The Little Black Book of Cocktails by LUPEC Boston

by Pink Lady

Whenever LUPEC throws a party I find myself gleefully overwhelmed: So many cocktails on offer, so little time...however will I sample all of the delicious drinks on this list in one evening? Perhaps I'd try if I were a guest, but since I'm there representing a ladies club devoted to sophisticated and responsible imbibing, I abstain, lest I end up dancing on a table with a lampshade on my head.

But what about all those cocktails I missed out on?

Now, thanks the the recently available Little Black Book of Cocktails by LUPEC Boston, many of those drinks can be made in the comfort of your own home. Handsomely designed by LUPEC Boston's own Pinky Gonzalez, this smart little book contains recipes for all ten of the "namesake cocktails" of the ladies of LUPEC Boston, plus recipes for some of our favorite classics and vintage-inspired originals -- approximately 40 favorites in all. We've designed it with readers like you in mind, so you may enjoy these fine drinks at home, on your own time -- lampshade chapeau-ed dance optional.

The book costs $15 and all proceeds from book sales benefit the Friends Boutique at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which provides wigs, prosthetics, scarves and services for people dealing with the appearance side effects of cancer treatment.

LUPEC partnered with Cambridge-based photographer Matt Demers last fall to participate in his "Women in Pearls" series. Modeled after a striking black and white photograph of 1920s It-girl Louise Brooks (right), the "Pearls" project is Demers' study on body image and beauty for modern women. In the artists' own words,

"Thanks to the photographic magic of Eugene Robert Richee the starlet [Brooks] was stripped of culturally-defined trappings. No make-up, high-fashion or salon treatments. Black on black, her physical body shape disappeared into the abyss. Over-exposed skin tones erased any skin flaws. The authentic Louise Brooks emerged, bold and exquisite."

In Demers' mind, LUPEC + Pearls = a match made in heaven: "Passionate about their craft, bucking stereotypes with gusto, champions for social causes: the LUPEC ladies were a natural fit for my evolving project. Channeling the spirit of the Pandora’s Box muse, the ladies stepped in front of the camera with fearless zest to become the cornerstone of the series."

And his images, in turn, became the cornerstone of The Little Black Book of Cocktails by LUPEC Boston.

To order a copy of The Little Black Book of Cocktails email us at lupecboston@gmail.com. You can also pick up a copy at Magpie (617-623-3330) in Davis Square, Somerville, or Buckaroo’s Mercantile (617-492-4792) in Central Square, Cambridge.

And let us know what you think of the drinks by dropping us a note in the comments section. The first reader to respond letting us know they've tried all ten cocktails just might receive a special prize at our next event!

A sante!

Hello, sucker!

by Pinky Gonzales

...This was the standard greeting you'd likely receive from the jovial, peroxide blonde manning the house at one of several Manhattan speakeasies during Prohibition. Of course, this would foreshadow the spending of all your dough, on illegal hooch and tips for the showgirls. You'd happily fork over $25 (back then no chump change) for a fifth of Scotch, or $2 for a pitcher of water if you brought your own "booster", and whatever else followed. The place would probably be packed, open a few hours later than all the rest, and the wisecracking, witty pal of Mae West named Texas Guinan would be seeing to it you were having a darned good time.

(Ouch! Dancer Drena Beach, 1926.)

Before being seduced into the world of club ownership through bartending and guest emceeing, Texas started out in Vaudville, then in Westerns as an actress and producer. 1917's The Wildcat introduced America's first movie cowgirl.

Her nite club career included "the grandaddy of speakeasies," the El Fey Club, opened in 1924 with gangster Larry Fey. Later came Club Intime, a Dorothy Parker hangout and subterranean spot near Times Square where entry would involve a steep staircase, two bouncers and a peephole. There was also the Rendezvous, the 300 Club, the Argonaut, the Century, the Salon Royal, and Tex Guinan's.

Infamous for being hauled off to the pokey on a regular basis and having her joints shut down by Feds, Texas enjoyed having the band strikeup "The Prisoner's Song" on her way out the door. And always would she deny selling anything but "mixers" to at her clubs, noting "a man could get hurt falling off a bar stool!" Re-opening after raids, she would sometimes wear a necklace of gold padlocks just to show the cops there were no hard feelings.

She worked tirelessly until age 49, when she was stricken by illness and passed away. 12,000 attended her 1933 funeral procession in Manhattan, and a month later to the day of her death, Prohibition was repealed.

Looks like a Women's History Month toast is in store for this gal!

Scoff Law Cocktail (what else?)

1 oz rye whiskey
1 oz dry vermouth
.75 oz fresh lemon juice
.75 oz green Chartreuse (or pomegranate grenadine according to some recipes - also excellent)
2 dashes orange bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Cheers!

Charlotte Smith and the "Lady Edisons"

by Barbara West

"Mary S." of St. Louis, Missouri (c. 1851-1880) was an inventor who led a life of genius and poverty. Lacking finances and confidence, she sold the rights to her mechanical inventions to various male agents, for as little as $5 each. These men received 53 patents, and a great deal of wealth. Mary S. herself died impoverished at roughly age 30.

The tragic story of Mary S. spurred one of her acquaintances, Charlotte Smith, to seek justice and recognition for women inventors. A businesswoman and former intelligence agent for the Union Army during the Civil War, Smith was known for empathizing with the struggles of self-supporting women. She wrote about Mary S. in The Woman Inventor, a magazine she founded in 1891. She also pushed for the publication of an official List of Women Patentees. Feminists used the list to argue for women’s suffrage. Today, the list remains the major source of information on 19th-century female inventors. These women were patronizingly dubbed “Lady Edisons.”

Thanks to the list, we know that nearly 4,000 women received U.S. patents between 1809 and 1895—more than 5,000 if design patents are counted. One of the era’s most prolific female inventors was Margaret Knight of Boston (1838-1914). She is credited with about 90 inventions and 22 patents, the most famous of which was the first machine to make the square-bottomed paper bags that are still used in grocery stores today.

In the late 1890s, Smith moved to Boston, where she founded a Women’s Rescue League to provide shelter, food, and training for poor working girls, homeless or battered women, and prostitutes wanting to leave the trade. In 1907, she organized a Woman’s Board of Trade. After spending thousands of dollars on projects to help women become self-supporting, and years of direct charity to homeless and desperate women, Smith died alone in Boston in 1917. She was seventy-seven.

Here’s a cocktail with which to toast our industrious forebroads known as “Lady Edisons.”

Edisonian Cocktail

2 ounces brandy
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce fresh lemon juice

Shake brandy, Campari and lemon juice with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Sources:
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1992/1/1992_1_22.shtml
http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/whm2.html

LUPEC president nominated as Boston's Best Bartender!

We are SO thrilled that LUPEC's very own Misty Kalkofen has been nominated by the Phoenix for the title of Boston's best bartender!

At least we think they mean Misty...they nominated someone named Rusty Kalkofen from Green Street for the award. Unless Misty has an evil, equally competent bartending twin, we're going to go ahead and assume this is a typo.

Click thru here to vote for for Misty, our fearless LUPEC leader and the only woman on the list!

Chin-chin!

MIT breakthrough: A woman president

Famous MIT alumna Shirley Ann Jackson, who is now the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, congratulates President Susan Hockfield on her inauguration

by Barbara West

May 6, 2005 was a milestone for broads in science and engineering.
That's the day Susan Hockfield, a noted neuroscientist, was inaugurated
as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's first female president.

Perhaps surprisingly, less has been made of the fact that Dr. Hockfield
is a woman than the fact that she is the first life scientist to lead
MIT. When she was named president, the New York Times noted drolly,
"there was talk that M.I.T. was breaking new ground. What would it
mean, many wondered, if one of the world's leading citadels of physics,
electrical engineering and other hard sciences were led for the first
time by - a biologist?"

Before coming to MIT, Dr. Hockfield was a professor of neurobiology and
provost of Yale University. Her research focused on the development of
the brain and on glioma, a deadly kind of brain cancer. Under her
leadership, MIT has launched major research initiatives focusing on two
of society's great challenges: cancer and energy.

Even as she downplayed her gender, Dr. Hockfield was compelled to
respond, shortly after her inauguration, to then-Harvard University
President Lawrence Summers' suggestion that one reason for the relative
scarcity of women at the upper ranks of science might be an innate
lesser ability.

"Marie Curie exploded that myth," Dr. Hockfield and two other
university presidents, Shirley Tilghman of Princeton and John Hennessy
of Stanford, wrote in an op-ed piece that appeared in the Boston Globe.
But women need "teachers who believe in them," they went on, and low
expectations of women "can be as destructive as overt discrimination."

It should be noted that Dr. Hockfield's arrival at MIT furthered a
shift that started at the Institute in 1999. That's the year when MIT
issued a report concluding that women there suffered from widespread if
unintentional discrimination, and it pledged to work toward gender
parity. The main force behind that report was MIT biologist Nancy
Hopkins, who literally took a tape measure to her and her female
colleagues' lab space to show the MIT administration that the women
were being allotted fewer resources than their male counterparts. So,
to toast the woman who jump-started MIT's new wave of broads, drink one
of these:

Lady Hopkins Cocktail

1 1/2 oz Southern Comfort
1/2 oz passion fruit
3/4 oz fresh lime juice

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker & strain into a cocktail glass. Add cherry, orange slice, mint sprig.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!

Today the streets of New Orleans are flooded with revelers for the culmination of Carnival, Mardi Gras. The city 's population has doubled as tourists have flooded in to scurry for beads and doubloons thrown from floats as krewes snake through the city. We, the ladies of LUPEC, would like to raise our glasses to the Krewe of Muses, the only all female krewe.

Formed in 2000, the Krewe of Muses has over 1100 members. The Krewe was created to celebrate the nine muses, the Greek goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences. The daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, they are believed to inspire artists, especially poets, philosophers, and musicians.

Each year the Krewe of Muses selects one of the nine muses for the season. The Krewe then selects an honorary muse, a woman who embodies the spirit of that muse by having made a significant contribution to New Orleans in the area that muse represents. This year the Krewe celebrated Polymnia, the muse of sacred song, and honored Marva Wright, Louisiana's Blues Queen.

On January 31, the Krewe of Muses presented a 26 float procession entitled Muses Night Fever. Sporting their famous hand-deocrated glitter shoes, the ladies discoed their way through the garden district pleasing the crowd with unique throws, including Rubik's Cube beads and disco balls.

Let us raise our glasses to the Krewe of Muses!

New Orleans
1.5 oz Bourbon
1 dash Orange Bitters
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
.25 oz Anisette
.25 oz Pastis
Sugar to taste
Stir ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist

Cheers!

It's Carnival Time!

It's that time of year when one of our favorite cities becomes a hot bed of fun! All over New Orleans tourists are swarming, costumes are being donned and krewes are lining up as Mardi Gras arrives! In honor of this annual celebration we want to introduce you to one of our favorite NOLA broads and a cause dear to her heart that will be instrumental in keeping the sounds of New Orleans alive.

Last summer during my annual New Orleans pilgrimage I had the pleasure of meeting Elisa Speranza. A native Bostonian, Elisa fell in love with NOLA during her annual trips to Jazz Fest. She describes the city as "not like anyplace else on earth." Approximately five and a half years ago she made the move and relocated.

For the last seven years Elisa has worked for CH2M Hill, a full-service engineering, consulting, construction and operations company. Working in both the governmental and industrial sectors, CH2M Hill handles everything from transportation and infrastructure projects to the construction of power generation facilities to disaster relief. Elisa, as a Vice President in the Water Business Group, is head of the management consulting team and does work for municipal water/wastewater facilities domestically and abroad.

Elisa is dedicated to community service both locally and globally. She serves as Vice President of Water for People, a non-profit organization that facilitates water, sanitation, and hygiene projects in developing countries and is active with Save the Wetlands and the Arabi Wrecking Krewe.

The Arabi Wrecking Krewe, Inc is a not for profit organization dedicated to preserving the music and culture of New Orleans. The Krewe is assisting musicians with all post-Katrina needs in order that they can return to New Orleans. Currently they are raising funds to build Al "Carnival Time" Johnson a new home.

Al "Carnival Time" Johnson penned one of New Orleans most popular anthems. "Carnival Time" became synonymous with Mardi Gras and the spirit of NOLA. Unfortunately, for the first thirty years of it's existence, Al received no royalties for his famous hit. After Katrina destroyed his home in the Lower Ninth Ward, Al left for Houston. The Arabi Wrecking Krewe, realizing the importance of music in the history and soul of New Orleans, is raising funds to build a new home for Al in the Musician's Village.

So during this Carnival we raise our glasses and hopefully some funds. Here's to you Elisa and Al!

Vieux Carre
1 oz Rye
1 oz Brandy
1 oz Italian Vermouth
1 tsp Benedictine
2 dashes Peychaud Bitters
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Stir all ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Cheers!

The Beachbum loves the broads!

Head over to Beachbum Berry's Grog Blog to see a nice post about the ladies of LUPEC Boston and our love of chartreuse.

Thanks Bum!

Coffee and Doughnuts

During World War II American Red Cross services were in high gear. By the wars end in 1945, over 7.5 million volunteers supported 40,000 paid Red Cross staff around the world. "Nearly every family in America contained a member who had either served as a Red Cross volunteer, made contributions of money or blood, or was a recipient of Red Cross services."

My family's Red Cross volunteer was my Great Aunt Kay.

On June 6, 1945, just about a month after VE Day, Kay Kehoe boarded the Queen Mary to Europe, where she spent the next 18 months traveling all over Great Britain and the Continent as a Clubmobiler. Red Cross Service Clubs offered meals, recreational activities, overnight accommodations and amenities like barbershops and laundries to American soldiers stationed all over the world; Clubmobiles were designed to be like service clubs on wheels.

These half-ton trucks and single-deck buses, acquired by the Red Cross from a former London bus company, were converted to literal welcome wagons. Each was operated by three American Red Cross women and a local driver, and were equipped for "making and serving coffee and doughnuts and for distributing newspapers, chewing gum, and other small items" to the troops. Some had phonographs and loudspeakers, and others were even outfitted with movie projectors.



Kay Kehoe disembarked from the Queen Mary in Scotland, and didn't stop traveling for the next 18 months. She and the girls of Clubmobile Group A boarded a train from Scotland to England, then took a boat across the chilly English channel to France, then boarded another train to Paris. From there, they traveled all over Europe in a truck the size of an ambulance, delivering coffee and doughnuts to troops through the truck's windows. Occasionally they'd stop in service clubs -- Kay remembers a particularly big one in Berlin -- where they'd work as 'club girls', acting as hostesses to the troops. But being on the road was the type of service Kay Kehoe liked best.

\

When it got too hot on the dusty French roads in the summer, the girls of Clubmobile A served lemonade in place of coffee. "Most of the boys were in a staging area, just waiting to go home," says Kehoe. "We'd serve them their lemonade and doughnuts and gab with them, and sometimes they'd invite you to come to the G.I. Club for a dance. There we'd dance and listen to records, and they had beer and soda and pretty much anything you wanted at the clubs."

As for cocktails, says Kay, "they didn't have the kinds of ingredients you'd need to make fancy drinks, like Martinis, Old Fashions, and Manhattans. But, since it was France, you could pretty much always get your hands on cognac, and all the G.I. Clubs had Coca Cola." So that's what they drank.

This weekend, let's raise a glass to Kay Kehoe and the girls of Clubmobile A!

Clubmobile Cocktail

1 1/2 oz Cognac

Fill glass with Coca Cola

Add lemon twist

Serve in a highball glass

A votre sante!

the Ladies of LUPEC on CHET CURTIS

Don't miss LUPEC Boston's own Lauren Clark on THE CHET CURTIS REPORT

Tomorrow night Lauren Clark,
LUPEC Boston member and founder of Drinkboston.com,
will appear on the 'CHET CURTIS REPORT' on NECN!

Lauren will chat with Chet about all things LUPEC, and
teach viewers how to make a classic cocktail that's bound to wow the entire family this Thanksgiving.

Tune in Friday, November 16th @ 8 p.m. ET on NECN!

The Hello Girls

In 1917 General "Black Jack" Pershing began his search for bilingual switchboard operators to improve communication between commanders and troops on the European front. The women needed to speak French, be college educated and single. Over 7000 women applied and 450 were selected. Upon completion of military and Signal Corps training at Camp Franklin Maryland the ladies were issued their Army regulation uniforms complete with US crests, Signal Corps crests and dog tags.

By the end of the war over 200 women had served oversees as part of the Hello Girls. The women had been sworn into service, were considered combatants and one of their own, Grace Banker, was awarded the Distinguished Medal of Service by Congress. However, upon returning to the States the Hello Girls were denied veteran status as all military regulations had been written in the male gender. One of the operators, Mearle Eagan Anderson, spent fifty years advocating on behalf of the Hello Girls. Her diligence was rewarded in 1978 when President Jimmy Carter signed a bill recognizing the service of the Hello Girls and awarding them veterans status.

And now a (Mixology Monday) toast to our bilingual fore-broads!

The French 75
2 oz Gin
1 oz fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar or 1 tsp simple syrup
Champagne

Shake the gin, lemon juice, and sugar in an iced cocktail shaker. Strain into a champagne flute. Fill with Champagne. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Cheers!

Martha Washington's Rum Punch

In honor of this, the anniversary of the birth of our nation, the ladies of LUPEC are raising a glass to our original First Lady.

It is well known that Martha Washington took her duties as First Lady very seriously and entertained in a formal style. Her wish was that our new country and government would be seen as equals to it's well established European counterparts. Most of Martha's events would begin with her signature cocktails being served before dinner at their Virginia home, Mount Vernon. The cocktails would utilize spirits from their distillery which was one of the largest and most profitable during the colonial era. And now a toast to our premiere First Lady using a recipe from her notes!

Martha Washington's Rum Punch

4 oz Lemon Juice
4 oz Orange Juice
4 oz Simple Syrup
3 Lemons quartered
1 Orange quartered
1/2 tsp grated Nutmeg
3 Cinnamon Sticks broken
6 Cloves
12 oz Boiling Water

In a container mash the lemons, orange, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, and cloves. Add syrup, lemon and orange juice. Pour the boiling water over the mixture. Let it cool. Strain out the solids. Heat the juice mixture to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Let it cool and refrigerate over night.
In a punch bowl combine:

3 parts juice mixture
1 part Light Rum
1 part Dark Rum
1/2 part Orange Curacao

Serve the punch over ice. Top with grated nutmeg and cinnamon.

Cheers!

Pearl Rivers

Born in 1849 in Pearlington along the Mississippi River, Eliza Jane Poitevent became the first woman owner and publisher of a major daily newspaper in the United States, the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Eliza began her career as a poet under the pen name Pearl Rivers. In 1870 she was offered the position as literary editor at the Picayune. Against the wishes of her family she moved to New Orleans and joined the male work force as the first woman in Louisiana to make a living at a newspaper. Two years later Eliza married Col Alva Morris Holbrook, the owner and publisher of the Times Picayune.

In 1876 Holbrook died, leaving the paper $80,000 in debt. Eliza's family encouraged her to declare bankruptcy, but Eliza persevered and at the age of 27 she became the editor and publisher of the Times Picayune. Although some of the staff left, the majority remained at the paper showing their loyalty to Eliza. Under her management the Picayune evolved into a family paper which included departments for women, children, fashion and household hints. As a philanthropist, Eliza used the editorial page to speak out against cruelty to animals. Eliza incorporated elements of the modern syndicated newspaper, thereby tripling the circulation of the Times Picayune from 1880 to 1890.

And now a toast to Pearl Rivers!

Cocktail a la Louisiane
1 oz Rye
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Benedictine
3-4 dashes Absinthe
3-4 dashes Peychaud Bitters
Stir in a glass with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass in which has been placed a maraschino cherry.

Cheers!

The Biograph Blonde

Born in Chicago on June 18, 1895, Blanche Sweet was one of the great actresses of silent film. Although not as well known as her contemporaries, Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish, Sweet made over 120 films.

Born into a show business family, Sweet was first carried onto the stage when she was eighteen months. She spent her childhood dancing with the Gertrude Hoffman troupe and made her film debut at the age of 14. Sweet worked for several film houses during her long career, including American Biograph. At that time performers' names were not listed in the credits, so she became known as the Biograph Blonde. She gained a place in history in 1913 when she starred in America's first full length feature film, Judith of Bethulia. One of Sweet's most famous roles was the lead in the first film version of "Anna Christie," the first Eugene O'Neill play to reach the screen. Although she had a beautiful speaking and singing voice, Sweet's career plunged with the advent of "talkies" as movie executives began promoting new performers to draw attention to the new style of film.

Now a toast to Blanche Sweet, the Biograph Blonde.

Soft and Sweet
1 oz Gin
1 oz Orange Juice
.5 oz Amer Picon
.5 oz Curacao
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Cheers!

Call Sign Chayka

On this day in 1963 Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to fly in space. Out of more than four hundred applicants, Tereshkova was one of five women selected to join the female cosmonaut corp in February, 1962. Tereshkova was seen as a particularly worthy candidate because of her meager upbringing in a small village outside of Moscow and also because her father had died as a war hero during World War II.

The female cosmonaut corp went through rigorous training, including weightless flights, isolation tests, centrifuge training, spacecraft engineering and parachuting. However, despite extensive training the female cosmonaut corp was never fully integrated into the cosmonaut corp. The creation of the corp and the flights of women in space were primarily used for propaganda purposes by the Soviet leadership.

Khrushchev hand selected Tereshkova to be the first of the five women of the female cosmonaut corp to fly in space. On June 16, 1963 she flew on Vostok 6 under the call sign Chayka as the first female and the first civilian to fly in space. She orbited the earth 48 times and spent almost three days in space. That was more flying time than all American astronauts combined at that time. None of the other four members of the female cosmonaut corp ever flew and the next Russian woman to travel in space was Svetlana Savitskaya 19 years later.

And now a toast to Valentina!

Russian Cocktail (verbatim from The Savoy Cocktail Book)
1/3 Vodka
1/3 Gin
1/3 Creme de Cacao
Shake well, strain into cocktail glass, and tossitoff quickski.

Cheers!

M is for the many things you gave me...

This week Mimi and Pink Lady hosted the lovely ladies of LUPEC Boston as we saluted mothers. We shared stories about the important ladies in our lives and discussed some famous mothers as we enjoyed the following delicious cocktails!

The Mother Cocktail
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Cherry Heering
.5 oz Orange Juice
Shake and strain into your favorite vintage drinking vessel.

The Daiquiri
(The favorite cocktail of the famous mother, Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis)
2 oz White Rum
.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice
.5 oz Simple Syrup
Shake and strain into a coupe.

The Diana
(Served in honor of the famous mother, Princess Diana)
1.5 oz Gin
.75 oz Dry Vermouth
.25 oz Sweet Vermouth
.25 oz Pastis
Stir and strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist.



The Mimi
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Apricot Brandy
2 drops Cognac
1 tsp Lemon Juice
2 dashes Grenadine
1 Egg White
Shake vigorously. Strain into a powdered sugar rimmed cocktail glass.

The Pink Lady
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Applejack
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Grenadine
1 Egg White
Shake vigorously. Strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass.

Thank you Pink Lady and Mimi for being wonderful hostesses!

Cheers!

The Speed Queen

On this day in 1953, Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier. Piloting a Canadair F-86 Sabre that she had borrowed from the Royal Canadian Air Force, Jacqueline took off from Rogers Dry Lake, California and flew at an average speed of 652.337 miles per hour.

Cochran's career in aviation began in the 1930's after a friend offered her a ride in an aircraft. While she ran a cosmetics business, Jacqueline began flying lessons at Roosevelt Airfield in Long Island and learned to fly in three weeks. A natural, she earned her commercial pilot's license in two years. Her husband, Floyd Bostwick Odium, was a savvy businessman and saw the commercial opportunities for her and her cosmetics company. Jacqueline named her company "Wings" and began flying around the country in her aircraft promoting her products.

Cochran flew in her first major race in 1934. From that point on she worked with Amelia Earhart in opening races and the field of aviation to women. In 1937 Cochran was the only woman to compete in the prestigious Bendix race. By 1938 she was the preeminent woman pilot in the United States having won the Bendix and set new altitude and transcontinental speed records.

After America entered WWII in 1942, Jacqueline became head of the women's flight training program for the States. As director of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), Cochran trained over 1000 female pilots. For her efforts in WWII she received the Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Jacqueline Cochran died in 1980 at her home in Indio, California. At the time of her death, Cochran held the most speed, distance and altitude records of any pilot, man or woman, in aviation history.

And now a toast to Jacqueline Cochran!

BLUE SKIES
1 oz Applejack
1 oz Gin
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.25 oz Simple Syrup
1 or dashes grenadine
Shake with cracked ice and strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass!

Sky Girls

On this day in 1930 Ellen (Marshall) Church became the world's first airline stewardess. In 1928 she approached Boeing Air Transport hoping to become their first female pilot. She was denied the job, but Boeing liked her idea of placing nurses on the planes to help ease the fear of flying among passengers. In 1930 they hired 8 nurses, known as the Sky Girls, for a three month trial. Church was chosen to be the world's first flight attendant serving passengers aboard a 12 hour flight from Chicago to Oakland, CA.
The presence of nurses on flights quelled the fear of flying in the public and air travel became more popular. Soon other airlines followed the lead of BAT and hired nurses as flight attendants. In addition to being a nurse, flight attendants had to be single and under the age of 25. Cabins were small so the flight attendants could be no taller than 5 feet 4 inches and no heavier than 115 pounds. In addition to attending to the needs of passengers, flight attendants hauled luggage, fueled planes and pushed planes into hangars.

After jump-starting the flight attendant profession, Church returned to clinical nursing. During World War II she returned to the air, this time as a captain in the army nurse corps. She was awarded the Air Medal for her wartime heroics. She returned to the states and continued her nursing career in Terre Haute, IN until the time of her death in 1965.

In honor of Ellen Church and all the Sky Girls past and present, cheers!

Aviation
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Maraschino Liqueur
.75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
Shake with ice and strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass!

Kentucky Derby Dames

From the official Kentucky Derby Web site:

Women have played an active role in Kentucky Derby history since the turn of the century. In 1904, Mrs. Laska Durnell nominated Elwood to the Kentucky Derby, unbeknownst to her husband, trainer Charles Durnell. The decision was a shrewd one and Elwood won as the longest price in the field of five. Elwood was the first starter and winner owned by a woman, and also the first winner bred by a woman, Mrs. J.B. Prather.

By the 1940s, women owners in the Derby were almost commonplace. In 1942, seven of the first eight finishers in the Kentucky Derby were owned by women. The exception was Valdina Orphan, who finished third.

Besides the role of owner, a total of 10 women trainers have sent 11 starters postward in the Kentucky Derby, and four women have ridden in the famed "Run for the Roses".

Perhaps we should toast the Kentucky Derby Dames with a delicious Mint Julep! Here is our favorite recipe taken from a letter dated March 30, 1937 from Lt Gen SB Buckner, Jr to General Connor:

So far as the mere mechanics of the operation are concerned, the procedure, stripped of its ceremonial embellishments, can be described as follows:

Go to a spring where cool, crystal-clear water bubbles from under a bank of dew-washed ferns. In a consecrated vessel, dip up a little water at the source. Follow the stream through its banks of green moss and wildflowers until it broadens and trickles through beds of mint growing in aromatic profusion and waving softly in the summer breezes. Gather the sweetest and tenderest shoots and gently carry them home. Go to the sideboard and select a decanter of Kentucky Bourbon, distilled by a master hand, mellowed with age yet still vigorous and inspiring. An ancestral sugar bowl, a row of silver goblets, some spoons and some ice and you are ready to start.

In a canvas bag, pound twice as much ice as you think you will need. Make it fine as snow, keep it dry and do not allow it to degenerate into slush.

In each goblet, put a slightly heaping teaspoonful of granulated sugar, barely cover this with spring water and slightly bruise one mint leaf into this, leaving the spoon in the goblet. Then pour elixir from the decanter until the goblets are about one-fourth full. Fill the goblets with snowy ice, sprinkling in a small amount of sugar as you fill. Wipe the outsides of the goblets dry and embellish copiously with mint.

Then comes the important and delicate operation of frosting. By proper manipulation of the spoon, the ingredients are circulated and blended until Nature, wishing to take a further hand and add another of its beautiful phenomena, encrusts the whole in a glittering coat of white frost. Thus harmoniously blended by the deft touches of a skilled hand, you have a beverage eminently appropriate for honorable men and beautiful women.

When all is ready, assemble your guests on the porch or in the garden, where the aroma of the juleps will rise Heavenward and make the birds sing. Propose a worthy toast, raise the goblet to your lips, bury your nose in the mint, inhale a deep breath of its fragrance and sip the nectar of the gods.

Being overcome by thirst, I can write no further.

Sincerely,
S.B. Buckner, Jr.

Drinkin' Dames in Classic Cinema

This past week the ladies of LUPEC Boston had the pleasure of gathering at Barbara West's house for a night of toasting the drinkin' dames of classic cinema! Good times and good cocktails were had by all! Featured cocktails included:

Ginger Rogers
1 oz Gin
1 oz Dry Vermouth
1 oz Apricot Brandy
4 dashes Lemon Juice

Barbara West
2 oz Gin
1 oz Dry Sherry
.5 oz Lemon Juice
Dash of Angostura
Lemon Twist

Roman Holiday
1.5 oz Vodka
.5 oz Punt e Mes
.5 oz Sweet Vermouth
.5 oz Orange Juice
Thin Orange Slice Garnish

Ann Sheridan
1.5 oz Dark Rum
.5 oz Orange Curacao
.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice

Marlene Dietrich
2 oz Rye
.5 oz Curacao
2 Dashes Angostura
Lemon Twist
Flamed Orange Twist

Barbara West also provided us with a list of famous drinkin' moments in cinema. A few of the favorites...

1930 Anna Christie - Greta Garbo orders a whiskey with ginger ale on the side. She then adds, "Don't be stingy, baby."

1937 Every Day's a Holiday - Mae West and others drink Bellinis. This movie also introduced the famous one-liner, "You should get out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini."

1942 Casablanca - Humphrey Bogart pours Ingrid Bergman a Champagne Cocktail then says his most famous line ever, "Here's looking at you kid."

1955 Guys and Dolls - Marlon Brando orders a Milk Punch served in a coconut for Jean Simmons and himself. He tells her that at night they put a preservative in the milk. When Jean Simmons asks what they use Marlon Brando answers, "Bacardi." Jean Simmons asks if Bacardi has alcohol in it and Marlon Brando answers, "Well, just enough to stop the milk from turning sour." They drink six of them.

1959 Some Like It Hot - Marilyn Monroe makes Manhattans for her and her girlfriend in bed while on a train.

Cheers to Barbara West for being a fabulous host!