Vintage Voice: A Favorite "Movie Kitchen", Part 2

Last spring I did a post about one of my favorite "movie kitchens", click HERE.  In the post I showed numerous screen shots from the 1989 movie, Driving Miss Daisy, which featured a house I have always adored, including the very vintage kitchen that I love.

At the time I had promised to do another post about another favorite "movie kitchen", from another beloved movie of mine, Fried Green Tomatoes.  The 1991 movie is based on Fannie Flagg's popular 1987 novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, and featured a well-known cast of actresses, including Mary-Louise Parker, Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Cicely Tyson, Mary Stuart Masterson and a young Chris O'Donnell.  I loved the book and the movie also; it was a great story.

 In the book and movie, The Whistle Stop Cafe, opened in the 1920s/1930s by characters Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, had all the lovely details of a bygone day that I adore and it has been one of my favorite "movie kitchens" ever since.

In this picture of the interior of the cafe, you can see the high celilings, the beautiful wood floors and the wooden clapboard walls. At the back wall, you can see a pass-through to the kitchen.


In the movie they did a great job "re-creating" Whistle Stop and the cafe. Later, this movie set cafe was actually turned into a real restaurant, and is located near Macon, GA. The inspiration for the Whistle Stop Cafe is actually the Irondale Cafe, located in Irondale, AL. a suburb of Birmingham, where Fannie Flagg grew up.

This is how it actually looks...............

It was difficult to find many pictures of the inside of the cafe and the kitchen.......

Here Ruth and Idgie are playing poker in the cafe. I love Ruth's apron over the back of her chair.


This is just before Ruth and Idgie have a big food fight in the kitchen. It's hot and Idgie is trying to learn to cook fried green tomatoes, but she burns them. What I loved about this kitchen was the big work table and the glass-fronted coolers in the wall behind it. I also spot many wonderful large crocks and bowls in this kitchen!

Right after the food fight, Grady comes in and gets chocolate frosting down his shirt after admonishing the girls for their silliness.

I wasn't able to find many screen shots of the interior of the cafe', so I tried to do a few screen shots from my TV myself....In the cafe kitchen, there are only a few glimpses of these fabulous wood cupboards behind Idgie in this scene.

In this scene below the camera was panning quickly, so it's a little blurry, but  you can pick out all the fabulous tin advertising signs on the wall behind Idgie, and to the far left you can glimpse a wonderful tall coffee urn. One of the things I loved about the cafe were the clear glass cake pedestals with covers that you can see in the foreground, in which there are pies displayed. I have one that looks almost exactly like this one; the minute I saw these in the movie I had to have one for myself! Also slightly visible to the far right are the straw dispensers that were popular in diners for many years. 

In this scene Sispey has set out plates of food on the pass- through from the kitchen while Idgie fills a cup of coffee from that fabulous urn. I love all the fans mounted on the walls!

I loved this scene in which Ruth and Idgie are getting the cafe set up for business. They are dressed in their "working clothes"; bib overalls rolled up to the knee, hair tied up in a scarf. It must have been fun to be a set decorator and stylist on this movie set!

In the earliest scenes of the movie, Ninny (Jessica Tandy) recounts "The Tale of Idgie" to Evelyn (Kathy Bates) and she talks about Leona Threadgoode's wedding, which took place after 'The Great War' (WWI). As she tells the story, we get to see the Threadgoode house.

After the church service, a reception at the Threadgoode house; I loved this scene of the refreshment table laid out with linens, silver and delicious goodies, including the wedding cake. All the ladies are dressed in lovely Edwardian fashions and hats. Here you can also see Sipsey (Cicely Tyson) on the left wearing a fabulous apron with red fruits on it. On the right, Mama Threadgoode (Lois Smith) wears a white fine lawn apron over her dress.

This is where we also meet Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker) for the first time. I adore her gorgeous summer hat and matching dress.

At the end of the movie, we get to see the Whistle Stop Cafe all closed up and abandoned. There were a great many old advertising signs, chippy and rusty and fabulous, on the front.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a "tour" with me with one of my favorite 'movie kitchens'!!!