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? Read More »