Alfred Hitchcock’s favourite cocktail, at least when visiting Harry’s Bar in Venice, was the White Lady; his treatment of ladies, and for that matter of actors in general was less gentlemanly. Tippi Hedren, who had starred in one of the director’s best known films ”The Birds”(1963) later commented:
”Hitchcock was more careful about how the birds were treated than he was about me. I was just there to be pecked.”
The White Lady
1½ oz gin
¾ oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 oz Cointreau
and 1 egg white shaken over ice [1]
If one listens to that song for long enough, one begins to have sympathies for the birds. Please make it stop.
What can be written about Ms. Parker, a brilliantly gifted, caustically witty, non-conformist satirist, that hasn’t been said better by others, and most readers will presumably know her anyway, so let us narrow it down to the subject matter of this blog: film and drink.
Ms. Parker’s move to Hollywood in the mid-1930s triggered her second career as a screenwriter, with films such as ”A Star is Born”(1937) and an original screenplay for Hitchcock’s”Saboteur”(1942), and lasted until being blacklisted by the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee), her 1.000+ page FBI file must make good reading.
Although Esquire and The New Yorker have listed Whiskey Sour, Martinis or Manhattans as Ms. Parker’s favourite drinks, there is also a cocktail named after her worth mentioning: The Dorothy Parker.
1½ Citrus Vodka
½ Triple Sec
¼ Chambord Liqueur
½ freshly squeezed lemon juice
champagne (or sparkling wine) to top off
Shake all ingredients except champagne, strain into a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass and top off with champagne.
Some Dorothy Parker quotes to set the mood:
“This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” (in reference to Benito Mussolini’s ”The Cardinal’s Mistress”.)
“Tell him I was too f**king busy– or vice versa.”
“I wish I could drink like a lady I can take one or two at the most Three and I’m under the table Four and I’m under the host”_ (Dorothy Parker)
Trivia I: If you have ever caught an episode of ”Gilmore Girls”(2000-2007) then you might have noticed the Dorothy Parker tribute by the show’s creator Ms. Amy Sherman-Palladino by way of the production company’s name: “Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions”.
Besides Sylvia Plath’s “The Unabridged Journals”, Rory‘s reading list included “Complete Stories” and “The Portable Dorothy Parker”
Poor old dad, the “Father of the Bride” (1950), preparing gallons of Martinis in expectation of his guests’ wishes at his daughter’s wedding announcement, spends the evening mixing every and all drinks but Martinis, among many: Old Fashioneds, Bourbon & Sodas, Mint Juleps, Tom Collins’, Rum & Cokes, and straight up Scotches. Let’s pick on one:
1½ oz Gin
1 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 oz carbonated water
½ sugar syrup
Mix the gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup in a tall glass with ice, top up with soda water, garnish and serve.
Another drink which precedes “The Blue Lagoon” film, both the 1980 and the 1949 version, it’s attributed to any number of people, from Andy MacElhone to Paul Gauguin.
The Sidecar, listed by the International Bartenders Association in the “unforgettables” column, has it’s origin sometime between the End of World War I and the beginning of the roaring 20ies; the Paris Ritz has staked claims, it’s first found mentioned in 1922 and since then appearing in innumerable films, the latest probably being “The Bonfire of the Vanities” (1990):
2 oz Cognac
3/4 oz Lemon juice
3/4 oz Triple sec
Pour all into cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake and strain into cocktail glass.
To honour 13 nominations and three wins at the 81st Academy Awards for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2008), 10 Cane Rum created this cocktail:
2 oz. 10 Cane Rum
1 oz. pomegranate juice
3/4 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
dash of syrup
garnish with pomegranate seeds or lemon twist
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass on ice, shake, strain into Martini glass and garnish with pomegranate seeds or lemon twist.
Richard Sherman: “Miss Morris, I’m perfectly capable of fixing my own breakfast. As a matter of fact, I had a peanut butter sandwich and two whiskey sours.”
As Miss Morris, when we hear “The Seven Yea Itch” (1955), we think Whiskey Sours; and vice versa:
1½ oz Bourbon Whisky
1 oz fresh lemon juice
½ Gomme syrup
1 dash egg white
Shake with ice, strain into ice-filled old-fashioned glass and serve on the rocks … and try to keep your eyes on the drink.
Recalling the serial killer in “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) who murders his victims in their dreams, here’s a drink to keep you awake, though not sober:
2 oz vanilla vodka
½ oz pumpkin spice syrup*
¾ oz lemon juice
½ oz Bailey’s Irish Cream
¼ oz Frangelico
Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Shake hard and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a dash of cinnamon.
* = For pumpkin spice syrup, blend the following ingredients until smooth:1 15 oz can of pumpkin puree2 cups water1 1/2 cups sugar1 tsp cinnamon1/2 tsp ground dried ginger1/2 tsp nutmeg1/4 tsp. ground cloves
Michael Williams: [sees dozens of stick-men hanging from trees] “No red-neck is this creative.” “The Blair Witch Project” (1999).
The Tiny Hands cocktail was purportedly thought up by Deidre Darling of Chicago’s The Savoy, who describes the drink: “The cocktail is further enhanced by the bitterness of the Fernet-Branca. The garnish was inspired by the formation of dolls out of wooden sticks.”
1½ oz Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum infused with Forbidden Forest Lapsang Souchong Tea*
½ oz Fernet-Branca
2 full eye droppers of chocolate mole bitters
½ oz lemon juice
½ oz agave nectar
1 egg white
Fill all ingredients into a shaker, shake to emulsify egg white, add ice and shake to chill. Strain and garnish with cinnamon sticks, cloves and tea leaves.*To infuse Sailor Jerry Rum with tea, soak tea bags in rum. Let steep. Strain before use.
Known by most today for her roles as Violet Crawley in ”Downton Abbey” [2010-15] or Minerva McGonagall in the ”Harry Potter” franchise, one forgets that Maggie Smith had a distinguished, even illustrious career before being typecast as elderly dowager or schoolmarm, raking in two Academy Awards and three Golden Globes along the way.
”The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” (1969) established her as a serious actress and a number of comedies such as ”Murder by Death ” (1976) and ”California Suite” (1978) as well as star-vehicles à la Agatha Christie’s [”Death on the Nile” (1978) and ”Evil Under the Sun” (1982) kept her in the public eye, but her best work seemed to go mostly unnoticed: ”Travels With My Aunt” (1972), ”A Room With a View” (1985). ”Gosford Park” (2001), ”Ladies in Lavender”(2004) and more.
The Between the Sheets Cocktail, the drink Maggie Smith offers Peter Ustinov (a.k.a. Hercule Poirot) in ”Evil Under the Sun” (1982) dates back to 1930s Paris, either a Harry MacElhone(Harry’s New York Bar) creation or the apéritif du jour for working girls in French brothels; either way …
1 oz. white rum
1 oz. Cointreau
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1 oz. cognac
cocktail glass
Shake rum, Cointreau, juice, and cognac well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a twist of lemon.
500 Movie Drinks and Cocktails 