Parker Dorothy - Under the table: a Dorothy Parker cocktail guide

Also by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick:

A Journey into Dorothy Parkers New York

as editor

Dorothy Parker: Complete Broadway 19181923

The Lost Algonquin Round Table: Humor, Fiction, Journalism, Criticism, and Poetry from Americas Most Famous Literary Circle

Copyright 2013 by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, PO Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

Lyons Press is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.

Project editor: Meredith Dias

Text design: Sheryl P. Kober

Layout: Lisa Reneson

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fitzpatrick, Kevin C., 1966

Under the table : a Dorothy Parker cocktail guide / Kevin C.

Fitzpatrick.

pages cm

E-ISBN 978-1-4930-0203-0 (ePub)

1. CocktailsUnited States. 2. Parker, Dorothy, 1893-1967. 3.

United StatesSocial life and customs1918-1945. I. Title. II. Title:

Dorothy Parker cocktail guide.

TX951.F53 2013

641.87'4dc23

2013024383

I love a martini

But two at the most.

Three, Im under the table;

Four, Im under the host.

Contents

Sidebars

Foreword

It was just one of those things...

I was introduced to the acerbic wit of Dorothy Parker in college. Studying the lyrics of Tin Pan Alley, I came across the elegant patter of Cole Porter. As Dorothy Parker once said immediately piqued my curiosity. Of the musical numbers from 1935s Jubilee , I would sooner take Begin the Beguine, but of all the characters in Just One of Those Things only Juliet and Romeo were familiar to me. In those days, before the dawn of the Internet age, there was no Google search, so I hit the stacks and came upon The Collected Poetry of Dorothy Parker . Ballade of a Talked-Off Ear still stands out.

By the time I graduated Dorothy Parker Stories a fitting commencement giftI was on my way to New York to seek fame and fortune. I didnt know at the time that a future in drinks and the wonderfully fitting American culture of cocktails awaited me, but in short time, absorbed by the rush of history and the pleasure of a well-made Manhattan, suddenly her name appeared again: Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Round Table. The Round Table itself, long before Mad Men , provided an interesting social concept: literati and the three-martini lunch. Instantly I was less interested in the hard talking and more interested in the hard drinking!

Dorothy Parker came of age in an era when men and women in urban America didnt socialize at bars. The saloons of the pre-Prohibition era offered taps for men of varied walks of life to blow off steam, share a story or two, and imbibe. Once in a while an establishment might have a side door or a ladies entrance, but the idea of a woman lunching and drinking with men in a professional scenario was sadly a rarity. Parker helped change that, contributing, if you will, to the democratization of drinking cultureand what more democratic place should there be than a bar?

In a time of restless brilliance, her national celebrity sprang from the sharp, biting humor of both her incisive poetry and her widely quoted quips. Regularly seated at the famed Algonquin Round Table, she took center stage in the citys cultural and intellectual beating heart. No one could have been a more interesting drinking companion, and our Dorothy Parker American Gin celebrates her unconventionality in all its glittering facets.

Under the Table gives us a glance at a bygone era and at Dorothy Parker herself: drinker, for certain, but writer, raconteuse, and provocateuse as well. Not just a reminiscence, it acknowledges a rejuvenation of cocktail culture, the importance of patience and the art of conversation, and the myriad rewards of a well-made drink.

Allen Katz

Cofounder of the New York Distilling Company

Introduction

Stirring the Life of Dorothy Parker

No other American writer has a reputation quite like the one Dorothy Parker earned. Almost fifty years after her death, her numerous wisecracks live on, such as her advice to a friend who needed to euthanize an old cat: Try curiosity. Or about a boyfriend: His voice was as intimate as the rustle of sheets. After she learned that President Coolidge had died, she remarked: How can you tell?

But Mrs. Parker did more than crack wise and create bad puns. The American Academy of Arts and Letters admitted her to its ranks not for telling jokes but for the achievements of her poetry and short stories. She went into the New York Writers Hall of Fame alongside Herman Melville and Willa Cather. Not a day goes by that her name doesnt pop up on the Internet, in the umpteenth pop culture reference of the days news cycle.

Shes also renowned for writing about booze, talking about drinking, and loving a cocktail or two herself. Along with her dogs and expensive clothes, Mrs. Parker also enjoyed her cocktails. She imbibed at speakeasies in New York, mansions in Beverly Hills, and villas on the French Riviera. A friend once said, Youve got to expect public recognition like that. After all, youre an international celebrity. To which Mrs. Parker replied, Yeah, thats me, the toast of two continentsGreenland and Australia.

Dorothy was born to New Yorkers J. Henry and Elizabeth (ne Marston) Rothschild on August 22, 1893, at their summer beach cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey, near present-day 732 Ocean Avenue, facing the beach. Her father worked in the garment business, making mens cloaks and suits. The comfortably uppermiddle class family had housekeepers and cooks but werent considered wealthy.

When Dorothy Parker walked into a kitchen one morning, her host asked what he could make for her breakfast. Just something light and easy to fix, she said. How about a dear little whiskey sour?