Since first studying vintage and classic cocktails I've been fascinated by the trend in the early 20th century, during the infant decades of the movie industry, of naming cocktails after various movie stars, especially those associated with drinking in film (this trend died off long ago so still no Nicholas Cage cocktail, thank goodness). The most famous of these is almost certainly the non-alcoholic Shirley Temple with which we are probably all familiar with from our excited tinglings as children in diners 'having drinks like the adults are!'. My two little girls still get excited when they see dad grab the cocktail shaker and squeal, 'Is it soda time?!?!!', and it's Shirley Temples all around. The boy takes a Roy Rogers, thank you very much – no sissy drinks for him, you see.

So, I decided to make an evening of just mixing up and enjoying celebrity-inspired cocktails. The most-documented (and apparently and one of the few long-standing of these) seems to be the Mary Pickford which I run across frequently and seems to be very consistent in its preparation and ingredients; sometimes no small feat with these drinks. Another cocktail which seems to have survived, perhaps because of his marriage to the former, is the Douglas Fairbanks (Sr., mind you). And after some searching and digging around (I'm not keen on trying the Mamie Taylor – I tend to think scotch makes a poor mixer, unlike bourbon) settled on the Charlie Chaplin cocktail for my third; mainly out of curiousity in possibly finally finding an apricot-brandy drink that I can stand. Plus there was the additional bonus of these three associating and having their work and lives intersect in old Hollywood on a frequent basis. Hell, I almost put on my tux for the occasion, and then decided it would interfere with my shaking action. So, Ms. Pickford…shall we?

Mary Pickford Cocktail³³ 

• 2 oz light rum
• 1 oz unsweetned pineapple juice
• 1/4 oz maraschino liqueur
• 1 dash of grenadine

Shake a strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

I'm a bit of a fan of drinks blending pineapple juice and rum but most variations of this drink change it to equal parts rum and pineapple juice which, in my opinion, oversweetens the drink too much. This is a nice relatively sweet drink that gains a touch of complexity from the maraschino liqueur and a wonderfully light pink color from the grenadine. It's not a particularly deep or interesting drink from a flavor standpoint but it's a nice refreshing change from gin-based drinks and stands up nicely in a Summer rotation.

Douglas Fairbanks Cocktail³³

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 1 oz apricot brandy
• 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
• 3/4 oz egg white

Shake all ingredients vigorously to fully emulsify the egg and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

There are many variations of this drink (mostly involving gin and vermouth or gin and apricot brandy) and I picked this one for two reasons; I trust Dale DeGroff's adjustments to recipes, and it gave me a chance to work egg white (and apricot brandy) into another drink. I followed DeGroff's explicit instructions on separating the egg so you only get 3/4 oz (since eggs at the time were significantly smaller than today's) and still found this recipe lacking. The tartness of the lime juice is nice against the apricot brandy and gin but the parts never quite come together as well as I expect from a good cocktail. The flavors don't so much meld and build on each other as fight and compete for prevalence. This is doubly surprising given egg white's usual tendency to bring flavors together and dampen any sharpness. Not what I was expecting, yet another disappointment in a cocktail featuring apricot brandy, and not something I'll go back to; I'll stick with his movies instead. Alright Trampy, you're up.

 Charlie Chaplin Cocktail

• 1 oz apricot brandy
• 1 oz sloe gin
• 1 oz lemon juice

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into an old fashioned glass filled with ice and serve.

As I poured this into my old fashioned glass my wife immediately commented, 'It looks like melted sorbet!'. And it does come out particularly thick and takes awhile to release entirely from the shaker. I'm sure this is because of the sloe gin's thickness and how hard I shake my drinks and obliterate the ice into a slushy mass at times. The first thing that struck me was the tartness of the drink's scent. With one third of the cocktail being comprised of lemon juice it really comes through.  Upon drinking, once you get past the thick texture it's interesting just how much like melted sorbet it is, and strawberry sorbet in particular. The sweetness of the sloe gin and tartness of the lemon juice immediately bring to mind the character of ripened strawberries. And, the apricot brandy doesn't get in the way of the drink as I find it so often does. While I'm surprised this was the drink designed as Chaplin's namesake it's very nice as a refreshing stand-alone summer drink or as a dessert cocktail. But, only if you like strawberries of course.

Mary Pickford Rating:

Douglas Fairbanks Rating:

Charlie Chaplin Rating:

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1. variation from 'The Joy of Mixology' by Gary Regan333
2. from 'The Craft of the Cocktail' by Dale DeGroff333

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