Bloody Mary (continued)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

"A '21' bartender created the Bloody Mary cocktail."
--back flap of the book "21" EVERY DAY WAS NEW YEAR'S EVE (1999) by H. Peter
Kreindler with H. Paul Jeffers.

     The Tamony papers are in.  The above statement is false.
     It's difficult to believe why the "21" Club owner would make this false
assertion.  He should have known the truth.  The reputation of his
establishment is hardly dependent on whether or not it invented the Bloody
Mary.  Why make a false claim?
     SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 8 January 1975, pg. 44, col. 1:

_Inventor of_
_The Bloody_
_Mary Dies_
     Fernand Petiot, the former Paris bartender credited with inventing the
tomato juice and vodka cocktail known as the Bloody Mary, has died at the age
of 74.
     Petiot was said to have been experimenting with vodka after having been
introduced to it in Paris in 1920.
     He settled on a mix of half vodka and half tomato juice and introduced
the drink where he worked, Harry's New York Bar, which was frequented by
American newspaper corrrespondents and bankers.  An American entertainer, Roy
Barton, provided the name, saying it reminded him of a Chicago Club, the
Bucket of Blood.
     In 1934, the drink which didn't do well in Paris, caught on in New York.
 Petiot, then bartending for Hotel St. Regis, revived it as the Red Snapper
because the hotel felt the original name was too vulgar.
     Other bars, however, preferred the original title, and its use continued
as the drink's popularity spread.  The revived drink's mix was changed to
include Worcester sauce and black and cayenne pepper.
     Petiot died Monday at a local hospital.