Silent film star Mary Pickford has a drink named after her. But why?
Mary Pickford
Labeled as “America’s Sweetheart” during the silent film era, Mary Pickford was one of the most renowned Hollywood A-listers. She was so popular; a drink was named after her during a time when Americans couldn’t even legally imbibe. But like many of the drinks of the Prohibition era the story of its roots vary, and its history becomes more of a telephone game with the beginning and end markedly different.
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Cari Beauchamp, an award-winning author, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences film scholar. An advocate for women, Cari has focused much of her research on female Hollywood pioneers, taking ink to paper in tribute to many of them, including ‘Queen Mary’ (Pickford) herself. More than just an actress, Pickford was a founder of the distribution company United Artists, and her own film studio.
Beauchamp is a sage in this arena and knows much of the legend [and lore] that accompanies the history of these leading ladies. But this knowledge comes with long hours and a lot of research. And there are two things that drive her when it comes to wanting to know more.
Cari Beauchamp
“When I start working on anything big or small it’s either because I’m curious about it or because something has pissed me off,” she tells me within minutes of our discussion. In this instance, my guess is that it pissed her off. Most of the stories claim the cocktail was invented when Pickford was in Havana filming a movie.
“Legend says it was invented in Cuba when Mary and Doug Fairbanks [her husband] where there but I know they weren’t,” she tells me adamantly, adding “amongst many things, she didn’t like the weather because her hair frizzed [the humid air would make mayhem on her legendary curls].
“Research tells us the first known recipe was printed in the 1928 book, When it’s Cocktail Time in Cuba by Basil Woon. I quickly recognize the book must have been Cuba’s shining star,” as they had something America did not—legalized drinking. During those years, you add the word “cocktail” into any title, even the best of teetotalers become envious.
Beauchamp goes on to say Pickford made movies in Cuba in 1913-1914. Yet, the purported history notes the cocktail wasn’t created until the 1920s—a time when American bartenders flocked to Cuba to apply their trade since Prohibition forfeited their efforts stateside. And a time Beauchamp adds, “Mary wasn’t there.”
And although passionate about the era, Beauchamp tells me something I didn’t know. “With the founding of speakeasies, women started to drink more. Although women had always imbibed, they rarely did so in public before Prohibition because male-only establishments dominated the bar scene.” And I learn there were laws in the early 1900s criminalizing women in spaces designated for drinking.
As for Mary’s go-to drink? “Mary would drink the Grasshopper when she was out. I think the stories [about the Mary Pickford] just continue to spin and anecdotes are added to it constantly to promote either a particular bar or even a particular brand of liquor.”
As for whether the drink was a good representation of her character. “I don’t think it has anything to do with her character. She would have gotten a chuckle out of it and moved on fast.”
But in the end, generations of cocktail lovers will only know the actress because of the drink. And whether she was there or not, her legacy continues to live on—in spirit.
Learn more about its hidden history in Vanity Fair.
Mary Pickford
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz. Bacardi Rum
- 2 oz. fresh pineapple-juice
- 2 tsp grenadine
- 1 tsp Luxardo maraschino liquor*
Preparation: Pour all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and add ice. Shake until chilled, strain into a Martini or coupe glass.
*Though not noted in Woon’s book, the addition of the Luxardo liquor is a later addition that is nearly mandated in the recipe, plus the Luxardo Italian cherry adds an easy, yet delectable garnish.
The post The History of the Mary Pickford Cocktail is Not What You Think appeared first on Chilled Magazine.
Source: Mixology News
