Champagne | 500 Movie Drinks and Cocktails

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”*

Trivia II: The New York Distilling Company named one of their two flagship gins after her: The Dorothy Parker Gin [1] which has spawned a number of cocktails in her honour, see http://vinepair.com/wine-blog/9-inventive-gin-cocktails-inspired-by-the-legendary-dorothy-parker/ .

[1] New York Distilling Company – http://www.nydistilling.com/spirits/

As so often occurs to actors portraying villains, they are mainly remembered for the dastardly deeds of their miscreant characters, but not for other achievements.

Lotte Lenya, an accomplished stage and screen actress, married to Kurt Weill, the composer of Bertolt Brecht’s “The Threepenny Opera” and her husband’s inspiration in his composition of “Mack the Knife”, had her breakthrough role as Jenny in the 1928 Berlin premiere of this musical which helped mark the transition from German Expressionism to the Social Realism (the “neue Sachlichkeit”) of the Weimar Republic.

Ms. Lenya’s IMDb film credits list boasts but ten entries, including her Academy Award nominated role as the Contessa in ”The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone” (1961), but reading her biography one comes to realize what colourless and forgettable lives many of us lead by comparison.

But back to the beautifully twisted and sadistic Rosa: her favorite was French Champagne, and although she surely had the means to order the best bottle in the house, us poor mortals without a SPECTRE spending account have to make do with more modest, but still very drinkable, alternatives, such as …

100$+ Alfred Gratien Cuvee Paradis Brut NV Champagne
55$+ Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label Champagne
35$+ Moet & Chandon NV White Star Champagne
20$+ Leclerc Briant Cuvée Extra Brut NV Champagne