Dishing—Ice Cream Style with the Queen Herself
Friday, June 20, 2014
Robin Kall’s interview with Susan Jane Gilman, author of The Ice Cream Queen Of Orchard Street.
Robin Kall: After three non-fiction titles (Kiss My Tiara, Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress and Undress Me In The Temple of Heaven) now your first novel. How long had The Ice Cream Queen Of Orchard Street been in that head of yours?
Susasn Jane Gilman: It’s always been my plan to write a novel, actually – ever since I was eight years old, when I fell in love with reading and started to write my own short stories in little notebooks I bought from Woolworth’s, illustrating them with magic markers. From then on, I always assumed that one day, I’d write some sort of wonderful, fictional opus.For some time, I had been yearning to create a modern female anti-hero – a short of combination of Scarlet O’Hara and Leona Helmsley- who was supremely difficult, amoral, and conniving (yet not a murderer or mentally ill). My two ideas fused. Why not write about a businesswoman who sells ice cream to the public in the guise of a sweet, motherly ice cream lady –but who in real life is a mean-spirited, difficult, kleptomaniacal drunk? That tension and contradiction appealed to me immensely.Yet at the same time, I knew, such a protagonist had to be compelling, if not sympathetic. What would make someone behave that way? Again, I looked to the story of the American immigrant for answers. Instead of a one-liner, I developed an epic – especially as I began to research the history of ice cream.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTKall: Speaking of research, painful as it must have been, you talk about The Susan Jane Gilman Institute of Advanced Gelato Studies. Tell us about this institute and is it open to the public?
Gilman: The Susan Jane Gilman Institute of Advanced Gelato Studies was founded –by me, of course –to elevate my obsession with ice cream into something more official. However, at this stage, alas, “Research” largely consists of sampling as many different kinds of ice cream as possible without bothering to take notes beyond the occasional Selfie. But I do truly understand that ice cream is, in fact, both an art form and a chemical process –a marriage of art and science –and so I can only hope that one day, the National Science Foundation will award me a grant anyway.
Kall: Did I hear correctly that you were out on Long Island at a Carvel learning the tricks of the trade?
Gilman: For The Ice Cream Queen Of Orchard Street, I realized I needed to understand the nuts-and-bolts of ice cream making. I contacted my inspiration –the Carvel Ice Cream Company itself –and arranged to work at a Carvel ice cream franchise in Massapequa, Long Island. The guy who owns that franchise, Zaya Givaragidze it turns out he had inherited the store from his parents, who were Greek immigrants themselves. They had known Tom Cavel personally! Zaya knew all the history, all the ins-and-outs of the business. It was like hitting the mother lode. It was like a visit to Lourdes. I was beside myself. I’m amazed he didn’t throw me out of his shop. I kept running over to the freezers and pointing ecstatically at the ice cream cakes I had loved as a child shouting, ‘Look! It’s Cookiepuss!'
Kall: As a Brown University graduate, what are you most looking forward to when coming to Rhode Island for the RI Food Fights Ice Cream Throwdown?
Gilman: Each time I return to Providence, the city appears more and more lovely, yet I also feel eighteen again –in the best of ways. If I have the time, I’d love to wander around the campus and surrounding area. But mostly, whom are we kidding? I cannot wait to sample all that ice cream. Twenty-four vendors? And then, I get to read from my novel and share my other passion with the world? Oh, it is almost too fabulous to contemplate! It will be better than working at CARVEL!
For more information on RI Food Fights and to purchase tickets to the event please visit RI Food Fights. Tickets are $15 each. Susan will be at the Books on the Square booth from 1-4pm signing copies of The Ice Cream Queen Of Orchard Street. You can also check out her Facebook page Susan Jane Gilman. For all book related events please visit Reading With Robin.
For ten years, Robin Kall was the creator and host of Reading with Robin, a RI radio talk show that aired on WHJJ 920AM and was devoted to authors, readers, and the books they love. Remaining active in the literary community, Robin’s continuous involvements include Reading Across Rhode Island, Book Expo America, and sold-out author events . Upcoming events include Robin’s on stage interview with Janet Evanovitch June 19th at Foxwoods, June 29th on Long Island at Book Revue with several authors from Grand Central –Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion, the annual Evening With Authors, this year featuring John Searles, Dani Shapiro and Susan Jane Gilman October 8th at The Providence Public Library and a very special event to celebrate Ann Hood’s An Italian Wife on October 25th and several others. Email [email protected] for more information and ticketing. You can also follow Robin on Twitter @robinkall and “like” Reading With Robin on Facebook for all updates!
