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Old Waldorf Bar Days
tening of the St. Francis or the St. Peter or the St. John,
though the first may have been called after a California
hotel, and not after a friar long deceased.
And those drinks went further than St. Peter, and
spelled sacrilege, though I do know persons whose fam–
ily name is Christ. This was the content of wha t was
described as a "Christ" cocktail, and which I prefer to
believe was named after some mundane materi a list who
may have needed something spiritual, but got only as
far as the spirituous.
It
began harmlessly enough. First
there was the juice of half a Lemon; then came a half a
spoonful of Sugar, followed by a pony of Raspberry
Syrup, and then a quarter of a pony of White of an Egg.
Here the Tempter came in, and took the form of a jigger
of Gin.
The stage, whether or not it drove men to drink in
those days, certainly inspired much drinking, and suc–
cessful plays often stood godfather for bartenders' con–
ceptions. The great success of "Rosemary," with which
John Drew and one of Charles Frohman's best com–
panies helped open the Astoria part of the big hotel, was
celebrated in a cocktail of the same name, composed
of equal parts of Vermuth and Bourbon. The tuneful
"Merry Widow" and the almost equally whistleable
"Chocolate Soldier" were drowned in baptismal cock–
tails at the Waldorf Bar. The Merry Widow cocktail was
made of half French Vermuth and half Dubonnet; the
Chocolate Soldier, an appropriately stronger potation,
was composed of one-third Dubonnet, two-thirds Nich–
olson Gin and a dash of Lime Juice. "Peg o' My Heart"
and "Rob Roy" named other cocktails. "Trilby" had
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