Any of you Checkered Flag fans looking for a cure for that terrible New Year's hangover?  Well, try taking a cure cue from some famous names from the past.

Article and photo source: [www.theatlantic.com]-edited for length

12 Hangover Cures From Famous Heavy Drinkers
By Alison Nastasi
What did Ernest Hemingway, Judy Garland, and W.C. Fields do to feel better after a night of overindulgence?


Zelda Fitzgerald

Literary flapper celeb Zelda Fitzgerald apparently liked to start her boozing around 11 am. Vodka and lemonade were her best friends, accompanying the novelist for a lazy day of reading and writing, and eventually to her ballet studio where she would diligently exercise. By evening, she was out on the town with a garter flask concealed beneath her dress and not a care in the world. Zelda's hangover cure was a morning swim, before mixing her drinks and repeating the entire routine all over again.



William Faulkner

The Sound and the Fury writer William Faulkner was known for going on a bender after completing a writing project. One alcoholic binge even caused the author to badly burn himself on a radiator. Despite his occasional struggles with the bottle, Faulkner threw himself into his work and even used it as a way to overcome a hangover.

During a 1957 reading, he explained, "I think that - that anyone, the painter, the musician, the writer works in a - a kind of an- an insane fury. He's demon-driven. He can get up feeling rotten, with a hangover, or with - with actual pain, and - and if he gets to work, the first thing he knows, he don't remember that pain, that hangover - he's too busy."


W.C. Fields

Legendary drinker W.C. Fields made his love of alcohol part of his comedic shtick. We know the funnyman was not fond of Bromo Seltzer for a hangover, as he once told a waiter that he couldn't stand the noise. Fields has also suggested that to cure a hangover, one should just have another drink - but stronger than last night's. The star's movie The Bank Dick provides another clue for a fix.

The actor reveals a queasy-sounding solution to hungover bank examiner J. Pinkerton Snoopington in the film: a breaded veal cutlet with tomato sauce; a chocolate éclair for dessert; liver and bacon; or 2 pickled eggs and some castor oil; or Hungarian Goulash and a coconut custard pie. It's also said Fields enjoyed a martini the morning after.


Ernest Hemingway

Three Hemingway hangover cures have made the rounds, two of which involve ? more liquor! The Sun Also Rises novelist is said to have relied on the stomach-turning combination of tomato juice and beer. We're more apt to believe the other recipes since one involves a big weakness of the author's - absinthe - and the manly libation, gin.

Death in the Afternoon - named after his 1932 bullfighting tale - involves an absinthe and champagne blend. Hemingway described how to mix the hangover helper, which requires a healthy dose to take effect. "Pour 1 jigger of absinthe into a champagne glass. Add iced champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly."

Cocktail aficionado, Seamus Harris, has explained Hemingway's Death in the Gulf Stream.

"Take a tall thin water tumbler and fill it with finely cracked ice. Lace this broken debris with 4 good purple dashes of Angostura, add the juice and crushed peel of 1 green lime, and fill glass almost full with Holland gin ? No sugar, no fancying. It's strong, it's bitter - but so is English ale strong and bitter, in many cases. We don't add sugar to ale, and we don't need sugar in a Death in the Gulf Stream - or at least not more than 1 tsp. Its tartness and its bitterness are its chief charm. It is reviving and refreshing; cools the blood and inspires renewed interest in food, companions and life."


Robert Mitchum

Tough guy and terrifying screen baddie Robert Mitchum could certainly hold his liquor. He made friends with hard-drinking crooner Frank Sinatra, who was indebted to the Night of the Hunter actor for a trusted alcohol antidote, dubbed by Mitchum as Mother's Milk. The Ramos Gin Fizz is a mix of gin, lemon juice, lime juice, egg white, sugar, cream, orange flower water, and soda water. It seemed to work for Sinatra, who took to calling Mitchum "mother" for years to come and supposedly even mailed him a card every Mother's Day in thanks. The Ramos Gin Fizz was also said to be a fave of Doors frontman Jim Morrison.


Judy Garland

Judy Garland saw her share of rainbows while hitting the bottle, but her hangover cure became another addiction for the Wizard of Oz actress. Old Hollywood was fond of feeding their stars speed as a way to keep them thin and perky for extended shoots, or to help revive them after a long night (or day) of drinking.



Dean Martin
"Stay drunk."

End of article.

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