Where the Cocktail Party Came From

Great cocktails go hand in hand with great stories. There are legends about the creation of the Sazerac, the Ramos Gin Fizz, even the Manhattan.
But wheres the celebrated origin story of that iconic American pre-dinner drinking hour, the cocktail party? Sources disagree.
Alec Waugh (brother of the novelist Evelyn) insisted in a 1970 Esquire essay that he invented the idea of drinks-before-dinner in the 1920s. Others
point to a Tacoma Times article from April 1917 crediting a St. Louis socialite, Mrs. Clara Bell Walsh, as the first to hold a party devoted exclusively
to mixed drinks.
By this math, the venerable institution of the cocktail party is exactly a century old this year. But where are the parties celebrating the mixed-drinks
centennial? Who was this mysterious cocktail maven anyway? And did she really invent the iconic party style, which Waugh defined as start[ing] at
half-past-fivelasts ninety minutes, at which alcohol is served but not much food?
Walsh certainly couldnt claim the invention of cocktails, which had been around for centuries by 1917. Early recipes for alcoholic punches date to
the 1600s, but it was the publication of Jerry Thomas The Bartenders Guide in 1862 that marked the birth of the modern cocktail craze. Although
Thomas guide shows the diversity of cocktails available by the mid-19th century, he doesnt provide any clues about how to throw a party with them.
Walshs mixed-drink mixer emerged from a collision of two distinct trends in American society. As the temperance movement gained power at the
end of the 19th century, the availability of public drinking spaces like saloons and hotel bars shrank considerably, reorienting Americas drinking
culture to the home. Simultaneously, American society began to shrug off its Victorian conventions. The era of the New Woman, lasting from the
1880s to the 1920s, was characterized by women uninterested in stuffy social constraints. New domestic labor-saving devices, such as gas stoves
and electric irons, coincided with a move away from a house full of servants and cooks. Elaborate multi-course dinners, beloved during the Victorian
age, fell dramatically out of fashion. As a 1906 womans guide put it, Informal entertainment is, as everyone knows or ought to know, a far greater
compliment to guests than any formal entertainment, however splendid. Domestic manuals urged homemakers to shrug off big meals in favor of
friendly get-togethers such as afternoon tea parties or receptions.
Casual events centered around the home grew popular, providing opportunities for men and women to socialize and enjoy a mixed drink or two.
Hostesses werent obligated to provide full meals for guests, only drinks and light nibbles such as sandwiches and salads. As the 1901 Etiquette for
All Occasions recommended, Aerated waters, punch, wine-cup, and lemonade are thought sufficient. The time of the reception being from three
until six or from four until seven oclock, a heavy meal would be out of place. The time of day, food, and mixed drinks of the 1900s afternoon tea
embodied Waughs cocktail party definition in everything but name.
But the cocktail had a serious branding problem. Originally a simple mixture of spirits and bitters, cocktails
were considered drinks only appropriate for men, too strong for a delicate Victorian womans sensibilities.
Not that companies in the cocktail business didnt try to change this. In 1897, the cocktail mixer company
Heubleins tried marketing specifically to women: In the past the male sex were the only ones privileged to
partake of the daintiest of American drinks, the Cocktail. With the innovation of Club Cocktails it has been
made possible for the gentler sex to satisfy its curiosity in regard to the concoction about which so much has
been written and said, and which has heretofore not been obtainable by them.
Despite Heubleins best efforts, women continued to be discouraged from drinking cocktails. Social events
where such libations were served were morally suspect. In 1903 temperance advocates condemned a party
held by the actress Lillie Langtry, where jeweled gin suckers purchased cocktails at 50-60 cents a piece.
According to Catherine Murdocks book Domesticating Drink, cabarets and dance halls where alcoholic
drinks were served were dangerous, tempting women to drink Mamie Taylors, cocktails, and other insidious
mixtures.
But for the New Woman, such arguments fell on increasingly deaf ears. Whether in private or public, women
were beginning to sip cocktails in ever greater numbers. The same year temperance supporters condemned
Langtry, an article in the Chicago Chronicle admitted to the increasing trend of women drinking cocktails:
That many society women drink ardent spirits and sometimes to excess is a well-known fact. Domestic
manuals began to include recipes for harder mixed drinks. A 1909 edition of The Womans Dictionary and
Encyclopedia, edited by American culinary expert Fannie Farmer, included recipes for 58 cocktails,
including Sours, Martinis, and Manhattans.
The New Women of the 20th century, including one Clara Bell Walsh, took aim at the scandal-soaked image
of the cocktail-drinking woman. As Owen Johnsons 1913 The Salamander put it: New ideas are stirring
within [the modern woman], logical revoltsequality of burden with men, equality of opportunity and of
pleasure. Born in 1884, Walsh exemplified the economic and social independence desired by the new
generation. Thanks to her fathers generous will, Clara was a millionaire before she turned 20. Even after
her marriage to St. Louis businessman Julius S. Walsh Jr. in 1904, Claras personal finances allowed her to
pursue her own interests, spending months away from home to race horses or travel to Europe.
As a prominent member of wealthy St. Louis society, Clara was in a position to free the cocktail from its
immoral past. Updating the tradition of the informal afternoon tea, Walshs 1917 party brazenly swapped low
alcohol punches and claret cups for Sazeracs and Clover Leafs. No longer the drinks of seedy dance halls,
cocktails were now something any woman could enjoy without reproach. As the Tacoma Times put it:
Positively the newest stunt in society is the giving of cocktail parties a Sunday matinee affair which
originated here filling a long felt Sunday want in society circles Mrs. Walsh, because of her innovation
has become more of a social celebrity in St. Louis than ever.
Clara Bell Walshs party helped to promote the image of the sophisticated woman as a cocktail drinker. Just
three years later, however, the introduction of Prohibition in 1920 brought any public cocktail-drinking to a
roaring halt. But the mixed drinks mavens of the 1910s werent forgotten. The 1920s flappers who bobbed
their hair, threw away their corsets, and sipped drinks at speakeasies saw Walsh and the New Women as
inspirations for their new battle for female independence. As Vogue magazine put it in 1930:
The really smart woman [is] apt to be an anti-prohibitionetteAll have in common a certain
freedom of mind which is bound to be characteristic of women who lead such crusadesIt was
such women who went out to fight for a voteIn the War, they drove ambulances as close to the
front as possible. They are athletic. [They were] the first to drink cocktailsThey pile up the
qualities of mind and manner that make leaders.
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