The Mary Pickford Cocktail

We're on a Mary Pickford kick here at the Monkey, having taken in two Pickford silents at the AFI-Silver in the past week. And in her honor, we dug up a recipe for the Mary Pickford cocktail.

Allegedly invented for her on the spot by a bartender in Havana, the ingredients for the Mary Pickford are as follows:

1 1/2 oz light rum
1 oz pineapple juice
1/2 tsp maraschino liqueur
1/2 tsp grenadine syrup

Mix in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until your arm falls off, 30 seconds at least, preferably longer. Strain and serve very cold in a chilled cocktail glass.

By the way, do not confuse maraschino liqueur with maraschino cherry juice. Different things. One is a clear, dry liqueur distilled from sour Marasca cherries, the other is a disgustingly sweet more-candy-than-fruit garnish that graces ice cream sodas and the like. (I've seen a recipe for the Mary Pickford that dispenses with the maraschino liqueur altogether—apparently few bars these days stock it due to its expense. Up to you.)

There's also something called a Mary Pickford Collins, which involves licorice-infused gin, lemon grass syrup, and a bunch of other stuff I don't have. We'll leave that for another time.

(Would you'd rather make a Douglas Fairbanks? Click here for the recipe.)

Postscript: This is my thousandth post as the Mythical Monkey.