Cocktail Party, 1955

Midcentury barware for getting sophisticatedly stewed

On the verge of a new era… that was Hammacher Schlemmer in 1955. We hadn’t completely phased out our hardware selection yet; that fall’s Gifts catalogue still featured a page of hand tools, tape measures, and flashlights that would have been recognizable to a Hammacher patron of previous decades. But the writing was on the wall, and it said “we’re in the fun business.”

In the era of the three-martini lunch, nothing was more fun than drinking. That catalogue represents a high-seltzer-water mark for our range of cocktail accoutrements. No wonder “drinking gadgets for the men” was at the top of Queen Mother Elizabeth‘s shopping list when she visited us the year before. Our selection of barware was literally fit for a king.

Occupying a prominent position on the inside back cover, we find the Rol-a-Bar, “ideal gift for those who have ‘everything’”. Two and a half feet tall, resplendent in “attractive plastic bamboo covering”, you can roll out this barrel and turn any room into a barroom. Note the clever way a second layer of shelves is revealed when opened, to enlarge the bartop. I’m intoxicated already.

A less glamorous but more practical option is the Servel Wonderbar, “for home or office”. It’s what you and I might call a mini-fridge, but the door opens downward to provide a surface for pouring. It’s also available with casters, and its “silent operation” means that once you close your office door for some focus time, it’s nobody else’s business whence inspiration strikes.

Moderation is the soul of… well, something or other. So the savvy booze-hound will deploy these clever portion-enforcing gizmos. The Say-When Dispensers (above left) release only a set amount of the indicated liquor to prevent those “accidental” big pours that can push tipsy into blotto. This is probably the “whisky decanter with an automatic pourer” that the Queen Mother picked up. Meanwhile, Mist-er Martini (above right) makes sure you’re not adulterating your martini with excess vermouth by atomizing it into a fine mist. They also serve who only stand and spray.

Of course, the seasoned cocktailist stands ever ready for festivities to break out anywhere. A couple of on-the-go kits ensure that house calls won’t go unanswered. This Travel Bar (above left) includes six tumblers, compartments for three bottles, and all the essential implements, along with the all-important lock. A lighter-weight option, simply titled Bar Set, contains only the tools in a leatherette case. Preparedness is next to drunkenness.

All that is just a sip of the extensive range of glassware, utensils, shakers, decanters, and other ethylated paraphernalia in our 1955 Gifts catalog. Whether they wound up in Buckingham Palace or Bucks County, we’re sure our barware collection enabled many a jolly time during the Eisenhower years.

And when it came time to sober up, our Coffee Cooler ensured you wouldn’t doze off before the coffee was ready to drink. All it is is an aluminum cylinder that “absorbs heat in seconds”. Does it work? By this point, I’m hardly in any state to judge. Here’s mud in your eye!

Nobody regrets more than I that we don’t sell these products anymore. But I’ll muddle through somehow with the likes of The Bar-Grade Slushie Maker and The Unbreakable German Glassware.