Who’s Coming to Dinner?

[dumpling]

My next four would be:

Clark Gable

Cary Grant

Henry VIII

Mary Queen of Scots

I like the Cary Grant pick-one of my personal faves

My four- reflecting what, I'm not sure

Thomas Jefferson-amazing mind and a heck of a cook(great with ice cream)

Abraham Lincoln-bawdy story teller and great party guy

Bruce Lee- philosophy and to get everyone going

Michael Palin- he would love the others and I would love him. He could tell us stories of his trips

What a dinner!

[tanabutler]

William F. Buckley Jr. and Emma Thompson.

Emma would kill him, and rightfully so. He resembles nothing so much as a human fungus, or the offspring of the Elephant Man, or a reptile with pink skin. I can't believe for an instant she would enjoy a dinner with him. Unless she were being paid as an actress to pretend to find him fascinating.

I won't believe otherwise unless I see it in her own hand. She's just too gorgeous and cool.

[cherrypi]

Pierre Trudeau

Bob Marley

George Sand

Leonard Cohen

[zephyrus]

george bernard shaw

admiral lord viscount horatio nelson

winston churchill

ernest hemingway

[PopsicleToze]

George Washington

Thomas Jefferson

Horatio Hornblower

William Wallace

Funny -- they're all strong, honorable men

[McDuff]

I used to watch Buckley's TV show when I was a kid, and I always thought that he was the Devil, what with the way he archly twinkled his eyes at his guests to try to control their minds.

Is Buckley known for being a connoiseur of fine food and wine?

Yes, he most definitely is. His whacko politics aside, it doesn't appear that anybody who has responded to this has read any of his books about sailing. Racing Through Paradise is one that springs to mind. I think another was Atlantic High. He would charter a big sailboat and invite his pallies to go for a spin. They would bring a chef and a cellar and just have a lot of fun.

[McDuff]

William F. Buckley Jr. and Emma Thompson.

Emma would kill him, and rightfully so. He resembles nothing so much as a human fungus, or the offspring of the Elephant Man, or a reptile with pink skin. I can't believe for an instant she would enjoy a dinner with him. Unless she were being paid as an actress to pretend to find him fascinating.

I won't believe otherwise unless I see it in her own hand. She's just too gorgeous and cool.

I strongly urge you to track down and watch The Tall Guy, with Emma Thompson, Jeff Goldblum and Rowan Atkinson. Emma like you've never seen her!

[Cynthia G]

george bernard shaw

admiral lord viscount horatio nelson

winston churchill

ernest hemingway

Read just last week that Winston Churchill's parrot is still alive. You could invite him too.

[chow guy]

Teddy Roosevelt

Meryl Streep

Dorothy Parker

J.S. Bach

[tanabutler]

My fifteen-year-old daughter picked the Beatles. How cool is that?

[jschyun]

Two Fat Ladies (pretend they're both alive)

Calvin Trillin

Dick Cheney (maybe it will kill him!)

[paul mitchell]

I like the Leonard Cohen idea.

Cohen, Suzuki Roshi, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Ginsberg.

[cjs]

Leonardo Da Vinci

Jaques Costeau

Dali Lama

Motzart

God, my spelling is bad!

Thats an odd combo isn't it?

[Mudpuppie]

Two Fat Ladies (pretend they're both alive)

Calvin Trillin

Dick Cheney (maybe it will kill him!)

If the fat ladies are cooking, it probably would. Instant coronary.

[Southside]

Jeffrey Steingarten, Tom Robbins, Keith Richards, and Chuck Close

[Southside]

David Sedaris

David Sedaris is one of my favorite writers. I'm telling you, I have laughed

myself out of a depression by reading his books. Yup, he's invited for dinner

but I'll have to think about the other three.

ooh, good one. Add him.

[aliwaks]

OOO I love this game, ok:

Mae West, Picasso, The Marquis De Sade, and Colin Firth (I need to have a date at my dinner party)

[monkeymay]

Just came across this and had to play.

I love great storytellers and good eaters so for me it would be

John Huston

Orson Welles

Marcello Mastroianni

Luis Bunuel

(Fellini would have to be there too)

And one of the courses would have to be oysters while we watched slides of naked demi mondes

just like in Le Grande Bouffe...

Or for a solid girls/alcohol nite out

Lillian Hellman

Dottie Parker

Tallulah Bankhead (even though she and LH fought terribly)

Truman Capote ( just to really stir things up)

Maybe not a lot of food at this party but definitely a lot of chewing and spitting

[snowangel]

The Late Great Frank Zappa.

[gus_tatory]

four people no longer 'with us' at a dinner party?

Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel

Che Guevara

Florence Ballard (of the Supremes)

Kevyn Aucoin

i have no idea what they would eat...

[Mabelline]

Saint Francis of Assisi

Crazy Horse

Pope Leo X, or Clement

Robert Mitchum

[project]

Cosmology theme:

S. Weinberg, E. Witten, P. Pebbles, and, to hedge bets, Jesus.

Pebbles might just say "The equations don't say, and I won't speculate", but he might help keep Weinberg and Witten more honest!

Mathematics theme:

J. von Neumann (one of the founders of computing, one of the best mathematicians ever), R. Rockafellar (leader in methods of decision making over time under uncertainty, U. Washington), T. Magnanti (mathematical planning in engineering and Dean, MIT), U. Grenander (bridge from advanced and novel mathematical statistics to vision and intelligence, Brown U.)

on the future of information technology.

Classical music theme:

J. Bach, W. Mozart, R. Strauss, and D. Shostakovich.

Goal would be to have them improvise some music during the dinner starting with Shostakovich backwards to Bach. I would especially want to hear what Bach and Mozart do after hearing the work of Strauss and Shostakovich.

History theme:

F. Roosevelt, W. Churchill, J. Stalin, and A. Hitler.

The dinner may, uh, 'break up' early!

Similarly for major players in other major wars.

If I had to pick just one, then I would toss out the history theme as too unpleasant and the cosmology theme as too much a long shot for anything new and interesting, regard the mathematics theme as the most practical and the music theme as the most fun and flip a coin to select from the last two!

Edited February 20, 2004 by project (log)

[McDuff]

Or how about people in books?

Ignatius J. Reilly

Holden Caulfield

Gandalf

Scuppers the Sailor Dog

[SeaGal]

Food Theme:

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

MFK Fisher

Julia Child

Jaques Pepin

Humor Theme:

Lenny Bruce

Robin Williams

Paula Poundstone

Billy Connely

[maggiethecat]

I'm pretty sure I posted when this thread was young, but I'm too lazy to look back and check.

Famous eGulls I've actually dined with, and wanna do it again:

Priscilla

Ivan

Dave the Cook

GordonCooks

Varmint

Al Dente

Anthony Bourdain

Katie

Heather

Varmint

My beloved Heartland posse: NeroW, guajolote, Aurora, LadyT, Ronnie, Willie, MatthewB, fresco, nightscotsman, Fresser, Hobbes, Rhea...and others too numerous to list.

Late on a Friday night in the longest month of the year, I want all of them. But as it's fantasy tonight, I'd love to share some pork tacos with: Thomas Jefferson, William Jefferson Clinton, Franz Lizst and Ian Bostridge.