Your Gift - Army Truck or Eskimo Village?

While I will offer up a few drinks at the end, with the holidays upon us and many looking to find just the "right" gift for spouses, family members, significant others and friends, I thought I would share a few gift memories.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have passed and, in fits of conspicuous consumption, the American public has spent money it does not have, for gifts. These gifts will likely be forgotten in the next year or two, perhaps sooner.  For those giving gift cards or cash, the gesture so appreciated when received, will almost certainly forgotten as soon converted into goods.

Looking back at over 60 Christmases it is amazing how few gifts are easily remembered, still fewer that call forth memories, and costliness is not a factor.

I have received the requisite numbers of ties, robes, slippers, and sweaters, though I remember none specifically.  Predictably, there have been cash and gift cards though I cannot remember exactly what was purchased with them.  Wait!  As I write, I  recall that one Christmas, the monetary gift from my parents went to buy a new steering wheel for the jeep I wrote of in an earlier blog.  I really wanted that steering wheel as the old one was badly cracked and worn.  Of the gifts I do recall, almost all are from my childhood.

$9.95 in 1958, $900 today

The first, best, and probably longest played with, was a trio (that's right, not just one, but three!) Structo Army trucks. Typical of the 1950's, they were heavy, olive drab painted steel.  Sporting a star on the roof, one had a battery-operated searchlight, the other a missile launcher.  I played with them years after the searchlight lens, the missile launcher broken, and the transport cover gone AWOL.  In fact, they were still in my old G.I. footlocker/toy box that Dad disposed of when I was away in college.  I can purchase the set pictured, and relive my childhood, for a mere $900.

The spiritual low in Christmas gifts received had to be about Christmas of 1959 or 1960.  This was rock bottom disappointing.  Much more so than my getting a Daisy pump BB gun when my friends all had lever actions. 

Picture a time when the ultimate Christmas reference for toys was the Sears & Roebuck catalog, Westerns reigned supreme in the movies and on television, and children actually went out of doors to play Cowboys and Indians.

I wanted a Fort Apache by Marx - an opus in brightly colored injection molded plastic. A  timbered cavalry fort with soldiers, cowboys, Indians, horses...I can still see that catalog page today.  Come Christmas morn, gifts under the tree, the smell of cocoa, what was in store---toy soldiers, model planes, Fort Apache?  No. It was Eskimo Village, a predecessor of the Arctic Explorer play set pictured above.

At that time, I was all about shoot ‘em up military and cowboy stuff.  An Eskimo Village?   Dad must have lost his mind or waited until there was nothing left to buy, or grabbed the first toy that came to hand.  He was in the army.  Why in God’s green earth would he pick Eskimo Village?  The box held igloos, sleds, dogs, walrus, polar bear, Inuits etc.  All foreign to my interests and world view - and such a disappointment.  It snowed that Christmas and I had a go at playing desultorily with the Village outside.  Later, on occasion, playing with my electric train, I would drag out the Eskimo Village and its minions.  Somehow, the Eskimo Village just did not feel right alongside my Lionel, my green Army men and those beloved Army trucks. The icons of the frozen North were soon relegated to the bottom of that old footlocker.

The last memorable gift was the Christmas of 1965 in Camp Drum, New York.  I had moved on to fishing, spending time in the woods, and wanting to hunt.  My parents gave me a shotgun. Now this was not an extravagant gift.  Not a Winchester, or even a Remington, it was a well-used Mossberg 12 gauge bolt-action shotgun with an adjustable choke.  It was about as close to the "bottom of the line" as you can get without being indecent in quality.  Never mind that.  I took a good number of rabbits with it and enjoyed it immensely.

As parents, my wife and I have managed to be spectacular failures in gift giving. We have heard more than once from our children that they never got what they wanted. Oh well.  As they say, "Life sucks, then you die."

As we mature (though many never do) gift giving and receiving becomes secondary to spending time with loved ones or, in my case, seeking a quiet corner away from loved ones.  My wife and I seldom give each other gifts anymore, preferring to get what we want, when we want it.  Perhaps that is best since there is never disappointment.  Like all things in life, this also has a downside; you also lose the chance to cultivate those memories of gifts - good, bad, or indifferent.

Today’s drinks are from Holiday Drink Book, by the Peter Pauper Press, 1951.  This book can be found, in its original box, for under $10 today.  It would make a cute stocking-stuffer for someone enjoying 1950's tchotchke's and some simple drinks.

Like those Army trucks, the Falernum Cocktail is worth trotting out repeatedly.

This basic Hot Buttered Rum recipe, just as that "plain Jane" old Mossberg, does its job. A no frills, no fuss, way to warm up on a cold winter day or night.

This last drink, a picker upper for that morning after, has to be the "Eskimo Village" of cocktails.  While I would gladly take eggnog or almost any other drink utilizing raw egg, the Nose Dive Cocktail would be far from my thoughts - and yes, I made one and quaffed it.

What's In A Name - Cherchez la femme!

Today’s offering is a few mixed drinks named for women.   If you find one to your liking, pass on the story as well as the drink.

The first is named in honor of an African-American woman of note, Susie King Taylor.  Employed as a laundress, nurse, and educator, Susie Taylor wrote a book Reminiscences of My Life with the 33rd United States Colored Troops Late 1st S.C. Volunteers.  An easy read of about 80 pages (available free online) it starts with a brief history of her family, describes her experiences traveling with her husbands unit during its campaigns, then finishes with a brief description of her life in the post-war years.

No mere camp follower, Mrs. Taylor was hired by the regiment as a laundress, though she says she seldom had time to perform that task. There  was a myriad of more pressing needs that kept her busy such as nursing the sick and wounded, helping to clean muskets, packing knapsacks and cartridge boxes, searching for food, and teaching reading and writing to those soldiers interested.  She saw the war from Charleston to Jacksonville and her slim book is a good read for as it gives a uniquely female perspective of life in the "colored troops."

In a late chapter, Taylor writes a very thoughtful essay on issues of race and treatment of veterans in general.  One sentence, appropriate to our proximity to Veterans Day, serves to illustrate how times really do not change:

“I look around now and see the comforts that our younger generation enjoy, and think of the blood that was shed to make these comforts possible for them, and see how little some of them appreciate the old soldiers. My heart burns.”

The Susie Taylor comes from Straub's Manual of Mixed Drinks, 1913.  A simple, pleasant cooler, it is a Cuba Libre with ginger ale substituted for Coke.

Next, we have Elsie Ferguson, a blue-eyed blond star of stage and screen in the early 20th century. Starting as a chorus girl  in 1900, she made her last performance on Broadway in 1943.

In 1919, the women's magazine, Milady Beautiful, described her as "the greatest mistress of poise, grade and artistry."  She was a very private, and self-effacing person active in charity work and an "ardent" suffragette.  During WWI, Elsie Ferguson participated in Liberty Loan drives, the Red Cross and United War work.  Elsie was considered a difficult person, in part, for her dislike of interviews and parties.  A 1918 article in Photoplay described her as "rather cold, indifferent, almost unhappy, and sometimes rather unreal" when off-stage. She was not without humor.  When told a reporter wanted to do a story on how she spent her money, she stated, "I spend it with pleasure."

Today, only one of her silent movies Witness for the Defense, 1919, and one of her talkies Scarlet Pages, 1930, are known to exist.

The Elsie Ferguson Fizz is also from Straub's.

Finally, we have Phoebe Snow. Again we return to 1900.  Phoebe was a model Floradora girl, a shining example of feminine pulchritude and decorum, the "Girl in White,” and like most shining examples - imaginary.  Phoebe, a product of the mind of one W. P. Colton, advertising manager for the Lackawanna Railroad, was as real as Flo, the enthusiastic Progressive Insurance spokesperson.

Phoebe Snow was simply a name made up to fit the first of a series of advertising jingles:

Phoebe Snow about to go

Upon a trip to Buffalo

"My gown keeps white

Both day and night

Upon the Road of Anthracite"

Phoebe, dressed in white like Flo a la 1900, was the darling of the Lackawanna Railroad.  She was able to travel in white on the Lackawanna without fear of her clothes being soiled by soot because the Lackawanna locomotives burned more expensive anthracite coal, hence the moniker of  "The Road of Anthracite."  For those of you too young to remember coal fired furnaces and stoves, coal comes in three flavors - dirty (anthracite), dirtier (bituminous/sub-bituminous), and dirtiest (lignite), and was priced accordingly.

In in her day, Phoebe Snow, graced magazines, billboards, newspapers and streetcars. The ad copy featured rhymes extolling the virtues of the Lackawanna Railroad - courtesy, safety, comfort, and pleasure. While the rhymes seem juvenile today, in 1904 they were described as "tripping, lilting rhymes, associated with a form feminine equally dainty."

Phoebe fell on hard times about 1914, being eventually dropped by the railroad only to return briefly hawking cosmetics and underwear.  In the 1940's the Lackawanna gave her a facelift, and brought her back for another twenty years.

The Phoebe Snow Cocktail is from The How and When by Marco, 1940.

Some Like It Hot (Toddy)

Let me start by disabusing you of any thought that this blog post will have anything to do with a great Marilyn Monroe movie, or that sexy "ice cream blonde" of yesteryear - Thelma Todd aka "Hot Toddy." Rather, since the weather is turning chilly, we are going to talk about a couple of traditional hot drinks. Those pics are a great hook though, aren't they?

The first, and one of my favorites is Hot Gin, a drink with a considerable history dating to the 1700's (by 1825 "piss-quick" was established in English slang for gin and water). Medically, hot gin was was prescribed for dozens of ailments. Considered a stimulant during the day, a drink to "promote repose" in the evening, and a treatment for cholera.  Into the 1890's, a hot gin was considered appropriate for female "pelvic complaints" such as dysmenorrhea - used to such a degree that the medical journal Lancet expressed concern that hot gin was contributing to alcoholism amongst women.

Hot gin is also featured in English literature, making several appearances in works by authors as prominent as Charles Dickens.  In Oliver Twist, Fagin gives Oliver a hot gin after his  first meal with the artful Dodger, and the gang, to put him to sleep.  Later, Mr. Bumble, on seeing a newspaper item regarding Oliver, dashes off "...actually in his excitement" leaving his evening "glass of hot gin and water untasted."  Criminal waste!

Traditional recipes for Hot Gin vary only slightly and I enjoy them all.  If you have a favorite gin, use it.  If not, use whatever is handy.

The earliest recipe employs water, hot or cold - "Hot acts the quickest" per an early 1800’s writer, in a 2:1 ratio.  This was nicknamed “soap-suds” or, as previously mentioned, “piss-quick.” 

A more genteel and tasty drink is the Hot Gin Sling.  Put one spoon of sugar in a hot drink glass, or cup, fill half way (about 4 ounces) with hot water, add a jigger of gin, stir, add a piece of bruised lemon peel and dust with nutmeg.

Toss in a couple of cloves and a bit of allspice, and you now have a Hot Spiced Gin.

To make a Hot Gin Punch (my preferred variant) add the juice of 1/4 lemon, and a thin slice of lemon to the basic Hot Gin Sling recipe.

The gin drinks above are essentially a gin "toddy." Today a toddy, or "tottie", is nothing more than spirits mixed with hot water, sugar, and spices or flavoring to taste. Spirits, water (hot or cold), and sugar were the basic toddy of yore.

We primarily think of a toddy as using whiskey - bourbon, rye, scotch, or Canadian, will do.  Traditionally, after a hospitable dinner, a host would bring a kettle of hot water to the table, along with assorted spirits such as whiskey, brandy, rum, and port, allowing the guests to mix "toddies" to their taste.  Tumblers and wine glasses were the glassware of choice In the home.

Like hot gin, the hot toddy was considered to be of medicinal value.  It was recommended for the treatment of colds (including those of children), gout, and heat stroke.

A stanza from a "dramatic" poem penned by Irish dramatist John O'Keefe in 1790 seems more a limerick today - "cannon loud 'gainst cannon ranting; At his gun, poor Jack see panting; As to lip he lifts the Toddy; Off flies head and down drops body."

Widely appreciated, the toddy was enjoyed by notables as Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, and Mark Twain.  A drink that wears its years well, continues to be popular today, and is perfect for that quiet evening at home.

Black Box Warning - In the 1790's for those preaching temperance, just as marijuana was regarded the gateway drug by do-goods of my generation, the toddy was regarded a the gateway drink to alcoholism in theirs.  The evening toddy was said to lead to "drams in the morning, and afterward (drinkers) have paid their lives as the price of their folly."

Having been warned, tempt fate and try a toddy this evening by substituting your favorite spirit, including flavored ones, for the gin in the recipes above and changing the name accordingly.  The Hot Gin Punch becomes a Hot Rum Punch or Hot Whiskey Punch. Too strong? Titrate the water to your taste. Too sweet, or not sweet enough---adjust your sugar.  If you like cinnamon sticks or vanilla beans, use them.

The Hot Gin and the Toddy are "old as the hills" and some of the easiest to personalize.

Book of Toasts, Autrim, 1902

Ghoulish Stories, Requiems, Corpse Revivers, and Zombies, Oh My!

With Halloween creeping upon us and with ghoulish movies and TV shows coming to the fore, I thought I would start with some real-life stories and finish with aptly named drinks.

Looking at the not so horrifying “horror” stories from my life, there were several candidates, and all appear wanting for various reasons.  I imagine that many of you, upon reflection, could do as well or better.

War stories were the low hanging fruit.  My father, a combat veteran of WWII and Vietnam, told many tales.  Once he spoke of being in charge of a detail in the Philippines, during the closing days of WWII, whose duty was to exhume soldiers, recently and hastily buried, for return to their families.  A grisly task.  Protective equipment consisted of gas masks – his worst wartime experience and too grim to expand upon.

Next I considered sharing something "scary" of my own – like a failed attempt at first aid at the scene of a stabbing - steak knife through the carotid, definitely DRT "Dead Right There" (not to be confused with CTD "Circling the Drain") – again too grim. 

Seeking a lighter side, I trod the murky corners of my brain for other experiences.

I once worked as a night security guard in a medical complex in San Antonio, Texas.  At twilight, in a dark and deserted medical building, I was checking locks on doors. Finding one unlocked, I entered to check the office.  Immediately in front of me was a skeleton.  I will admit to being briefly startled – story too short and too dull.

Then there are the cemeteries I have visited, a must wherever I travel.  I have always said that cemeteries are people at their best – everyone getting along without regard for race, color, creed, or politics.  There are great cemeteries, large and small, all over the north and south.  In the southwest, many appear a

bit plain, but often have a stark beauty of their own.  At one clinic, in a dusty, dreary community, I would occasionally go to the nearby cemetery and eat lunch under the trees.  Very peaceful and the permanent residents were excellent luncheon companions.  No ghosts, noises or other signs of haunting – so a poor story.

Alternatively, while employed in a hospital, I became adept at placing the deceased into body bags by myself.  If that sounds easy, try it with a large individual, whose body is all "loosey-goosey," not stiff as a post, laying on a stretcher.  After "bagging and tagging," I would take them to the "green room," our morgue, which was actually painted blue.  To move the body through the hospital without disturbing the sensibilities of patients and visitors, we had a special gurney.  It had a metal lower shelf to place the body upon and an upper frame that was flat.  A large white, form-fitted drape was put over the top, giving the gurney the appearance of a rolling banquet table.  While prepping the body, bagging, and transporting to the morgue, I kept up a monologue with the deceased.  I spoke of events precipitating demise, visitors if any, where we were going and how we would get there.  After placing the departed upon a shelf, with others, I extended my best wishes and left.  None of my charges ever replied, or called upon me later – so that is a story of that takes the "long way around the barn" to be mundane.

Then there was the Halloween party with the theme "come as your favorite doctor or patient."  The most memorable costume was that of a nurse who came dressed in a body bag as one of our "frequent flyers" who finally managed to buy the proverbial farm.  Stories like that are too tasteless for lay people, and unless you have worked in an ER, law enforcement, or similar field, you will not understand the need to laugh at otherwise grim affairs.

Having established that "real-life" death is unfit for human consumption (but O.K. for zombies?); let us have some fun with drinks with death themes.

The first drink is "The Requiem."  Now for you non-Catholics out there, a Requiem or Requiem Mass, is a prayer service for the dead.  Its name comes from the opening line of the mass “Requiem aeternam dona eis" or "grant them rest forever..."  From the Requiem we also get "Requiescant in pace,"  “May they rest in peace” – the familiar R.I.P. on tombstones. The Requiem we are interested in is from The Flowing Bowl, 1898, by Willie Schmidt. It is a tasty mixed drink, rather like eggnog. The only addition to the recipe that I would recommend is a dash of nutmeg on top.

Following the Requiem, it is only natural to use a "Corpse Reviver" to get those synapses firing and animate our burned out, lifeless bodies.

By 1861, the Corpse Reviver was deemed "a celebrated drink."  A creation of the London Haymarket district, it was billed as an American drink.  In fact, about 1878 the famous bartender/author Jerry Thomas mocked the purveyors of liquor around Charing Cross for selling English drinks as American drinks.  He went on to say that he was about to open an American bar in London "and show the Britishers what's what. Then there'll be no need to brew bogus Yankee drinks!"

Recipes courtesy Boothby's World Drinks, 1934

Now that we have had our Requiem, and our Corpse Reviver, it seems appropriate to follow with the “Zombie.”  I have no interest in the flesh-eating ghouls of modern television and cinema.  Everyone growing up in the 1950's knows that a "real" zombie is merely a person, living or dead, under the control of a voodoo priest or priestess.  No flesh eating, no rotting body parts, pretty much a boring minion of the possessor. 

My preferred zombie, that of the "classic" black and white movies of the 1930’s, is indeed the only genuine zombie, so a pox on the rest of you.  As proof, I offer a Life magazine article.  We are cognizant that anything printed in a major periodical by reputable authors must be true – why else would anyone read the Sun or the Mirror?  In December of 1937, Life magazine did an article entitled "Black Haiti: Where Old Africa and the New World Meet."  Included is a photo by to "Zora Neale Hurston, Negro author with a Guggenheim scholarship…" and described as "the only zombie ever photographed." According to the author, the person/zombie died (or was drugged into a coma) and buried in 1907, returning "naked and demented" to her fathers farm in 1916. From the photo, she is clearly not decomposing or shedding body parts.  Indeed, with her unkempt appearance and her blank stare, she looks like the zombies in those classic movies.  Prima facie evidence that the old zombies my generation knew are the only genuine zombies.

As to the drink, the “Zombie” was the invention of Donn "the Beachcomber" Beach, who created it in the 1930's. Originally, it was sold no more than two to a customer.  Its claim to fame lies in its potency.  I can testify to this.  In my youth, when so many of us have manure for brains, I ill advisedly downed a dozen in a chug-a-lug contest in Juarez, Mexico, after an evening of drinking.  Fortunately, I did not drive nor ended up in a hospital.  After trying to pick a fight with a group of soldiers, it was the sickest night of my life (the cabrito burritos probably did not help) and I gave up any sort of drinking for almost five years.

The "Zombie," like so many drinks, has metastasized into many versions over the years.  I have chosen a version "from the land down under" – Australia, courtesy of The Australian Bartender's Guide, Stebben & Corsar, 1990. While not the most elaborate of Zombies, it is one easily made in the home bar and I would suggest no more than one to a customer.  In addition, the Juarez Zombies were blue, so if you want a 1960’s South of the Border version, substitute blue curacao.

Enjoy your Halloween celebrations and, please, remember "If you drink, don't drive."

Cheesecake and Cocktails

One of the more interesting cocktail books in my library is Bottom's Up, compiled and edited by Ted Saucier.

Ted Saucier had a successful career as a "flack," or publicist for the Waldorf-Astoria hotel.  From the late 1930's through 1950's he was frequently mentioned in Billboard magazine for his publicity prowess in promoting entertainment at the Waldorf.  He also served as the technical advisor for hotel operations in the 1945 movie "Weekend at the Waldorf."

Published in 1951 and pre-dating Playboy magazine by two years, it seems Saucier used the passion for pin-up girls and cheesecake, that blossomed in World War II, as a marketing hook to set his book of drink recipes apart from other others of the period.

In the early 1900’s, “cheesecake” was news photographer slang for a photo whose chief merit was a view of a woman's "gams" or legs. By the 1940's it had become synonymous with images characteristic of famous "pin-up girls" like Betty Grable and Jane Russell. A 1951 ad for a program on improving business  marketing, featured a segment entitled "How the Magic of Cheesecake Builds the Gross." 

In the description of the book, Bottom's Up, much is made of the illustrations having been done by "distinguished artists." This seems to echo the old joke about buying Playboy for its articles.  Not that the articles are without merit, just that they are incidental to the intent of the magazine. 

The background of the artists contributing “cheesecake” to Bottom's Up supports the claim.  Al Dorne, provider of the cover/title art, had done considerable advertising art as diverse as Lifebuoy soap and the U.S. Coast Guard.  Born "in  the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge," leaving school at 13, he eventually became the president of the Society of Illustrators and founder of Famous Artists Art School - whose ads were featured in comic books and magazines in the 1950-60's.

The twelve full page, glossy, provocative images "by twelve of America's  most distinguished artists" in a style we see show up in Playboy by artists like Vargas, is not the only similarity to Playboy magazine.  

Patterson's margin sprite

Nieman's "femlin"

Bottom's Up margins feature decorative sprites, done by Russell Patterson. Leroy Neiman's "femlin" in Playboy appears to have been inspired by Patterson's work in Bottom's Up.  Patterson really was a distinguished artist.  He created seminal images of the "flappers" of the 1920's and influenced the artwork of others, around the world, with his "Patterson Girl,” a much sought after image in advertising and magazine covers.  The Patterson Girl was as well known to Americans of the time, as were the Ziegfeld Girls.  In 1931 he was described as an "illustrator, cartoonist, and protege of William Randolph Hearst," continuing in the same vein into the 1950's.

Amongst the other illustrators, we indeed have a distinguished cast. James Montgomery Flagg was the creator of the WWI poster of Uncle Sugar saying he wants you for the U.S. Army.  Arthur William Brown was known for pencil and ink illustrations in magazines such as Colliers, the Saturday Evening Post and for books.  Ben Stahl, in addition to being an illustrator, was also the author of Blackbeard’s Ghost, which became a Disney movie.  James Falter was an illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post and prolific creator or WWII posters – particularly for the WAVES.  

"Picadilly Circus" by Bundy
in Bottom's Up

The story of Gilbert Bundy who, after a brilliant career as an artist/illustrator, went to the Pacific theatre, with the Marines, as a combat artist for Hearst newspapers is perhaps the most poignant--particularly today when PTSD is so often in the news. Trapped for several hours under enemy fire in the wreckage of a landing craft on Tarawa, beneath the bodies of dead Marines, he escaped by swimming away at night.  He survived the ordeal only to take his own life on the five-year anniversary of the event.

For those that are fans of illustrators, others contributing to Bottom’s Up are John La Gatta, Phil Dormont, Earl Cordrey, Bradshaw Crandall, and Robert Bushnell.  Works, as well as biographies, of all of the artists are viewable online and quite interesting.

Bottom's Up does not need the risque artwork to justify its space in a collection of cocktail books.  It contains 780 recipes; many are signature drinks from high society hotels, individuals, and watering holes, and are not to be found elsewhere.  The credited drinks reflect an array of people and businesses with whom a “flack,” for a hotel as prominent as the Waldorf, would have had contact.

Two drinks excerpted from Bottom’s Up that I particularly enjoyed are featured below.

Enric Madriguera, to whom this drink is credited, is unknowingly familiar to many of you. While his specialty was music with a Latin tempo, his rendition of “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee” is featured on the soundtrack of the movie “Paper Moon.”

Recipe & Artwork courtesy Bottom's Up

 Another, is one of the “railroad” drinks in Bottom's Up served on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe.  I did not have the pleasure of trying this drink as a passenger, but I had the opportunity to ride the Super Chief from Kansas City to Albuquerque in the 1960’s.

Recipe & Artwork courtesy Bottom's Up

Of Ratsch-Bum and Whizz Bangs

Last week was the anniversary of the start of Loos Offensive of  World War I. Notable for the death of Rudyard Kipling’s only son - one of the many casualties on that field of battle, and the extensive use of shrapnel across the Loos valley, particularly on crossroads and communications trenches to prevent enemy movement.  On a lighter note, Kaiser Bill was also captured. Unfortunately, this was not Queen Victoria's malignant, moustachioed, grandson Willy, but rather a forlorn German army mule.

Hearing about the anniversary of Loos, renewed an old interest in artillery.

A gun of B Btry, 65th AAA Bn,1958

When I was young, my fathers' first command after OCS was a battery of 120mm anti-aircraft guns.  The battery was just outside a Marine base, near Naha, on Okinawa.  The 120's were the penultimate development in anti-aircraft artillery, soon to be made obsolete by missiles. The gun tube was about 24 feet long and capable of firing a shell at 3100 ft/sec to an altitude of 60,000 feet.

On firing, the guns report was a deafening CRACK!!! that hurt the ears and sounded like a monstrous high velocity rifle. The firing of the battery frequently shattered windows on the Marine base.  On one occasion when Dad took me out to watch his battery fire, he gave me the opportunity to fire a Quad-50 machine gun, two of which were part of the battery.

Back to the shrapnel shell - The Germans can rightfully claim invention and first use of the shrapnel shell.  In the 17th century, they developed a projectile called the Hagelkugel, or "hail shell".  It was a lead cylinder with a fuse and bursting charge at one end, the other end was sealed.  Behind the bursting charge was the "hail" - metal fragments, bullets, or pebbles. When loaded into the cannon, the fused end of the projectile faced the cannons charge.  On firing, the bursting charge of the Hagelkugel released the "hail" at about 100 yards from the gun.

The Hagelkugel was used during the 1641 siege of Gennep, in the Netherlands.  Unfortunately for German bragging rights, artillery was an art and early artllerists were extremely secretive.  This caused the Hagelkugel to sink into obscurity, allowing an Englishman to claim invention and have his name forever linked to the Shrapnel Shell.

Henry Shrapnel developed his version of the Hagelkugel around 1784.  Originally known as “spherical iron cased shot,” it used a primitive wooden fuse - a wood plug through which a gunpowder fuse ran.  The interior of the iron case was filled with black powder and lead balls.  On bursting, the shrapnel was projected across an area of about 150 yards. The advantage of the shrapnel shell over grape or canister is that instead of being a short-range antipersonnel projectile, it could be fired at longer distances as determined by the fuse and bursting charge. 

It was first employed in 1804 against settlers in Dutch Guiana, now Suriname. Officially adopted by the English in 1808, the Duke of Wellesley wrote that he considered it an important invention and that it should be kept secret.  Despite being widely available to British gunners during the Napoleonic Wars, correct use of the shrapnel shell was poorly understood and it was thought generally unreliable, largely due to its quirky fuse and the risk of premature explosion.

While modern writers seem fond of stating the Iron Duke thought it decisive at Waterloo, I find no credible evidence of that and believe it apocryphal or politically  motivated since the government officially adopted the round.  Accounts at the time describe it bursting short amongst friendly troops, others described it as being indifferent or ineffective.  A Lt. Col. Frith of the Madras Artillery wrote in 1818 that he had seen it fired into "large bodies of horse, among whom they were seen to burst, but cannot call to mind a single man killed by them." While there were battles, like the battle of Vimiero where the English claimed shrapnel shells contributed to the victory, reports from the receiving side were mixed ranging from their effect being terrible to no worse than that of round shot.  Others said the effect varied from round to round.  The truth probably lies in some middle ground.

Despite slow acceptance (according to books of the early-mid 1800's,) Henry Shrapnel received a stipend for his invention when it was officially adopted and the British government made Shrapnel Shell the official name of the "spherical cased shot" projectile in 1854 after his family petitioned for the name change to honor the inventor.

Improvements in the fuse, particularly by Col. E.M. Boxer, and case design continued.

According to Bormann in "The Shrapnel Shell in England and in Belgium," 1862, the most notable use of the shrapnel shell to date was during the Crimean War on the last day of the siege of Sebastopol, 8 September 1855.  Officers in a gun position manned by men of the Royal Naval Brigade, decided to utilize shrapnel shells found in the battery stores.   Eyewitness accounts reported these 8-inch shells "mowed down...whole lines of Russian troops as they sprang to the breast works."

A mere 60 years passed from the siege of Sebastopol to the start of the Loos offensive.  During this period much effort was put forth to improve the shrapnel shell. Fuses were vastly improved.  The cases for shrapnel projectiles were designed, refined, redesigned and further refined making the shrapnel delivery pattern increasingly effective.

While originally an anti-personnel weapon, usage changed during the Great War. The shrapnel shell was found useful in barrages for cutting barbed wire prior to assaults, and as an early anti-aircraft shell. Shrapnel shells spurred the development and use of modern helmets and aircraft armor.

Typically delivered by high velocity guns like the British 18 pounder, the French 75mm, and the German 10cm, the shells would give little notice of their arrival. There would be a quick "whizzzz" followed by a sharp "bang!" The German slang for these rounds was "Ratsch-bum," the Brits called them "Whizz-bangs."

Fortunately, for my blog, someone around the time of the War to End All Wars was kind enough to invent a cocktail named for that high velocity shrapnel shell---the "Whizz Bang." Sadly, since the winners write the histories, there is no Hagelkugel or Ratsch-bum to savor, though the Germans paid homage indirectly to old Henry by creating a "Schrapnel-Aufschlag" or "Shrapnel Charge." As the Hagelkugel predated the Shrapnel Shell, the Schrapnel-Aufschlag predates the Whizz Bang by several years. 

Unfortunately, the Schrapnel-Aufschlag is not nearly as good a drink as the Whizz Bang and, like the Hagelkugel, condemned to oblivion.

What’s In A Name – The Florodora

I have missed two blogs since my last due to familial obligations and found myself today casting about for a theme to get me back on track.  Since I have an interest in the origin of drinks, and their names, I thought I would borrow from a previous effort and use the title “What’s In A Name” with the related drink(s) appended.  If this works, I may do more in the future.

In the early 1900's, preceded by the operettas of the 1880's, the American public became enamored with musical comedy.  The play Floradora receives much of the credit for this craze.  A popular play in England in 1899, Florodora opened in the Casino Theater of New York in 1900.  

The play involves the imaginary island of Florodora on which a perfume of the same name is made.  Said island was stolen from its rightful owner whose daughter still works in a factory on the island.  The rest of the plot is convoluted to the extreme but the cast, chorus line, and music seem to have compensated successfully.  A feature of the theater was a manikin in the lobby spraying “La Flor de Florodora” on the theatergoers.

After a slow initial start, publicists started promoting the play in a manner seen repeated by the movie studios in their heyday.  TV news coverage of the Kardashians pales to that given the Florodora troupe.  Newspapers featured daily stories about the cast members, their personal lives, how well they regarded one another and worked together, their romances and marriage prospects, and of the huge sums of money that the chorus girls were making by speculating on Wall Street.  To the latter, one has to wonder if their fiduciary success was due more to the stage door sugar daddies than Wall Street, but maybe I have seen too many old movies.  Ultimately, Florodora exceeded 500 performances.

Florodora was the first  musical comedy to use the device of “stunning” fashionable evening gowns, worn by attractive women, to create a memorable high point in a performance, a trend continued in the Follies of the 1920’s and 30’s.  Women would go to see the latest fashions, men to see attractively dressed women. 

At the time, the music was considered “bewitching,” and people were often heard humming or whistling the tunes.  Leslie Stuart, the composer, said his formula for writing the music of Florodora was to:

“…take one memory of Christy Minstrels, let it simmer in the brain for twenty years.  Add slowly for the music an organist’s practice in arranging Gregorian chants for the Roman Catholic Church.  Mix well and serve with a half dozen pretty girls and an equal number of well-dressed men.”

The original “Florodora sextette” or the “big six,” none over 5’4”, was so popular with the American public that chorus girls for years afterwards, claimed to have been part of the original sextette. Francis Belmont, an original “sextetter,” in true movie showgirl fashion, managed to marry an English duke.

Florodora, its music, and its stars were immensely popular in the early 1900's.  Like movie related marketing today, the musical comedy became linked to a variety of products.  A soft drink in Cuba, race horses and pedigreed dogs, assorted food products, china, dolls, cigars (“three for 10 cents”) and a hybrid long staple cotton named Florodora were but a few.  Having a fondness for ice cream, one of my favorites is the “Florodora Sundae” – 1 banana, strawberry ice cream, strawberry fruit, nuts, and whipped cream.

In 1920, there was a revival of Florodora, with more chorus girls, and more lavish costumes and staging.  It was so popular that Fannie Brice was inspired to do a parody in the Follies.

Riding its second wave of popularity, it once again gave advertisers a useful marketing hook.  Florodora actresses modeled veils in Cosmopolitan magazine.  A massage vibrator was advertised to help women achieve “Florodora” beauty and sponsored a Florodora beauty contest.  Use of “Florodora” in marketing persisted into the 1930’s, as both a product name, and as a derogatory expression for something passé from a previous era.  There was also a movie entitled “The Florodora Girl.”

In my books, there are at least three "Florodora" related recipes.  The first two, the Florodora cocktail and the Florodora Fizz, from a 1913 text, are the earliest recipes I have found.  The Florodora Fizz definitely predates the book. 

A 1902 advertising magazine, The Advisor, states “The Florodora Fizz has replaced the Ping Pong Punch as the fashionable drink of the season.”  

The Florodora Cooler, easiest for the home bar, is from a publication of the 1930’s.  It is probably a Prohibition era drink being gin based, its other ingredients doing well to make the “bathtub” gins of the Roaring Twenties more palatable.