Cocktails At Noon.
Chapter 1. Introduction.
If you ever get into those old silver screen movies; and working on the assumption that the reader is not averse to the pros and cons of the drinking culture; I personally find myself jealous of the sipping in the heady twenties & thirties, of exotic cocktails by high society both sides of the Pond.
I think that one cannot fail to admire those slender ladies dressed to kill and men attired in evening dress, spats, waistcoats and even the odd monocle.
There is a story, I am sure, behind every gathering.
And indeed, there was.
Bette Davis as “Margo Channing” in “All About Eve”; cigarette poised at an angle in silk gloved hands, sipping a “Gibson” with full eye contact to her leading man.
For those of you unacquainted with this drink; one fills a mixing glass with ice and pours in a few drops of dry vermouth, (normally Noilly Prat.) Stir for 15 seconds, or until the vermouth has coated the ice. Then strain out the liquid, top up the mixing glass with ice, add 50ml of gin or vodka, and stir until the glass is frosted and the mixture is well chilled. Pour into a chilled Martini glass and garnish with a pearl cocktail onion. There you go; a bit more involved than pulling a pint or drinking a Bud from the bottle like a “good old boy.”
The scene was also more relaxed, and one might even say “civilised.” No quaffing of cheap liquor, perched on a stool, endeavouring to either: remain alone, hunched and morose, or to hold a somewhat questionable and intelligible discourse with a drunk fellow neighbour.
And talking of talking, the conversation seemed more appreciative then. Thus, Margo to male companion, “I admit I may have seen better days, but I’m still not to be had for the price of a cocktail like a salted peanut.”