My Fair Lady is a cocktail that, according to gin lore, was created by Joe Gilmore, the Head Barman of the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel in London, to mark Julie Andrews’ first night in the musical ‘My Fair Lady.’
My Fair Lady is also my most favorite musical of all time!
The drink itself consists of gin, Crème de Frais, lemon juice, orange juice, and the ever so foamy egg white. It is a beautiful pink drink that looks very classy served in a martini glass. It’s appearance is quite ladylike – but its taste packs quite a punch – showing that mean old Henry Higgans that a woman can be more like a man. A strong man dressed in pink!
My Fair Lady also has a quote in it that involves gin and small talk. In a nutshell, Professor Higgins has made a bet that he can turn Eliza, a common flower girl, into a lady who can be mistaken for British royalty. Mean old Higgins has been coaching Eliza for awhile and they’ve decided to take her for a test run at his Mom’s box at the horse races. Eliza, a colorful girl to say the least, has been instructed to stick to conversation about the weather and her health. Needless to say, Eliza goes a little overboard on a health topic and tells this story:
My aunt died of influenza – so they said, but it’s my belief they done the old woman in…Yes, Lord love you. Why should she die of influenza when she come through diptheria right enough the year before? Fairly blue with it, she was. They all thought she was dead, but my father, he kept ladling gin down her throat…Then she come to so sudden she bit the bowl off the spoon…Now what call would a woman with that strength in her have to die of influenza? And what become of her new straw hat that should have come to me? Somebody pinched it, and what I say is, them as pinched it done her in…Them she lived with would have killed her for a hat pin, let alone a hat…Gin was mother’s milk to her. Besides, he’d poured so much down his own throat, he knew the good of it…Drank! My word! Something chronic!
Freddie, a guest in the box at the races who is quite taken with Eliza, refers to her gin speech as “The New Small Talk.” This proves, yet again, what we already know – the best thing for small talk is gin, and the second best thing is a story about gin! If you tell your gin story with the proper accent and wear fancy clothes – you might even be mistaken for British royalty!