Dione Lucas, 1909-1971

Dione Lucas was born in London, England, in 1909, daughter of architect Henry Wilson. She studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris under Henri-Paul Pellaprat and apprenticed at the Drouant Restaurant in Paris before becoming the first woman to receive a diploma from the Cordon Bleu. In the early 1930s, she returned to London, where she and friend Rosemary Hume opened Le Petit Cordon Bleu Restaurant and Cooking School, having been authorized to issue diplomas by the Cordon Bleu. During this time she married architect Colin Lucas. The couple had two children, Mark and Peter. They later divorced.

In 1940, Lucas moved with her two children to New York City, first working at Longchamp's Restaurant. She opened the Cordon Bleu Cooking School and Restaurant in New York City in 1942. In 1946, she became the first woman to host her own television cooking show, To the Queen's Taste, which appeared on ABC stations. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s Lucas hosted several other cooking shows, including The Dione Lucas Cooking Show, the Dione Lucas Hour, Gourmet Club, and Dollars and Sense Cooking, and also gave cooking demonstrations across the United States and Australia. Lucas was involved in several restaurants in addition to the Cordon Bleu, including the Egg Basket and The Ginger Man in New York City, the Brasserie Restaurant in Bennington, Vermont, and the Heritage Village Restaurant in Southbury, Connecticut. In addition to teaching at the Cordon Bleu, Lucas also taught cooking classes at the Gourmet Cooking School and The Ginger Man, all in New York City, and opened several culinary equipment stores, including the Dione Lucas Gourmet Center and Maison Michel.

Lucas published several cookbooks as well; her first, Au Petit Cordon Bleu; An Array of Recipes from the École du Petit Cordon Bleu, 29 Sloane Street, London, was co-authored with Rosemary Hume, in 1936. Other titles include The Cordon Bleu Cook Book, The Gourmet Cooking School Cook Book (co-authored with Darlene Geis), The Dione Lucas Meat and Poultry Cook Book (co-authored with Ann Roe Robbins), French Cookery, and The Dione Lucas Book of French Cooking (co-authored with Marion Gorman), which was published two years after her death in 1971 of breast cancer. The Dione Lucas Book of Natural French Cooking, by Marion Gorman and Felipe deAlba, is largely based on variations of Lucas' recipes and was published in 1977.

Marion Gorman was a friend to whom Lucas willed her papers. Gorman used them to complete work on The Dione Lucas Book of French Cooking in 1973. It appears that the two had also collaborated on producing a book of health-conscious French recipes before Lucas' death that was likely published as The Dione Lucas Book of Natural French Cooking, co-authored by Gorman and Felipe deAlba.

In the early 1970s, Gorman worked for the advertising agency Norman, Craig, and Kummel, but by 1973 she had become vice-president and director of advertising for Penthouse magazine, assisting in the launch of Viva, an erotic magazine for women. It was around this time that she married Lionel Braun, who for a time had managed Lucas' financial affairs. By the early 1990s she began her own company, Albamar, Inc., a food and beverage public relations service. Gorman also published several other food-related books including Cooking with Fruit, The Drink Directory: 1,025 Recipes for the Home and Professional Bartender (co-authored with husband Lionel Braun), and The Tequila Book, (co-authored with Felipe deAlba).

From the guide to the Papers of Dione Lucas, ca.1930-1995, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)