h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My favorite recipe in the bunch was initially that of Jimmy Durante, until I read further and realized you had to share it with 5 other people.

I appreciate your including his nickname; but he was later called simply 'The Schnozz', most of the time. The other two sound like affectionate elongations of the shorter form.

Douglas Fairbanks probably didn't concoct his, but it seems a sort of whimpy martini. Ed McMahon, celebrity product spokesman and former sidekick of Johnny Carson, described the optimum, magical martini mix of 10 parts gin to 1 part vermouth. It is said that one partcularly successful pitcher of this mixture and ice resulted in a hand reaching down from heaven for a glass.

I think it was crooner Dean Martin who said he fills the pitcher with ice and gin, and simply shows it the bottle of vermouth.

W.C. Fields is reported to have finished shooting a pool-shot scene when he went back to his director's chair, sat down, and picked up his thermos of 'pineapple juice' (which smelled strangely like gin over which someone merely whispered vermouth). He took a swig, sprayed it across the set, and ranted "Godfrey Daniel and Mother of Pearl. Some sidewinder put pineapple juice in my 'pineapple juice'!"

In the bit about Lupe Velez, the most interesting aspect of her death was missed:
According to the news sources, she attempted to commit suicide in glamourous fashion, dressing up and arranging herself beautifully on her bed. She then overdosed on sleeping pills (Seconal), underestimated the dosage, and became violently ill. She made a dash for the bathroom (ostensibly to vommit into the toilet or sink), slipped and fell head first into her toilet.
Her maid found her the next day with her head in the bowl, drowned.


For what it's worth,