#Berlin's Cigar and Cocktail Bar

[keywestlou]

A CATASTROPHIC KEY WEST HAPPENING

A catastrophic event has occurred. Smoking no longer permitted in Berlin’s.

New owners. The no smoking rule invoked. Surprising because one of the primary new owners a smoker himself.

Please, do not bury me in e-mails about the evils of smoking. Some remain who enjoy it. A personal choice. I do not criticize those who opt not to smoke.

If second hand smoke is a problem, do not attend a place that permits smoking. Only a few are left in Key West. Many non-smoking restaurants and bars available for the multitude.

Lets me share the Berlin story with you.

Berlin’s full name is Berlin’s Cigar and Cocktail Bar. It has been a place frequented by smokers since 1947 when it was first opened as Alonzo Cothron and Berlin Felton’s Fish House.

Eventually, the name was changed to Alonzo’s and Berlin’s Lobster House. The dining institution of the day. The place for a night out followed by a Cuban cigar. The affluent then hopping a plane for a quick flight to Havana for a night of gambling. Returning in time to bed down while still dark outside.

Those must have been the days!

At some point, the establishment was rebuilt. Always a perfect waterfront site. Class before and class after the rebuilding.

Berlin’s had a cool look to it. The feeling of Rick’s cafe. Some consider the swankiest spot in Key West.

Paul Tripp was owner at the time of rebuilding. He said, “I wanted it to be a men’s club, to have a masculine feel to it.”

It did.

An intimate room. Mahogany walls. Maroon leather bound stools and large comfortable easy chairs. Cigars stored in a humidor. The perfect place to sit back and enjoy a smoke.

The present day Berlin’s has the finest filtration system I have ever experienced. Even if the person next to you was smoking a cigar, you never smelled it. The filtration system sucked up the smoke  immediately. After leaving, your clothes did not smell of smoke.

Smokers generally ate in the intimacy of Berlin’s. A&B Lobster House, the restaurant portion is extremely large with a huge outdoor balcony to accommodate everyone else.

The food at the bar and restaurant the same. Always excellent. Pricey. Worth it, however. Especially when I could enjoy a couple of drinks and cigarettes before dinner and another after dinner while enjoying the last drink of the night.

The change makes no sense. It will not increase business. It might lessen it, if anything.

The Chart Room my only stop last night. John bartending. Ran into Diesel last year. Again, last night. We spoke at length. I enjoyed his company.

Diesel is from Ohio. Retired. He and his wife Lynise bought a home in Key West several years ago. Lynise was not with him. An early to bed person as I am most evenings.

They spend 6 months a year on the island. I told Diesel he was a snowbird. He did not like the title. Preferred to be known as a transient Conch. Don’t think it would fly with the Conchs.

Cori Convertino, how I envy you! Cori was on Ballast Key yesterday!

Cori is technically Dr. Cori Convertino. She is curator at the Custom House. Over the years, she became a close friend of David Wolkowsky. David you will recall died 2 month ago.

David enjoyed 3 homes in the Key West area. One was on Ballast Key. A small island 16 miles west of Key West. A magnificent edifice planned and built by David.

Not sure why Cori was there yesterday. Wish she had invited me. I assume she was there for some reason having to do with the furnishings. David was a huge benefactor to the Custom House.

I met Fritz Adare 12 years ago at a party at Larry and Christine Smith’s home. Nice guy. He was introduced as a personal trainer. Looked it. A magnificent body. Skin like a baby’s back end. A body that sparkled.

It was obvious Fritz was a good health addict.

I rarely saw him. We would run into each other one or two times a year. Always a cordial hello and a few words.

Yesterday’s Facebook listed the day as Fritz’s birthday. I sent him a Happy Birthday!

Last night, Larry and Christine telephoned me. I knew there had to be trouble if both were on the phone together. Fritz had died several months ago. I did not know.

Strange. I never saw his obituary. Looked for it this morning. Not in the Key West Citizen. Found it in a South Bend, Indiana newspaper. Fritz died on May 29. He was residing in an assisted living facility at the time. Age, 71.

May he rest in peace.

When older people who I know pass on, I get a bit nervous. I am 83. Fritz was 71. He unquestionably was a health nut. Always working out. Took all kinds of vitamins and supplement pills. Nutrition was a big thing with him.

I do not dwell on death. Mark Twain said, “Age is not an issue of mind. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

What will be, will be.

An important thing in life. After saturday’s victory, Syracuse is now ranked 14th in the nation. A 7-2 record so far. Go ‘Cuse!

Enjoy your day!

  A CATASTROPHIC KEY WEST HAPPENING was originally published on Key West Lou

[routerground6-blog]

The Inaugural Half Acre Far & Away Invitational

a creative gathering at Harris Theater

Up to this point the only notable beer party over this way is the annual Harvest HopDown Fest at The Plaza on Millennium Park. It’s an October gathering where Park Grill’s PR staff coordinates distributors to come pour packaged mainline offerings from popular regional breweries. It’s a decent party and certainly better than having no bier fest at all on Michigan Avenue.

What we saw on the rooftop of Harris Theater at that same park was a completely different animal. The mighty Half Acre Beer Company invited 61 of their favorite breweries that never make it to our corner of the earth. The lineup was so stacked that you could walk right up to 2018 GABF IPA winners Alvarado Street and Green Cheek with no wait.

Wiseacre, Memphis, TN*

Saturday 10.13.18*

FFF, Munster, IN*

Perennial, STL*

My favorite beer of the fest was probably the understated brilliance of Jester King & Scratch’s Abscission (spontaneously fermented ale with spicebush, grapevine + juniper).

It was less about rankings and more about appreciating what releases your favorite beers snobs are hysterical about. Beers that up to this point many of us only get to read about. Nothing will top seeing the founders of Dark Matter Coffee and Half Acre joyously sharing pours and thanking us for attending. Half Acre’s Benthic three ways (espresso, iced coffee, stout) was hard to deny and had us thinking how lucky we are to live in the same town as those two crews.

This was like attending a beer event for the first time. There were 16 brewers we legit had never even heard of. The sentiment was felt among teams that made the trip to pour their own beers like Pennington, New Jersey’s Referend Bier Blendery. They admitted not being familiar with all the breweries in attendance.

We never party this hard in The Loop. Finally a festival that the bottle share crowd can appreciate. The good folks at Half Acre have set the bar for what a modern beer gathering should feel like.

–Nkosi

Orange County, CA

Referend Bier Blendery

Pennington, New Jersey

Other Notes: -Side Project, Monkish, Casey, Other Half had insane lines during session one.

– During our hot pursuit of Perennial’s Maman and the Other Half/ Angry Chair collab Rice Proxy Treats, we missed out Tired Hands Guava Lavender Milkshake IPA and Kane’s Vanilla Sunday Brunch

-Far & Away participant beers were around town for the weekend at The Beer Temple, Kaiser Tiger and Beermiscuous

-*denotes photo courtesy of Brad Chmielewski

-Enjoy this remarkable collection of beers

3 Floyds Brewing Company THICC BOIS / DDH LACTOSE IPA CHEER TEAM / IPA

18th Street Brewery BLEND / A BLEND OF RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT, MILK STOUT + BARLEY WINE AGED IN BUFFALO TRACE BARRELS SCRATCH AND DENT / IPA

Allagash Brewing Company ALLAGASH WHITE / BELGIAN-STYLE WHEAT BEER SAISON GRATIS / SAISON-STYLE ALE

Alvarado Street Brewery MAI TAI P.A. / TROPICAL IPA CONTAINS NO JUICE / JUICY DOUBLE IPA

American Solera SOMEBODY LOVES YOU IN COPENHAGEN / FRUIT BEER BARREL AGED DILEMMA / BARREL AGED STOUT

Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company REFUGE IPA ABUNDANSEA / IMPERIAL STOUT

easily the best lineup of the year*

Columbus Brewing*

Aslin Beer Co BALE / IMPERIAL STOUT TOTALLY CANON / SOUR ALE

Bagby Beer Company SWEET RIDE / PILSNER GOOF TROOP / AMERICAN IPA

Beavertown Brewery METAMORPH / BRETT IPA MANGO MILK / MANGO MILKSHAKE DIPA (OMNIPOLLO COLLAB)

Bellwoods Brewery FRUIT JELLY KING / DRY-HOPPED SOUR WITH PINK GUAVA

Breakside Brewing WANDERLUST / IPA #MOREFRIENDS #MOREMEMORIES / BARREL AGED RASPBERRY SOUR

Bunker Brewing Company TERRARIUM / IPA MACHINE PILZ / CZECH-STYLE PILSNER

Burial Beer Company FRESH HOP SHADOWCLOCK / PILSNER THE FALL OF THE REBEL ANGELS / SOUR RED WITH CHOKEBERRIES

Casey Brewing & Blending APRICOT FRUIT STAND / ALE AGED IN OAK BARRELS WITH APRICOTS VELVET / ALE AGED IN OAK BARRELS WITH APRICOTS

Cigar City Brewing COCONUT MARSHAL ZHUKOV’S / IMPERIAL STOUT WITH COCONUT GUAYABERA / CITRA PALE ALE

Columbus Brewing Company BODHI / DOUBLE IPA CROCODILE TONGUE / BARREL AGED SOUR ON PEACHES

Creature Comforts Brewing Company BIBO / PILSNER ARCADIANA / SAISON

De La Senne, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Belgium

Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project SURETTE RESERVA JUNIPER & GIN / PROVISION SOUR ALE SOUR ROSE´ / WILD ALE

De La Senne TARAS BOULBA / BLONDE ALE

Firestone Walker Brewing Company SLOAMBIC / WILD ALE WITH BLACKBERRIES DARK & STORMY / BLENDED ALE WITH GINGER & LIME

Fonta Flora, Morganton, NC

Fonta Flora Brewery WHIPPOORWILL WIT / BELGIAN WITBIER SCUPPADINE / APPALACHIAN WILD ALE

Forest + Main Brewing Company DOCHTER SEIZOEN / SAISON SOLAIRE / SAISON

Founders Brewing Company KBS / BOURBON BARREL AGED STOUT MOSAIC PROMISE / SINGLE HOP PALE ALE

Fremont Brewing Company THE RUSTY NAIL / BOURBON BARREL AGED IMPERIAL STOUT WITH LICORICE AND CINNAMON BARK FIELD TO FERMENT – CITRA / FRESH HOP PALE ALE

Gigantic Brewing Company KOLSCHTASTIC / KOLSCH BIG BRETT LOVE / BRETT SAISON AGED IN VERMOUTH AND FRENCH OAK BARRELS

Great Notion Brewing WIGGLE / HAZY IPA KEY LIME PIE / GOSE WITH KEY LIMES, VANILLA BEANS AND MORE

Green Cheek Beer Co WEST COAST IPA IS DEAD / WEST COAST IPA ATTACK WITH LOVE / HAZY IPA

Hacienda Beer Company L’ETE / BARREL FERMENTED SAISON DDH EVERYTHING EVENTUALLY WITH EL DORADO

Half Acre Beer Company ABOVE & BEYOND / DDH IPA INFUSED WITH MOSAIC VANILLA BENTHIC / BARREL AGED IMPERIAL STOUT WITH COFFEE, COCONUT + VANILLA

Harris Theater Rooftop, Millennium Park

Highland Park Brewery WONDER CLOUD / HAZY IPA HELP YOURSELF / BARREL FERMENTED SAISON

Holy Mountain Brewing KING’S HEAD / BOURBON BARREL AGED DOUBLE OATMEAL BROWN ALE OFFERTORY / ALE AGED IN OAK BARRELS ON MALBEC & SYRAH POMACE

Industrial Arts Brewing Company WRENCH / NEIPA SPLICE / DDH SOUR BEER

Interboro Spirits & Ales OVERTIME / IMPERIAL IPA BUSHBURG / PILSNER

J Wakefield Brewing BLUEBRAKER / SOUR IPA BOSS TYCOON / IMPERIAL STOUT

Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery APPLE BRANDY BARREL OIL OF APHRODITE / BARREL AGED IMPERIAL STOUT BOURBON BARREL BRICK KILN / BARREL-AGED BARLEY WINE

Jester King Brewery ABSCISSION / SPONTANEOUSLY FERMENTED FORAGED ALE (COLLAB WITH SCRATCH) COMMERICAL SUICIDE / MIXED CULTURE MILD ALE

Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales TURBO BAM / RYE FARMHOUSE ALE FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS / FRUIT SAISON

Kane Brewing Company GALAXY PUNCH / INDIA PALE ALE VANILLA SUNDAY BRUNCH / IMPERIAL MILK PORTER

Lawrence Beer Co*

Lawrence Beer Company LECTRIC / IPA BIG PEACH / SAISON

Maine Beer Company SON OF SAPPING MAMMOTH / IPA POST RIDE SNACK / SESSION IPA

Mikkeller SPONTANDOUBLERASPBERRY / SOUR ALE WITH RASPBERRIES TBA

Modern Times Beer YELLOW / SAISON AGED IN WINE BARRELS WITH APRICOTS FELLOWSHIP OF XUL / DESSERT STOUT

Monkish Brewing Company SPACE FOOD / COTTON CANDY SPACE COOKIE DOUBLE MILKSHAKE IPA (COLLAB WITH OMNIPOLLO + TIRED HANDS) GALACTIC RHYME FEDERATION / TRIPLE IPA

New Belgium Brewing Company VOODOO RANGER JUICY HAZE IPA / UNFILTERED IPA TRANSATLANTIQUE / KRIEK

Other Half Brewing Company DDH BROCCOLI / IMPERIAL INDIA PALE ALE RICE PROXY TREATS / IMPERIAL STOUT (COLLAB WITH ANGRY CHAIR)

Oxbow, Newcastle, Maine

Oxbow Brewing Company SASUGA / STAINLESS-AGED SAISON WITH RICE BOBASA / BARREL-AGED SMOKED FARMHOUSE ALE

Perennial Artisan Ales PILS / DRY-HOPPED GERMAN-STYLE PILSNER MAMAN / IMPERIAL STOUT

Prairie Artisan Ales PRAIRIE NOIR / BOURBON BARREL AGED IMPERIAL STOUT PINK GUAVA FUNK / SOUR ALE WITH PINK GUAVA FRUIT

The Referend Bier Blendery BERLINER MESSE: GLORIA GRAND CRU / SPONTANEOUSLY FERMENTED PALE WHEAT ALE TENDER BUTTONS / FRAMBOISE

Sante Adairius Rustic Ales WOVEN / BARREL AGED BLONDE ALE (HALF ACRE COLLAB) RECENCY EFFECT / GIN BARREL AGED SAISON

Shared Brewing FANNY PACK FASHION SHOW / IPA TOMMY FRESH BATCH #2 / TDH DIPA

Door County, Wisco

Side Project Brewing DERIVATION BLEND #10 / BA IMPERIAL STOUT LA RUCHE BLEND #2 / BELGIAN SAISON

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company TRIP IN THE WOODS CHOCOLATE CHIPOTLE STOUT / BARREL AGED IMPERIAL STOUT SINGLE HOP EL DORADO / SESSION IPA

Sun King Brewing PACHANGA / MEXICAN STYLE LAGER AFTERNOON DELIGHT / BOURBON BARREL AGED DOPPELBOCK

Superstition Meadery CHERION / MELOMEL BBA AMANTE / SPECIALTY MEAD

Threes Brewing LOGICAL CONCLUSION / IPA FAR BETWEEN / FOUDRE-FERMENTED FEST BEER

Tired Hands Brewing Company HELLES OTHER PEOPLE GUAVA LAVENDER MILKSHAKE IPA

Transient Artisan Ales WHEN YOU’RE HERE YOU’RE HERE / COCKTAIL INSPIRED OAK AGED SOUR THE JUICE IS LOOSE / DOUBLE IPA

Troon Brewing HI, CHICAGO / HOPPY ALE BYE, CHICAGO / KETTLE SOUR BREWED WITH LACTOSE, RE-FERMENTED WITH MANGO + PASSION FRUIT, CONDITIONED ON MADAGASCAR VANILLA BEANS

Trve Brewing Company CURSED / MIXED CULTURE PALE ALE SOLID HEX / WATERMELON SAISON

Upslope Brewing Company SPRUCE TIP IPA / AMERICAN INDIA PALE ALE TROPICAL FRUIT SOUR / FRUITED BARREL AGED SOUR BEER

The Veil Brewing Company YOUNG & PURE / IPA WE DED MON / TRIPLE IPA

Weldwerks Brewing Company DDH JUICY BITS / HAZY IPA MEXICAN ACHROMATIC / MEXICAN STOUT

Wiseacre Brewing Company TINY BOMB / PILSNER ASTRONAUT STATUS / BOURBON BARREL AGED IMPERIAL STOUT WITH CINNATTMON AND VANILLA BEANS

  Source: https://www.chicagobeergeeks.com/2018/10/the-inaugural-half-acre-far-away-invitational/

[ismael37olson]

You're Cellophane!

Not too long ago, I created a Music Man glossary, since that show is so chock-full of period slang and euphemisms. Now, working on Anything Goes, I find the same thing is true. It's part of what make both shows so good -- they create a very real, full world in which these characters exist. And contrary to what a lot of directors and actors think, it is not important for the audience to get every reference; but it is important that the actors get them, so that they can live fully and honestly in this world. That sense of reality is the real value of period references. On the other hand.. In the original Anything Goes, several the lyrics were full of references to people and things that were popular in 1934, many of which we haven't even heard of today. So a lot of the original lyric for "You're the Top" and "Anything Goes" would just be baffling to audiences; and instead of listening to the song, they'd be feeling left behind and confused. Those lyrics had to be revised for the revivals. All that said, for actors and directors working on Anything Goes, and for all musical theatre fangirls and fanboys (of which I am one) who just love the show, here is my Anything Goes glossary. Take a look particularly at the juxtaposition of these pop culture references against each other, in their context. Porter is doing some really subtle, sophisticated social commentary in many of these lyrics. From the original 1934 script: "Manhattan" -- a cocktail made with whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. While rye is the traditional whiskey of choice, other commonly used whiskeys include Canadian whisky, bourbon, blended whiskey, and Tennessee whiskey, invented in in the early 1870s at the Manhattan Club. "Grosvenor House" -- one of the largest private homes in London, torn down during World War I, and replaced with the luxury Grosvenor House Hotel

"Tommy gun" -- the Thompson submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1918, and became infamous during the Prohibition era. "rote shot" -- a section of the newspaper with society photographs, called the "rotogravure," after the printing process "Evelyn" -- a then common British man's name pronounced EVE-lin. "Snake Eyes Johnson" and Moonface Martin" -- jokes on 1930s gangster nicknames, like Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bugsy Siegel, Machine Gun Kelly, Lucky Luciano... "dicks"  -- law enforcement; a slang term for detectives, originally coined in Canada and brought south by rumrunners during Prohibition. The comic strip character Dick Tracy was named for this term. "a wireless" -- a telegram "Mater" -- British for Mother, from the Latin, an intentionally old-fashioned term "Eight Bells Strike" -- the striking of eight bells on a ship says a four-hour watch shift is over (it's not connected to a specific time on the clock) "my sea legs..." -- a person's ability to keep their balance and not feel seasick when on board a moving ship. "Nicholas Murray Butler" -- a famous American philosopher, diplomat, and educator; president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. "Damn white of him" -- originally used under British colonialism, an expression of appreciation for honorable or gracious behavior, under the assumption that white people were inherently more virtuous. "The Social Register" -- according to Wikipedia, "The social elite was a small closed group. The leadership was well known to the readers of society pages, but in larger cities it was impossible to remember everyone, or to keep track of the new debutantes, the marriages, and the obituaries. The solution was the Social Register, which listed the names and addresses of the families who mingled in the same private clubs, attended the right teas and cotillions, worshipped together at prestige churches, funded the proper charities, lived in exclusive neighborhoods, and sent their daughters to finishing schools and their sons away to prep schools" "Beefeater" -- actually a ceremonial guard at the Tower of London, but here just referring to a British person, possibly also implying that Evelyn is stiff...? "Coliseum" -- the famous amphitheater in Rome, built in 70-80 AD "Louvre Museum" -- the world's largest museum, in Paris, holding some of our great works of art, including the "Mona Lisa." "Symphony by Strauss" -- German composer Richard Strauss was still actively writing operas and concert works when Anything Goes opened.

"Bendel bonnet" -- a ladies' hat from Henri Bendel, the upscale women's specialty store still today based in New York City, selling handbags, jewelry, luxury fashion accessories, home fragrances and gifts "Shakespeare Sonnet" -- Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, fourteen-line poems Mickey Mouse -- you have to remember that for these characters living in 1934, Steamboat Willie premiered only six years ago, and Mickey was still only in black and white... "Vincent Youmans" -- Broadway composer of many musicals, including No, No, Nanette, Hit the Deck, and several Hollywood films "Mahatma Gandhi" -- still in the middle of his historic fight for independence for colonial India from Great Britain at this moment "Napoleon Brandy" -- an "extra old" blend of brandy in which the youngest brandy is stored for at least six years "The National Gallery": Famous art gallery in Washington, D.C. "Garbo's salary" - according to an article on Slate.com, "After the success of Flesh and the Devil (1927), Greta Garbo demanded that MGM raise her salary from $600 per week to $5,000 per week. Louis B. Mayer hemmed and hawed, so Garbo sailed to Sweden. Eventually Mayer gave in and Garbo sailed back. $5,000 per week comes to $260,000 per year, or the equivalent in today's dollars of $4.6 million per year." "cellophane" -- according to Wikipedia, "Whitman's candy company initiated use of cellophane for candy wrapping in the United States in 1912 for their Whitman's Sampler. They remained the largest user of imported cellophane from France until nearly 1924, when DuPont built the first cellophane manufacturing plant in the US. Cellophane saw limited sales in the US at first since while it was waterproof, it was not moisture proof—it held water but was permeable to water vapor. This meant that it was unsuited to packaging products that required moisture proofing. DuPont hired chemist William Hale Charch, who spent three years developing a nitrocellulose lacquer that, when applied to Cellophane, made it moisture proof. Following the introduction of moisture-proof Cellophane in 1927, the material's sales tripled between 1928 and 1930." Our story is set in 1934. "Derby winner" -- the 1934 running of the Kentucky Derby was its 60th! "You're a Brewster body" -- the frame for a Bentley or Rolls Royce luxury car "A Ritz hot toddy" -- a specialty drink of the Ritz Hotel bar in Paris "the sleepy Zuder Zee" -- The Zuiderzee was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands. The characters in Anything Goes know this because in 1928, sailing events for the Amsterdam Summer Olympics were held on the Zuiderzee. "Bishop Manning" -- Episcopal Bishop of St. John the Divine Cathedral in Manhattan. "A Nathan panning" -- a bad review from New York drama critic George Jean Nathan "broccoli" -- something of a novelty in 1934, having been farmed commercially in the US only since the 1920s, and the first advertising campaign on its behalf didn't occur until 1929. So in 1934, broccoli was the culinary cutting edge "a night at Coney" -- Coney Island "Irene Bordoni" -- French actress who starred on Broadway in Cole Porter's 1928 musical Paris, introducing the song "Let's Do It" (which had replaced "Let's Misbehave") "a fol-de-rol" -- a useless ornament or accessory, nonsense

"Arrow collar" -- the famous "Sanforized" collar on Arrow Shirts. The Arrow Collar Man became an advertising symbol in the 1920s for rugged masculinity. "Coolidge dollar" -- the very sound, very strong American dollar, under President Calvin Coolidge, before the Depression "Fred Astaire" -- Broadway and film star of musical comedies "(Eugene) O'Neill" -- Pulitzer Prize winning American playwright of powerful dramas, including Anna Christie (1920), The Emperor Jones (1920), The Hairy Ape (1922), Desire Under the Elms (1924), Strange Interlude (1928), Mourning Becomes Electra (1931), and others "Whistler's Mama" -- the famous painting actually called Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1, best known as Whistler's Mother, painted by the American painter James McNeill Whistler in 1871 "Camembert" -- A mellow, soft cheese with a creamy center first marketed in Normandy, France. "Inferno's Dante" -- Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) author of The Divine Comedy, the third part of which deals with Inferno (Hell). "the great Durante" -- comedian/actor Jimmy Durante. His first film was in 1930, but he had made 19 films by 1934 "de trop" -- a mispronunciation of the French phrase de trop, meaning too much, not wanted, unwelcome "A Waldorf Salad" -- a salad of apples, walnuts, raisins, celery, and mayonnaise, originated at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. "Berlin ballad" -- A romantic song by American songwriter Irvin Berlin, who by 1934 had already written standards like "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "What'll I Do?", "Blue Skies," and "Puttin' on the Ritz." A few years later, in 1938, Berlin would write "God Bless America." "an Old Dutch master" -- a Dutch master painter like Rembrandt, but ALSO a brand of cigars "Mrs. Astor" (changed to "Lady Astor" in 1962) -- Mrs. John Jacob Astor, leading New York socialite. "Pepsodent" -- toothpaste introduced in the USA in 1915 by the Pepsodent Company of Chicago. The original formula for the paste contained pepsin, a digestive agent designed to break down and digest food deposits on the teeth, hence the brand and company name. From 1930 to late 1933 a massive animated neon advertising sign for the toothpaste, featuring a young girl on a swing, hung on West 47th Street in Times Square in New York City.

"the steppes of Russia" -- a region of grasslands joining Europe and Asia -- Around 1930 the Soviet Union wanted to attract foreign tourists to bring in currency and improve its external image. On Stalin's and the Party's initiative a national tourist agency was founded. Intourist was responsible for attracting, accommodating and escorting all foreign guests.Western advertising styles were applied to appeal to the target audience. Intourist posters pictured a tourist paradise, not a country of laborers and peasants. Trains were no icons of progress but a comfortable way of transport. Intourist women were not working hard in a factory but were either fashionable or exotic. "Pants on a Roxy usher" -- the famous Roxy Theatre in Manhattan ("the Cathedral of motion pictures") had a squad of ushers who were trained like an army platoon and wore very tight pants. "G.O.P." -- Grand Old Party, i.e. Republicans. "Tower of Babel" -- Biblical tower in the land of Shinar, the building of which ceased when a confusion of languages took place. "Whitney stable" -- the socially prominent Whitney family bred famous horses "Mrs. Baer's son, Max" (also referred to as "Maxie Bauer") -- Max Baer, World Heavyweight Champion in the 1930s (his son, Max Baer Jr. played Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies) "Rudy Vallee" --  1920s/1930s crooner, who often sang through a megaphone and later starred in the original production of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. "Phenolax" -- a  pink flavored wafer laxative, first introduced in 1908

"Drumstick Lipstick" -- brand of makeup manufactured by Charbert, a French cosmetics firm. "brig" -- military prison "in irons" -- shackled "The Dean boys" -- baseball players and brothers Dizzy and Daffy, members of the famed "Gashouse Gang," the 1934 St. Louis Cardinal baseball team, which won 95 games, the National League pennant, and the 1934 World Series -- just months before Anything Goes opened! "Max Gordon" -- Broadway producer from the 1920s through the 1950, famous for extravagant productions "Jitneys" -- independent taxi cabs or small buses. The joke here is that the middle-class folks who can still afford to take a cab, here in the middle of the Depression, would be shocked to find out that some of the richest Americans (in this case, the Vanderbilt and Whitney families) had lost nearly everything. "Vanderbilts and Whitneys" -- two prominent rich families in New York "Sam Goldwyn" -- movie studio head "Lady Mendl" -- an American actress, interior decorator, author of the influential 1913 book The House in Good Taste, and a prominent figure in New York, Paris, and London society. Her morning exercises were famous, including yoga, standing on her head, and walking on her hands. "Missus R." and "Franklin" -- Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt

"broadcast a bed from Simmons" -- Eleanor Roosevelt did weekly radio broadcasts sponsored by Simmons mattresses "Mrs. Ned McLean" -- a socialite who was the last private owner of the Hope Diamond "Anna Sten" -- Ukrainian movie star "Swannee River" -- a reference to Stephen Foster's famous song "Old Folks at Home" and to the Gerhwin song "Swanee "goose's liver" -- pate "Russian Ballet" -- reference to the 1934–1935 world tour by the Dandré-Levitoff Russian Ballet "the Oxford movement" -- a 19th-century movement of High Church members of the Church of England which eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism, arguing for the reinstatement of some older Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy and theology. Presumably, Mrs. Wentworth is confusing the Oxford Movement with The Oxford Group was a Christian organization founded in 1931 by the American Christian missionary Frank Buchman. [For the references in "Anything Goes," see my earlier post on that song.] [For the references in "Blow Gabriel, Blow" see my earlier post about that song.] "Sing Sing" and "Joliet" -- famous maximum security prisons [For an explanation of the intro to "Be Like the Bluebird," see my earlier post about that.] Additional Things from the 1962 version: "The Globe American" -- a generic fictitious name for a newspaper "Hymsie Brown, the fighter" -- a fictitious nicknamed boxer "you know the New Deal" -- reference to government red tape, bureaucracy "Toscanini" -- Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini. The New York Philharmonic under Toscanini, in 1931, became the first orchestra to offer regular live coast-to-coast radio broadcasts of its concerts, gaining Toscanini unprecedented fame and a remarkable salary of $110,000 per year. "Milton Berle" -- already a successful stand-up comedian in the 1930s, patterning himself after one of Vaudeville's top comics, Ted Healy (the inspiration for Billy Flynn in Chicago). A year before Anything Goes opened, Berle starred in the short musical film Poppin' the Cork, a topical musical comedy about the repealing of Prohibition. "tomato ketchup" -- During the 1930s Heinz increased their sales force and advertising, to battle the drop in sales due to the Depression. Heinz salesmen were expected to be at least 6ft tall, impeccably dressed and particularly eloquent at promoting Heinz products. Their equipment ­ which included chrome vacuum flasks, pickle forks and olive spears ­ weighed about 30lbs. "Chippendale" -- various styles of furniture fashionable in the late 18th century and named after the English cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale

"Fourth Dimension" -- according to Project Muse, "During the first three decades of the twentieth century, the fourth dimension was a concern common to artists in nearly every major modern movement: Analytical and Synthetic Cubists, Italian Futurists, Russian Futurists, Suprematists, and Constructivists, American modernists in the Stieglitz and Arensberg circles, Dadaists, and members of De Stijl. Kandinsky’s own awareness of the idea, and the growing interest in Germany in the space-time world of Einstein. Although by the end of the 1920s the temporal fourth dimension of Einsteinian Relativity Theory had largely displaced the popular fourth dimension of space in the public mind, one further movement was to explore a fourth spatial dimension: French Surrealism." "George Bernard Shaw" -- British playwright (Pygmalion, Major Barbara, Man and Superman, Saint Joan, etc.) "verse" -- Today, we call the first section of a song the intro, which sets up the topic, before we get to the first verse and main melody (though many songs today don't have one). Then we get the first verse, which introduces the main melody, and then in most pop songs, we get the chorus. Sometimes there's a contrasting section called the bridge. But in Porter's time, the first section was the verse, and what we call the verse and chorus were together called the refrain. "Tinpantithesis" -- an invented joke word, meaning the Tin Pan Alley (common) antithesis (opposite) of good music Gullery -- Billy's joke on Mrs. Harcourt "un peu d'amour" -- French for a little love "DAR, PTA, and WPA" -- The Daughters of the Revolution, the Parents-Teachers Association, and the Works Progress Administrtion -- three things that do not belong together, but Mooney doesn't know that... Every day, I find new richness in Anything Goes, new craft, new surprises. It's such diving this deep into a show I've always loved but never thought about that much... Hope you enjoy learning about all this stuff as much as I do! The adventure continues! Long Live the Musical! Scott from The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre http://newlinetheatre.blogspot.com/2018/02/youre-cellophane.html