McLaws Helms

Episode 30: Edina Ronay

Edina Ronay is a fashion designer, actress and model. Born in Budapest to a family of successful restaurateurs, Edina fled to London with her parents after the war. There her father opened a restaurant and then founded what became a very successful and influential series of guidebooks, starting with Egon Ronay's Guide to British Eateries in 1957. As a teen Edina became an actress, appearing in a number of cult British films. She was a key member of the hip London scene and dated Michael Caine before she met her husband, photographer Dick Polak. With him, she lived in Morocco and Formentera, until they returned to London to act, model and have children. In the early 1970s, Edina began selling vintage clothes. When she discovered a cache of 30s and 40s vintage knitting patterns in 1978, a new business was born. Highly successful from the start, Edina & Lena sold their hand knits in stores all over the world. In the 1980s Edina took over full control of the company—renamed Edina Ronay, it expanded into dresses and separates.

Read More
Fashion, Photography, Interiors, Food Laura McLaws Helms Fashion, Photography, Interiors, Food Laura McLaws Helms

Episode 29: Susan Wood

Susan Wood is a New Yorker born and bred. She started her career in the early 1950s, working in the lab at LIFE magazine before having her first photo published in Harper’s Bazaar in 1955. Over the subsequent decades, Susan photographed for everyone and truly across all genres. Fashion, interiors, portraits, food, travel, crafts, documentary, and movie stills—Susan did it all at a time when there were very few female photographers in the industry. Among the magazines she worked for were Vogue, New York Magazine, Ladies Home Journal, Mademoiselle, People, LOOK, Good Housekeeping, and Glamour. We discuss her 60 year career, what it was like working as a female photographer at that time, her creative process, the many famous people she has photographed and much more.

Read More
Culture, Food, Television Laura McLaws Helms Culture, Food, Television Laura McLaws Helms

Episode 03: Russell & Marian Morash

The third conversation is with legendary television producer Russell Morash and his wife, Marian Morash. He’s been called the “father of reality television” and the “father of home improvement television” due to his work creating such iconic PBS shows as Julia Child’s The French Chef, The Victory Garden, This Old House and The New Yankee Workshop. Through his work with Julia Child, Marian learned to cook and became cofounder and chef of a restaurant in Nantucket, and then the on-air “Chef Marian” on The Victory Garden with her own cookbook.

Read More