An Evening with Victoria Price - Pt 2

This October, Count Orlock's Nightmare Gallery in Salem MA brought back Victoria Price for another visit. She was first here two years ago to talk about her father's career and launching the Vincent Price line of wines.

While this was in October, the night was focused in a non-horror related direction which is why I didn't include it during the Countdown to Halloween. This time she talked about living her father's legacy and the power of saying yes. It was also the launch of the second cookbook, Mary and Vincent Price's Come into the Kitchen Cook Book. So naturally this was a better fit leading up to Thanksgiving and given the state of out post-election country, I think we can all do with some inspirational words.

The first cookbook, A Treasury of Great Recipes, is like a cook book and a travelogue all rolled into one because the recipes were gathered traveling around the world. The new one (left) is all American and covers different eras from our country's history. The great thing about these books is that they're not just reprints, they are reproductions of the original printings so you get wonderful art like this.

There were maybe 20 of us there to see her. She is such a fantastic speaker that it could have been a full auditorium and I still would feel like it was a cozy chat. One of the things she talked about is how she went through all of her possessions, got rid of anything that did not bring her joy and put the rest into a storage unit. She packed a few things and has been living on the road for the past couple years with her dog Allie, who we also got to meet.

She told us all sorts of great stories about traveling with her parents when she was little and shared some family photos. The theme of the evening was "Explore. Savor. Celebrate." Three words which really sum up her dad's way of living life. Quite a bit of what she talked about was from a 2015 blog post she made, which also includes many of the photos we saw.

She also talked about the power of yes as I mentioned earlier. It's something that may be difficult for some people, like me, but easy to explain. It's a little something to bring into your life which is as easy as saying that one word: yes. It could be that thing you've been putting off or it could be an opportunity that comes your way that you'd normally pass on. Do it. Say yes! You never know where it might lead you.

After she finished speaking, she meet with all of us individually at a table where she was selling the cook books and signing autographs. There was a conference room setup showing Price's movies. We caught the end of House on Haunted Hill and the opening of The Abominable Dr Phibes. A local baker had made a few treats from the cookbooks for us to sample. My favorite were definitely the brandy snaps cookies (no actual brandy is used).

By the by, the cook books are available on line from VincentPrice.com.
Order now and you get a free gift!

Here is your first chance to "say yes". Take the 5 or 10 minutes to read Victoria's blog post from last year. The world would be in a lot better shape if we all tried to live our lives like Vincent Price.

Happy Thanksgiving!