Trivia

In 1961 he met Julia Child and helped promote her book 'Mastering The Art Of French Cooking.".

In 1940 he began authoring cookbooks for Barrows & Co. starting with "Hors D'Oeuvre & Canapes With A Key To The Cocktail Party.".

Upon his death he left his estate to Reed College.

His mother Elizabeth was a closeted boarding house owner who married his father with the sole intention of having a child, James, at the age of 42.

A gourmet cooking chief.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 53-56. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

Pictured on one of a set of five nondemominated USA commemorative postage stamps honoring Celebrity Chefs, issued 26 September 2014. Price on day of issue was 49¢. Others honored in this set are Julia Child, Joyce Chen, Edna Lewis, and Felipe Rojas-Lombardi.

In 1939 he launched a catering business called Hors d'Oeuvre Inc. in New York City with the Berlin cookbook author Bill Rhode.

Attended Reed College in 1920 where he studied theater and opera. He was expelled at the end of his freshman year after he was caught in flagrante delicto with a male professor. In 1976 Reed College made amends and gave him an honorary degree.

In 1955 he launched his cooking school.