Episode 30 - Shake over ice, strain, and serve with garnish

Episode 30 was deemed to be the "Cocktail" episode by Joe. Alas, this does not mean an in-depth exploration of a middling Tom Cruise movie.

Amy chose as the movie, "The Blue Gardenia" from 1953 starring Anne Baxter and directed by Fritz Lang. Baxter has a night to forget to remember after consuming SIX Polynesian Pearl Divers at the Blue Gardenia supper club.

Randy selected Rebecca Barry's "novel in stories" Later, at the Bar. It "tells the sad and funny tales of the forlorn denizens of Lucy's Tavern, a gathering place and watering hole for the hapless, lonely, and lovelorn."

Show notes

Intro Music: "One Mint Julep" by Ray Charles (YouTube)
Exit Music: "Manhattan (Cha Cha)" by Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra from the album Cugi's Cocktails which is entirely made up of songs inspired by potent potables.

• Joe's just finished reading and liked Gutenberg's Apprentice.
• Randy's wowed by "We Are The Best!" a Swedish film about three girls forming a punk rock band
• In the film we watched, Nat King Cole's performance of "The Blue Gardenia" is used repeatedly. See a clip of him performing in the film on YouTube.
• Fun fact: In "Django Unchained" the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio orders a "Polynesian Pearl Diver" at one point. This almost certainly is a deliberate homage by Quentin Tarantino to Fritz Lang's film. One intrepid blogger has made and drunk the cocktail.

On the next episode

Amy's gallivanting across Europe (well, just the Netherlands and Poland, really) so Becca Gross will be guest hosting in her stead. Becca got to pick the theme and went for "Hollywood scandals."

Joe's chosen "The Cat's Meow" as the movie, which is a "semi-true story" about a murder that occurred at a star-studded gathering aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924.

Randy's picked Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars by Scotty Bowers with Lionel Friedman. It's a dishy account of one man's sexual adventures, and the others he helped arrange, in the Hollywood of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

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Joseph
Amy
Randy
Next week's guest host Becca Gross