This Summer's Drink of Choice: The Moscow Mule

Last summer it was the Tom Collins, a refreshing summer drink, but this summer I've moved on to the equally refreshing Moscow Mule. As you can see by these ads from the 60's, featuring Woody Allen (left) and Robert Morse (right), lately of Mad Men fame, that the Mule was served traditionally in frosty copper mugs.

The recipe is simple: Just remember 1-2-3. 1 part Rose's Lime Juice, 2 parts vodka, and 3 parts ginger beer.

In an attempt to revive the popularity of vodka in the late 1950s, manufacturers were thinking of creative ways to overcome the stigma of a liquor long associated with communist Russia. In the midst of the cold war and the space race, Americans were shunning vodka and sales, although never as high as whisky in this country, were slumping. It wasn't until the mid-60s and the advent, and help, of James Bond, who order vodka martinis "shaken, not stirred" in the Bond movies that started in 1963 that sales started to revive.

Mad Men Tie-ins

The success of the TV series Mad Men has prompted a lot of publishers to look at their catalogs for books that would appeal to regular viewers of the series or that perhaps were an inspiration for the series itself and reprint them to cash in on the show's success. Looking at the covers of the three books above, From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor by Jerry Della Femina (1969), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson (1955) and David Ogilvy's Confessions of an Advertising Man (1963), you can see they're visually keying to the promotional artwork of the series with the red, white and black color as well as the characteristic Mad Man silhouette and smoldering cigarette.

Despite the flagrant exploitation, it happens that these books did actually influence the creators of the series and would be of interest to its viewers. In fact there are certain themes and scenes in these books that obviously were the inspiration for Mad Men story lines. The whole idea of having done things in wartime that would come back to haunt a man's civilian life in later years comes from the The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.

The scene in the series where one of the partners, Roger Sterling, refuses to pitch for the Honda account because he doesn't want to forget the atrocities committed by the Japanese some twenties years earlier was obviously inspired from Jerry Della Femina's memoir From Those Wonderful Folks That Gave You Pearl Harbor. The title of the book comes from a line blurted out by a creative director in a scene where an agency is trying to pitch a new advertising campaign to Panasonic.

You can find a lot more examples of Mad Men themed books with similar artwork on Amazon by just typing Mad Men into their search engine. You'll be amazed. Here are some more: