Dorothy Parker Society

Official Dorothy Parker Site Since 1998

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Society
  • Tours
    • Dorothy Parker Upper West Side
    • Algonquin Round Table
    • The Guide
  • Homes
    • Los Angeles
  • Haunts
  • Gallery
    • Audio
  • Book Shop
    • Dorothy Parker Merchandise
    • Books by Parker
    • About Dorothy Parker
    • Algonquin Round Table
    • By Round Table Members
    • Collections
    • Plays & Study Guides
    • Audio Books
    • DVD
  • Contact
Menu
Under the Table: A Dorothy Parker Cocktail Guide

Daily Beast Digs into “I Like A Martini” Quote

Posted on September 11, 2017January 27, 2018 by admin

Wayne Curtis writing for the Daily Beast today digs pretty deep into the famous quote always attributed to Dorothy Parker, but never proven she really said it:

I like to have a Martini,

Two at the very most.

After three I’m under the table,

After four I’m under my host.

In an exhaustive detective search, undertaken every other year by bloggers and columnists with time on their hands, he comes up with the same results. Parker probably never said it.

I’ve been saying that for years, and I even joked about it with the editor of my cocktail guide Under the Table about this problem. Curtis writes:

Without dispute, this is among of the most widely repeated sayings about drinking ever uttered. And with good reason—it speaks to universal experience, it’s visual, it offers the promise of drunken sex, and is admirably compact—it conveys an entire short story in a mere 130 characters (including both attribution and proper line breaks.) It’s a Twitter-length epic, written when only songbirds knew how to tweet.

It’s a good read, and he follows all the leads, but comes to the same conclusion as the last writer: it’s not in any Parker books or stories. More than a dozen years ago, the Algonquin Hotel printed the quote on cocktail napkins for the Blue Bar. I have a few, and I included one in my first book, A Journey into Dorothy Parker’s New York. But they disappeared. All of them. I asked a hotel staff member why. He said the estate said it violated the copyright. That was pretty funny to me, seeing as (1) the NAACP enforcing a cocktail napkin claim is far-fetched; (2) see above, there’s no proof she said it.

Stay tuned to 2019, when the next writer looks for the history of this 4-line gem.

  • cocktails
  • drinking
  • New York Distilling Co
  • Parker References
  • Dorothy Parker

    Recent News

    • Balto, the Dog Sculpture Hero of Central Park February 2, 2021
    • ‘News Item’ and ‘Résumé’ Enter Public Domain January 1 December 18, 2020
    • Gloria Steinem 1965 Interview with Dorothy Parker Found October 16, 2020
    • 1965 Newspaper Interview on Aging and Writing September 9, 2020
    • Homecoming: Dorothy Parker’s Ashes Buried in New York City September 7, 2020
    • Dorothy Parker Ashes Return to Hometown September 5, 2020
    • Apartment Building at Childhood Home Spot to Be Named for Dorothy Parker August 14, 2020
    • Bald Eagle Dorothy Parker Returns to Wild July 1, 2020
    • June 7 Toast and Tour for Dorothy Parker June 3, 2020
    • Listen to Radio Play by the Parker-Campbell Team May 28, 2020

    Archives 1999-2020

    Social

    A Vicious Circle

    • Algonquin Hotel
    • Algonquin Round Table
    • Dorothy Parker on Facebook
    • Dorothy Parker Society Los Angeles
    • Dorothy Parker Society Seattle
    • Franklin P. Adams
    • George S. Kaufman
    • Heywood Broun
    • Robert Benchley Society

    Friend Sites

    • Don Marquis
    • Ellen Meister
    • Fitzgerald Society
    • Forgotten NY
    • Great Gatsby Boat Tour
    • Literary Manhattan
    • Liza Donnelly
    • Nat Benchley
    • Natalie Ascencios
    • Ring Lardner
    • Tallulah Bankhead
    © 2021 Dorothy Parker Society | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme