Fans of TCM’s Noir Alley already know that host Eddie Muller serves up most of his introductions from a set that includes a functioning bar (at his insistence), but what many may not know is that Muller began his working life as a bartender. He’s combined his two great loves into this sleek new book “Eddie Muller’s Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir” that’s packed with equal parts great cocktail recipes and noir lore, imparting his “bar room, not classroom” approach to discussing films. While some cocktails are drawn directly from the featured films, others take inspiration from them, and all delve into the wonderful world that is Film Noir with plenty of anecdotes throughout.
Walking into a sketchy bar, late at night, I spot the figure that I was tasked with meeting. He looks rather mysterious, clad in a trench coat, and hat slyly obscuring part of his face. It suddenly strikes me that this all feels like something straight out of a dog-eared Raymond Chandler novel. I sit down, and the man looks slowly up from his drink and, in a husky voice, says, “I have the info you’re looking for.”
For decades, Eddie Muller has been the authority on film noir, hosting the Noir Alley on Turner Classic Movies and writing books on the subject. This is the second time getting to talk to Muller, who, on a personal note, is amongst the nicest people I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing. His latest book is currently available in book stores and online.
Reflecting on the project, Muller notes, “I do want to stress that they have my name above the title (laughs). The book has been a long time coming, even though it seemed inevitable. Yet, it wasn’t a long time coming, because it all seemed to fall into place.” He went into it further by stating, “Running Press did the revised edition of my book ‘Dark City: The Lost World of Noir,’ and that did very well, so they were looking for something to follow up that with. It also felt like cocktail books really took off during the pandemic, because people were trapped at home. And, you know, everyday is cocktail hour, which was something to look forward. Because I was forced to shoot all my TCM stuff at home, I had all this stuff at home, and I got tired of taking it down. So, I started shooting cocktail videos during the pandemic. Then it occurred to me, why am I giving all of this away for free? This would make a great book!”
The Czar of Noir also talked about the process saying, “I want to say it took eight months. Some of it was perfectly obvious to me. Some of the recipes were perfectly easy, and others it took a long time trying to match the perfect cocktail with a particular movie. There are 50 cocktails, and that was my limit. I probably had about a dozen or more cocktails that didn’t make the cut.”
On the topic of the gorgeous layout and photo reproductions, Muller replies, “I greatly appreciate that. I’m going to give all the credit to the team at Running Press. Frances Soo Ping Chow, the production director, did a great job. She brought her friend, Paul Kepple, who did the design. It’s just spectacular, and the book turned out better than I could ever have hoped. Paul is quite the talent, having worked on books with J.J. Abrams and David Lynch. I feel so lucky to have him on this project. Steve Legato’s photographs of the cocktails are great. I didn’t make those cocktails seen in the pictures; Kesley W. Miller was the prop stylist. I picked a lot of the backgrounds. That was a lot of fun.”
There are so many fun treats for film noir fans in the drinks featured, such as the Pearl Diver, which was name checked in The Blue Gardenia. “It was interesting deciding what to include. I was so familiar with these movies that drinks would pop in my head. When I would show these movies, I would often get asked if these were real drinks from the time period. And, of course, it is. For example, Rita Hayworth and Ray Milland in the The Big Clock drink something called a Stinger at the bar. Now there is a forgotten cocktail, and that’s an obvious one to bring back. It’s interesting because in a lot of film noirs, unless the character is at a nightclub or something, most people aren’t drinking cocktails. So, it was fun to find actual cocktails drank in these movies but also making up cocktails that might work for that movie. Like, the drink Poloma and pair it with Out of the Past, because the sexiest passengers are Mitchum and Jane Geer and the locale of Mexico. I knew I wanted that in the book. Then I tell the story of why I choose each drink to represent certain films.”
After our third drink, the mysterious Mr. Muller really got deep into his philosophy saying, “My credo has always been bar room not classroom. Therefore, I wanted the book to feel like a bar, getting these drinks and listening to the cool stuff the bartender is telling you. There are certain mixology books that really go deep into the history of booze, and I wanted something a little more user-friendly. Like, just tell me fun stories, very much like I do on my television show. A number of these people in the book I knew personally, so, there’s always a fun story, just like if you were at a bar.”
When asked if it was fun writing the book, Muller quips, “Well, it’s always fun to write off booze on your tax returns. But seriously, I wish I could recall the website name, but it’s a collection of cocktail books going back to the late 1800’s. It has a search engine, so it was an invaluable resource. For example, you type in Ann Sheridan, and wow, there was a cocktail made her in honor. It was a lot of fun. That’s how I discovered the Lee Tracy cocktail that was made in 1933 during the Prohibition. There was a film he made in 1947, which was restored by the Noir Foundation, called High Tide, and he drinks quite a bit in the movie. It was great because that’s an example of an obscure drink that I was able to include.”
I think I got just enough information from this “shady” character, but I had some more questions. Like, are all of the drinks correct for the period? He coughed up the answer: “There were a couple times when the cocktail wasn’t created during the noir heyday. For example, the Poloma itself was not created until the ‘50s. I also included one drink, a Tequila Sunrise, for the film A Kiss Before Dying, because Robert Wagner and I did a fair bit of drinking at one point, and he is of course the star of that picture. I felt like I needed that cocktail to represent him in his big starring role as the villain.”
My time was nearly up, but I had one last question. “What’s next for Eddie Muller?” After taking one final slug of his drink, he reveals, “It’s a big change of pace, but my next book for Running Press is a noir kids’ book. It should be due out this fall. I had the idea and asked Running Press, who is always looking out for pop culture books related to youngsters. Because, then when kids see the black-and-whites they will be used to seeing them in movies.
The big clock struck 2 a.m., closing time. My time was finally up, and I bid the Noir Czar a goodbye as he disappeared into the mist.
Eddie Muller’s Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir is currently available to purchase.
Big film nerd and TCM Obsessed. Author of The Ultimate Guide to Strange Cinema from Schiffer Publishing. Resume includes: AMC’s The Bite, Scream Magazine etc. Love all kinds of movies and television and have interviewed a wide range of actors, writers, producers and directors. I currently am a regular co-host on the podcast The Humanoids from the Deep Dive and have a second book in the works from Bear Manor.