cabinet~milk shake

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Here's a claim from 1998 which would seem to refer to ca. 1940, I think:
it's retrospective, though.

http://www.mpgnews.com/reporters/features/spot980430.html

<<Richard Clark, 70, of Plympton also said his favorite ice cream is
coffee. ... Clark said as a kid in Rhode Island, he used to have coffee
"cabinets" all the time. He said a coffe [sic] cabinet is a milk shake with
ice cream.>>

"Coffee cabinet" = "coffee milk-shake" seems to be very frequently
mentioned ... which makes me wonder: could "cabinet" originally have been
generalized from "coffee cabinet"? (Or is it simply that Rhode Islanders
who use the word "cabinet" also coincidentally like coffee-flavored shakes?)

-- Doug Wilson