In the world of film noir, the drink of choice is not scotch on the rocks or bourbon straight from the bottle. Any Philip Marlowe or Martha Ivers worth his/her margarita salt opts for a cocktail.
Enter Eddie Muller, Turner Classic Movies host and arbiter of all things noir, as his nickname “The Czar of Noir” attests. The president and founder of the Film Noir Foundation, impresario of Noir City traveling festivals and emcee of his weekly TCM showcase “Noir Alley,” Muller makes a potent case for the spirits world in “Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir” (Running Press, $26).
In the handsomely designed book, printed on glossy black (of course) stock, Muller pairs vintage or newly concocted cocktails with 50 classic noirs such as “Out of the Past” (1947) and lesser-known titles such as “Specter of the Rose” (1946); lore about the film and its respective drink accompany each recipe. For this master of mixology, the cocktail’s the thing: “You drink martinis to make new memories and bourbon to obliterate them.”
Or as the bartender (William Conrad) in “Dial 1119” — shown last weekend on “Noir Alley” — reacts when someone requests a draft: “Beer drinkers!” he declares with contempt.
Along with the lore, Muller explains how to stock a home bar and the basics of mixing cocktails. “Noir Bar” grew out of “40 years as a cocktail drinker” but with a twist. When drafting the book, Muller kept in mind his “Noir Alley” fans, who tend to be destination TV types.
“They prefer to watch when it appears on TCM, and they very often connect with other people via social media.” He noticed that fans would post photos from “Noir Alley” intro segments “with their cocktail of choice in front of it.”
Armed with that information, Muller realized that he “wanted to do a book that was intriguing and adventurous, but not precious. A lot of contemporary cocktail culture goes for the most obscure ingredients, like sending someone on a worldwide search to find an herbal liqueur from Eastern Europe. I wanted something for people like ‘Noir Alley’ fans, who could find the ingredients at their local liquor store. So that informed my choice of cocktails and ingredients.”
With such an extensive mix, what came first? “The Lady from Shanghai” — referring to a noir classic — or a popular drink like a Bengal Tiger?
“It’s very much like programming a film festival,” Muller said. “There are many factors to take into account. Sometimes it was perfectly obvious,” citing the Pearl Diver, a cocktail and plot device in “The Blue Gardenia” (1953). “It’s one of the few times where a cocktail is cited by name, like the Stinger is in ‘The Big Clock’ (1948).”
In other cases, Muller selected a cocktail to honor someone, like the Brooklyn for Barbara Stanwyck — Muller’s favorite noir femme fatale, represented by “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” (1946) — since she was from that New York borough.
“The really fun, adventurous stuff” resulted when Muller created a cocktail to represent a particular movie, as he did with “Sailor Beware,” with Irish whiskey, brandy, green Chartreuse and ginger liqueur, for “The Lady from Shanghai” (1948), starring Rita Hayworth and directed by Orson Welles. “Like the film that inspired it, is unique, complex and packs a hell of a wallop,” he said.
Muller praises his “Noir Bar” collaborators, art director Paul Kepple, photographer Steve Legato and stylist Kelsi Windmiller. Kepple, whose credits include books with filmmakers J.J. Abrams and David Lynch, “leaned into the noirness of it all,” Muller said. “He went back and watched the movies and based his typeface selections on those movies. He should have a co-credit.” Though beautifully designed, “Noir Bar” is meant to be spilled on, Muller said. “That adds character.”
Of all the classic Hollywood stars with films represented in “Noir Bar,” Humphrey Bogart leads the drink menu with five. Especially significant for Muller is “Deadline — U.S.A.” (1952), with Bogart as a crusading newspaper editor. (When not chasing headlines, he and his staff hole up at a local bar and fortify themselves with cocktails like the Journalist, described by Muller as “a mix of sweet and dry vermouth in a gin base, with a citrus card up its sleeve.”)
“If you’re in newspaper business, this movie has special meaning,” Muller said. Watching “Deadline — U.S.A.” with his father, Muller recalled, “was the moment I saw my dad cry for the first time.” The tears were prompted by the film’s final line, uttered by Bogie: “That’s the press, baby. The press! And there’s nothing you can do about it. Nothing!”
That movie and “the news business made me the person I am today. … I am a beneficiary of its legacy,” Muller said. “The only job my dad ever had was as a sports reporter on the San Francisco Examiner. The offices of a major metro are the nerve center of the nation — or they were. The internet has changed that. Now it’s all diffused. But nothing had as much as an impact as when my dad would take me into the office.”
Book Excerpt/Recipe
The following text is excerpted from “Eddie Muller’s Noir: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir by Eddie Muller,” Copyright © 2023. Available from Running Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
“Deadline – U.S.A.” paired with the “Journalist” cocktail:
“This 1952 offering from 20th Century–Fox, written and directed by Richard Brooks, may not be a full-fledged film noir, but it is the best movie ever made about the newspaper business, which makes it the perfect accompaniment for this cocktail — one of my personal favorites. The drink first appeared in the 1930s in Harry Craddock’s indispensable ‘Savoy Cocktail Book,’ most likely adapted from the Spanish-born Periodista. It seems at first like a variation on a “perfect” Martini, combining sweet and dry vermouth in a gin base. But it has a citrus card up its sleeve that makes this drink uniquely refreshing.
“In ‘Deadline – U.S.A.’ Humphrey Bogart stars as Ed “Hutch” Hutcheson, managing editor of The Day, an East Coast metropolitan daily newspaper about to be sold to a rival chain by its indifferent heirs. Hutch tries to prove his paper’s value by pinning a murder rap on the city’s biggest crime kingpin, while simultaneously trying to forestall the demise of his beloved paper and his foundering marriage. Brooks wrote the part specifically for Bogart, who specialized in that blend of cynicism and idealism essential to any good editor in chief. The film features a fantastic array of supporting characters, all of whom drink a lot. In fact, booze is a major factor in the film. Brooks uses it in many ways: to loosen the tongue of a wary witness, to seduce an ex-wife, to discredit a reporter, to toast old triumphs and fresh defeats. The scene in which the staff holds a wake for the paper at their corner saloon — all of them overserved and sentimental — is a personal favorite. I initially saw this movie with my father, himself a veteran newspaperman. ... It was the first time I ever saw him cry.”
JOURNALIST COCKTAIL
1 coupe glass
1 chilled mixing glass
INGREDIENTS:
- 1½ ounces gin
- ½ ounce dry vermouth
- ½ ounce sweet vermouth
- ¼ ounce Curaçao
- ½ ounce lemon juice
- Garnish. lemon peel twist
Stir ingredients in chilled mixing glass. Pour into coupe glass and garnish with lemon peel twist. Serve.
VARIATIONS: Curaçao is one of several liqueurs distilled from orange peels and cane alcohol. The drink will work with other variations, such as Cointreau or Triple Sec, but for me dry Curaçao offers the best balance. Stay away from Aperol or Amer Picon — orange peel–based liqueurs that will overpower this drink.
