Of All the Gin Joints: Stumbling through Hollywood History
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Of All the Gin Joints: Stumbling through Hollywood History Hardcover – September 30, 2014
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“[An] entertaining assemblage of boozy anecdotes, quotes, and Tinseltown lore.” —Elle
“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
“Booze it up with F. Scott! Roll one with McQueen! In Of All The Gin Joints, you can experience the true measure of showbiz debauchery without the annoying side effects of divorce, death, or unfulfilled potential!” —Rob Lowe, author of Love Life
“Pure fun . . . A perfect bedside reader.” —ImbibeMagazine.com
“Foodies and celebrity watchers alike will be delighted by this walk through Hollywood drinking history.” —Library Journal, starred review
“Hollywood gossip before TMZ came along and ruined it for everyone.” —BookRiot
“An irresistible compendium of Hollywood inebriates. It’s one part history, one part cocktail recipe book, topped off with soulful black-and-white caricatures . . . Whatever your preferences or level of party, your knowledge of Hollywood or mixology, Of All the Gin Joints has something for everyone.” —KirkusReviews.com
“This wonderful combination of words and pictures is the perfect cocktail of a book: sweet enough to go down easily, sour enough to cleanse the palate, and strong enough to leave you giddy. I gulped down the first half and sipped the second half slowly, but when I finished I still wanted more!” —Walter Kirn, author of Blood Will Out and Up in the Air
“Of All the Gin Joints is one part cinematic history, one part old Hollywood weirdness, and one part handy basic bar guide, with a dash of romance and more than a few wry twists. Bailey and Hemingway prove themselves very entertaining cultural mixologists.” —Sam Lipsyte
“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
“Booze it up with F. Scott! Roll one with McQueen! In Of All The Gin Joints, you can experience the true measure of showbiz debauchery without the annoying side effects of divorce, death, or unfulfilled potential!” —Rob Lowe, author of Love Life
“Pure fun . . . A perfect bedside reader.” —ImbibeMagazine.com
“Foodies and celebrity watchers alike will be delighted by this walk through Hollywood drinking history.” —Library Journal, starred review
“Hollywood gossip before TMZ came along and ruined it for everyone.” —BookRiot
“An irresistible compendium of Hollywood inebriates. It’s one part history, one part cocktail recipe book, topped off with soulful black-and-white caricatures . . . Whatever your preferences or level of party, your knowledge of Hollywood or mixology, Of All the Gin Joints has something for everyone.” —KirkusReviews.com
“This wonderful combination of words and pictures is the perfect cocktail of a book: sweet enough to go down easily, sour enough to cleanse the palate, and strong enough to leave you giddy. I gulped down the first half and sipped the second half slowly, but when I finished I still wanted more!” —Walter Kirn, author of Blood Will Out and Up in the Air
“Of All the Gin Joints is one part cinematic history, one part old Hollywood weirdness, and one part handy basic bar guide, with a dash of romance and more than a few wry twists. Bailey and Hemingway prove themselves very entertaining cultural mixologists.” —Sam Lipsyte
About the Author
Mark Bailey is an author and Emmy-nominated screenwriter. Bailey’s books include Tiny Pie, his first children’s book, which includes a pie recipe by world-renowned chef Alice Waters, and Hemingway & Bailey’s Bartending Guide to Great American Writers, an illustrated tribute to the golden era of hard-drinking literary figures. Bailey also wrote American Hollow, an examination of contemporary Appalachian poverty and companion to an HBO documentary feature of the same name. In addition to books, Bailey writes documentary and scripted features. His documentary films have been broadcast on HBO, Lifetime, Court TV, and TLC. This year Bailey received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Ethel, an HBO documentary feature about the life of Ethel Kennedy. For this film, Bailey was also awarded the Humanitas Prize for Documentary Writing. Previous to that, Bailey received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Pandemic: Facing AIDS, an HBO five-part documentary series. Bailey’s most recent film, Last Days in Vietnam, will be broadcast on American Experience next year. Bailey is currently writing Black Panther for Marvel Studios, a live action feature adaptation based on the Marvel superhero. 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.
More About the Author
Edward Hemingway is a writer/illustrator living in Brooklyn, New York. He originally hails from Bozeman, Montana.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By
Pop Bop
TOP 500 REVIEWER on September 13, 2014
Format: Hardcover
1 Comment
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I am not currently physically sitting in a booth at Musso & Frank's as I write this. I am, however, there in my head, which is what counts anyway.
This is a perfect book if you can travel inside your head. There is no Hollywood Hotel anymore; the Coconut Grove is now the footprint of a high school auditorium. But, with the aid of this book they exist again.
Books like this have to navigate a very narrow line. Too much information can squeeze the life out the story. Too little info leaves you with just a pretty postcard book. Too much sex drifts us into "Hollywood Babylon" territory; too little oomph starts to leach away the bad-boy/dirty-girl tingle.
The author has made a number of wise choices in deciding how to walk that line. The book is divided into eras, (the silent era, the studio era and so on). Within that division there are 2 to 4 page "chapters" featuring a particular actor or actress. A well known and then a perhaps less well known story about the actor is related. These tie into bits about their friends, pals and acquaintances, so you get more of a group snapshot. Sidebars, usually featuring historical or architectural bits, fill in around the drinking and partying stories.
Tone is almost everything once you have selected your stories and factoids, and again the author has chosen wisely. There is a consistent narrative voice; the book reads like a documentary with an indulgent, cheerful and non-judgmental voiceover that reflects a real affection and feeling for these people and this place. It is not a phony cheerful upbeat sales pitch, not mindless celebrity worship, and not mean celebrity trashing.Read more ›
This is a perfect book if you can travel inside your head. There is no Hollywood Hotel anymore; the Coconut Grove is now the footprint of a high school auditorium. But, with the aid of this book they exist again.
Books like this have to navigate a very narrow line. Too much information can squeeze the life out the story. Too little info leaves you with just a pretty postcard book. Too much sex drifts us into "Hollywood Babylon" territory; too little oomph starts to leach away the bad-boy/dirty-girl tingle.
The author has made a number of wise choices in deciding how to walk that line. The book is divided into eras, (the silent era, the studio era and so on). Within that division there are 2 to 4 page "chapters" featuring a particular actor or actress. A well known and then a perhaps less well known story about the actor is related. These tie into bits about their friends, pals and acquaintances, so you get more of a group snapshot. Sidebars, usually featuring historical or architectural bits, fill in around the drinking and partying stories.
Tone is almost everything once you have selected your stories and factoids, and again the author has chosen wisely. There is a consistent narrative voice; the book reads like a documentary with an indulgent, cheerful and non-judgmental voiceover that reflects a real affection and feeling for these people and this place. It is not a phony cheerful upbeat sales pitch, not mindless celebrity worship, and not mean celebrity trashing.Read more ›
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By
Deanna S.
on September 21, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Comment
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Hang on lovers of old and new Hollywood, it's going to be a bumpy ride! As well as some stumbling, passing out, and even law-breaking. But mostly, you are going to laugh out loud at the crazy antics of your favorite Hollywood icons. Love them or hate them, the Hollywood bunch sure know how to have fun, and in Of All the Gin Joints: Stumbling through Hollywood History, you get to hear about some of their most memorable drunken times. Bogie and his pandas, Sinatra and his toupee, how directors loved to drive their actors crazy and how actors loved driving the studios insane. It's all here. Stories of the stars and their favorite beverages as well as their hangouts.
As a lover of old Hollywood, I couldn't wait to dive into this book telling stories of celebrities from the silent era on up. Some stories I had heard before from reading biographies of celebrities, and others I had not. Many made me laugh out loud. From its inception and throughout the 40s, 50s and even 60s, Hollywood was a wild place, (still is) and the stars seemed like children no one could tame. Drunk children. But you can't help but laugh at some of the stunts they pulled. The author also tells stores from the sets of top movies as well as all the famous hangouts, old and new. And to top it off, recipes of some of the celebrities favorite drinks are included.
I really enjoyed this book. It was amusing and entertaining. I'd recommend it to anyone who has a passion for fun stories from Hollywood.
(I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Algonquin Books in exchange for my honest review.)
As a lover of old Hollywood, I couldn't wait to dive into this book telling stories of celebrities from the silent era on up. Some stories I had heard before from reading biographies of celebrities, and others I had not. Many made me laugh out loud. From its inception and throughout the 40s, 50s and even 60s, Hollywood was a wild place, (still is) and the stars seemed like children no one could tame. Drunk children. But you can't help but laugh at some of the stunts they pulled. The author also tells stores from the sets of top movies as well as all the famous hangouts, old and new. And to top it off, recipes of some of the celebrities favorite drinks are included.
I really enjoyed this book. It was amusing and entertaining. I'd recommend it to anyone who has a passion for fun stories from Hollywood.
(I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Algonquin Books in exchange for my honest review.)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By
Daniel Little
on October 4, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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Of All the Gin Joints by Mark Bailey and Edward Hemmingway immediately caught my attention because the title is from one of my all-time favourite movies. Luckily, I was selected by Library Thing to review the book and I am so thankful to them for the opportunity. Now, I know you’ve all heard the line, ‘I couldn’t put this book down!’ In this case, that is definitely true, but not because I was anxious to find out ‘who did it’ or where a mystery thriller might take me next. No, here you will find yourself compelled to keep turning pages to see what misadventures the next star in the catalogue of stars within the pages has managed to get her or himself into.
From the Silent Screen Era to 1979 (the stars since 1979 would require an encyclopaedia to record their antics and besides, they are just not as much fun) we are taken on a rollercoaster ride in the lives of many people whose names are synonymous with entertainment. Be prepared however, if you thought they were all choirboys and innocent little girls, you are about to have your eyes opened, and opened hard. As a great addition to the antidotes, our intrepid writing duo has also included some of the star’s best cocktail recipes as well, along with the aforementioned gin joints.
I never like to quote someone else’s review, but I have to add Walter Kirn’s words from the back cover here: “The perfect cocktail of a book: sweet enough to go down easy, sour enough to cleanse the palate, and strong enough to leave you giddy. When I finished I still wanted more!” That describes it perfectly.
I did attempt, more than once, to count how many of Hollywood’s characters are covered in the pages, but every time I did, something would catch my eye and I’d start to read – losing my place. Suffice it to say, there are LOTS.Read more ›
From the Silent Screen Era to 1979 (the stars since 1979 would require an encyclopaedia to record their antics and besides, they are just not as much fun) we are taken on a rollercoaster ride in the lives of many people whose names are synonymous with entertainment. Be prepared however, if you thought they were all choirboys and innocent little girls, you are about to have your eyes opened, and opened hard. As a great addition to the antidotes, our intrepid writing duo has also included some of the star’s best cocktail recipes as well, along with the aforementioned gin joints.
I never like to quote someone else’s review, but I have to add Walter Kirn’s words from the back cover here: “The perfect cocktail of a book: sweet enough to go down easy, sour enough to cleanse the palate, and strong enough to leave you giddy. When I finished I still wanted more!” That describes it perfectly.
I did attempt, more than once, to count how many of Hollywood’s characters are covered in the pages, but every time I did, something would catch my eye and I’d start to read – losing my place. Suffice it to say, there are LOTS.Read more ›
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