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OLD WALDORF-ASTORIA BAR BOOK
McKinley's delight, I am unable to ascertain. The chances
are that President McKinley never found out whether it
was or not.
In
its favor, I may mention that the Bar was
a great hangout for the G.0.P.'s of yesteryear, who may
have passed their enthusiasm for their candidates across
the counter for the barman to translate into terms of liquid
intensity.
The Waldorf Bar served a Racquet Club, a Riding Club
and a Union League Club cocktail, thus honoring certain
social and representative New York institutions. But who
the "Mrs. Thompson" was, whose name was bestowed
upon one of its cocktails, frankly, I do not know. Nor do
I know just what state of spiritual or spirituous elevation,
or on whose part, suggested the christening 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.
The stage, whether or not it drove men to drink in
those days, certainly inspired much drinking, and success–
ful plays often stood godfather for bartenders' concep–
tions. The great success of "Rosemary," with which John
Drew and one of Charles Frohman's best companies
helped open the Astoria part of the Old Waldorf-Astoria,
was celebrated in a cocktail of the same name, composed of
equal parts of Vermouth and Bourbon. The tuneful "Merry
Widow" and the almost equally whistleable "Chocolate
Soldier" were drowned in baptismal cocktails at the Wal–
dorf Bar. The Merry Widow cocktail was made of half
French Vermouth and half Dubonnet; the Chocolate Sol–
dier, an appropriately stronger potation, was composed
of one-third Dubonnet, two-thirds Nicholson Gin and a
dash of Lime Juice. "Peg o' My Heart" and "Rob Roy"