Of All the Gin Joints Stumbling through Hollywood History

by Bailey, Mark; Hemingway, Edward

• ISBN13: 9781565125933
• ISBN10: 1565125932
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-09-30
• Publisher: Algonquin Books

Summary

True tales of celebrity hijinks are served up with an equal measure of Hollywood history, movie-star mayhem, and a frothy mix of forty cocktail recipes.

Humphrey Bogart got himself arrested for protecting his drinking buddies, who happened to be a pair of stuffed pandas. Ava Gardner would water-ski to the set of Night of the Iguana holding a towline in one hand and a cocktail in the other. Barely legal Natalie Wood would let Dennis Hopper seduce her if he provided a bathtub full of champagne. Bing Crosby’s ill-mannered antics earned him the nickname “Binge Crosby.” And sweet Mary Pickford stashed liquor in hydrogen peroxide bottles during Prohibition. From the frontier days of silent film up to the wild auteur period of the 1970s, Mark Bailey has pillaged the vaults of Hollywood history and lore to dig up the true—and often surprising—stories of seventy of our most beloved actors, directors, and screenwriters at their most soused.

Bite-size biographies are followed by ribald anecdotes and memorable quotes. If a star had a favorite cocktail, the recipe is included. Films with the most outrageous booze-soaked stories, like Apocalypse Now, From Here to Eternity, and The Misfits, are featured, along with the legendary watering holes of the day (and the recipes for their signature drinks). Edward Hemingway’s portraits complete this spirited look at America’s most iconic silver-screen legends.

“This book is like being at the best dinner party in the world. And I thought I was the first person to put a bar in my closet. I was clearly born during the wrong era.” —Chelsea Handler

Author Biography

Mark Bailey is an author and Emmy-nominated screenwriter. His previous books include American Hollow, Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers, Of All the Gin Joints, and the children's book Tiny Pie. His films have appeared on HBO, PBS, Netflix, and Lifetime. Bailey lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

Edward Hemingway is a writer and artist living in Brooklyn, New York. He has done feature reporting for GQ Magazine, written comics for Nickelodeon, and been featured twice in American Illustration. His artwork has been included in the New York Times, Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly, and Nickelodeon Magazine, among others. He is the cocreator and illustrator of the book Hemingway & Bailey’s Bartending Guide to Great American Writers, which has been published in three languages. He has also written and illustrated the children’s books Bump in the Night,Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship, which was selected for the 2013 Society of Illustrators Original Art Show, and Bad Apple’s Perfect Day (August 2014). He is the illustrator of the children’s book Tiny Pie, which has been published in two languages. An undergraduate of Rhode Island School of Design and a graduate of the School of Visual Arts, Hemingway has been a guest on NPR’s Morning Edition, and his artwork has been featured in several shows across the country, most recently at the Brooklyn Public Library.