Planning a "Mad Men" Cocktail Party Circa 1963
Martinis, Canapes, and Dionne Warwick Set the Mood
Oct 8, 2009
In Ian Fleming’s original novel, James Bond orders a dry Martini served in a champagne glass with three measures vodka and half a measure of dry vermouth shaken very well until ice-cold, with a garnish of lemon peel. By today’s standards, this is not even close to a “dry” martini.
Today’s dry martini is sometimes made with the bartender whispering “vermouth” at the top of a martini glass, or with a closed bottle of vermouth being waved over the chilling martini before serving it. However, a generous dash of vermouth is an important part of the Mad Men era martini, as is the vodka or gin brand: no Absolut or Grey Goose (they weren’t on the market in the 1960s).
Hors D'oeuvres Featuring Canapes, Deviled Eggs, and Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
One easy way to plan the cocktail finger food at a Mad Men party: prepare several square or rectangular trays with two kinds of hors d'oeuvres presented in checkerboard fashion on each tray. Choose from the following Mad Men-era favorites:
- Cherry tomatoes stuffed with crab meat salad (crab meat from a can and mayonnaise), or ham salad (ham from a can and mayonnaise), or tuna salad
- Yellow American cheese cubes garnished with a pimento-stuffed olive, and skewered with a colored toothpick
- Cheez Whiz on Ritz crackers in the shapes of roses
- Deviled eggs sprinkled with paprika
- Dollops of deviled ham (from a can) on melba thins
- Pineapple cubes and ham cubes (from a can) skewered with a colored toothpic
- dill pickle wedges wrapped in ham (cold cut) slices skewered with a colored toothpick
- any variation you can think of for American cheese, canned meats, mayonnaise, pickles, cherry tomatoes, and colored toothpicks.
Dig Into a Vinyl Record Collection for Some of the Jazzy Hits from the Early 1960s
A mixture of music from Nancy Wilson’s album “Hello Young Lovers”, and music by Dionne Warwick, Julie London, Mel Torme, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin and Vic Damone is a nice background beat for this cocktail party. Sprinkle in some novelties such as Ann Margret’s “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Thirteen Men”, and the signature song of 1963: “Danke Schoen” by Wayne Newton.
Among the top hits of 1963 were “The Pink Panther Theme” by Henry Mancini, “You Don’t Own Me” by Leslie Gore, “Tous les garçons et les filles” by Francoise Hardy, “Martian Hop” by the Ran-Dells, “Sugar Shack” by Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs, “Mijn Vlakke Land” by Jacques Brel, and the haunting “In Dreams” by Roy Orbison, all appropriate fare for this theme.
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