It was the Queen of Sheba's cameo that got me, unexpectedly appearing more than midway through HBO Max's "Julia" premiere. In this telling, Julia Child (Sarah Lancashire) has an uphill climb to win over dismissive male producers at WGBH, Boston's public television station, eggheads who pooh-pooh the intellectual value of a show that demystifies the art of French cooking.
They lacked the vision to see that Child was on to something that would transform the way Americans think about food. The scene in question shows her determination to get them on her page: Julia gaily waltzes into the offices of WGBH, cake plate in hand and ready to negotiate with a side of sugar. Once inside their offices she unveils her small masterpiece, explaining to her greatest fan and future producer Alice Naman (Brittany Radford) that its simplicity is one of the reasons she adores it. That's when my eyes welled up.
