Woolf Trek

It’s a good day to reprise my 4/27/10 post- favorite obit headline ever: ‘Helen Lavalle, 94, Advised Elizabeth Taylor’. “Amongst her many jobs, Helen was a waitress at the former Williams House, where she was the only waitress who could tell Elizabeth Taylor that one lobster was enough.” -Gazette

Elizabeth Taylor was here at Smith College in the 60’s filming “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”, with Richard Burton. Assume that’s when she may have tried to indulge in local lobster binge-ing and Helen would have none of it. The old Williams House in nearby Williamsburg, Massachusetts, was famous for its haute cuisine brought to the Valley by Jim Wolff, featured in Table’s Edge.