BOTTOMS UP 52 Cock-Tail Spins for High Flyers Recipes I.B.F PROHIBITION

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BOTTOMS UP 52 Cock-Tail Spins for High Flyers Recipes I.B.F PROHIBITIONORIGINS OF INTERNATIONAL BAR FLIES ~ HARRY'S NEW YORK BAR, {Tell the cab driver "SANK ROO DOE NOO"} (5, Rue Deaunou)PARIS FRANCE: INTERNATIONAL BAR FLIESWhat follows, in quotes, I have imported (pinched) from the website, found while researching this great book of cocktail recipes published during prohibition. Even more information is available from another Ebay seller, whose book is in somewhat better shape than mine.The review mentions that only two copies are known to exist, but I have found a few others, and one would assume that all the celebrities would have received copies and would have passed them to their friends. The silk binding alone would have made this a very limited production.The photos of silent film stars and celebrities are of very high quality and exceptionally attractive.Curiously, at least to me, the book makes mention of and publishes the rules of the International Order of Bar Flies, which seems to predate the I.B.F group that had its genesis at HARRY's NEW YORK BAR, 5 Rue Deaunou, Paris, France; of which I am a proud member, having tended bar across the street at Chez Philippe in the '60's. Several hangover cures are mentioned also.************************************************************************************************Bottoms Up52 Cock-Tail Spins for High FlyersFrom the Recipes of Many Celebrities1928Published by The Buzza Company"This rare Prohibition Era cocktail recipe book, die-cut in the shape of a cocktail shaker, waspublished in the U.S. in 1928, at the height of the Prohibition Era, flaunting the ban on alcoholwith cocktail recipes by famous silent film stars, vaudeville performers and musicians, includingW. C. Fields, Fanny Brice, Florenz Ziegfield, Ted Lewis and George Gershwin.Bottoms Up is notable for two reasons. It was one of only a few cocktail books published in the U.S.during Prohibition, and it's the earliest known example of a book of cocktail recipes of famous celebrities.This is a natural pairing. While most Americans found it difficult or impossible to obtain alcohol duringProhibition, celebrities, especially in the entertainment business, thrived on the underground cocktail culture.It is significant that "Tex" Guinan is included. Mary Louise "Texas" Guinan made her silent filmdebut in 1917 in The Wildcat, becoming America's first movie cowgirl, "The Queen of the West".However Tex's importance in this cocktail book was her notorious reputation as the owner andmanager of a Prohibition Era speakeasy called the 300 Club at 151 W. 54th Street in New York City.Her club was routinely raided by the police, but Tex always claimed that the patrons had broughtthe liquor in with them. The 300 Club was the gathering spot of New York's wealthy and famous,including George Gershwin, Reggie Vanderbilt, Gloria Swanson, Clara Bow, Irving Berlin, John Barrymoreand Rudolph Valentino. Ruby Keeler and George Raft were discovered as dancers at Tex's 300 Club.Each of the celebrity cocktail recipes concludes with a nostalgic "Do You Remember?" reminiscenceof the grand bars, hotels and casinos that had once flourished before Prohibition.The book also contains a page of Antidotes and Pick-me-ups,Helpful Hints for making cocktails,Rules of the International Bar Flies,The Amalgamated Order of Beer Shifters,and The Code of the Bar Flies.Today's tradition of American cocktails primarily developed during, and because of, Prohibition. Cocktailbooks before this era were usually trade publications intended for professional bartenders. Then the 1920sand early 30s saw the emergence of do-it-yourself cocktail books, mostly published in England, France,Canada and Cuba, featuring the new explosion of cocktails that developed during Prohibition. Very few... read more

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