Author: Mike Senczyszak

My favourite show growing up was Gilligan’s Island. As a kid, Bob Denver and crew lavished me with unbridled slapstick hilarity, amidst a setting (and predicament) that fascinated me—a deserted island. What I didn’t realize then, was that creator Sherwood Schwartz’s vision planted a seed that would germinate into a genre-fetish for me, one that continues to this day.

Storylines that revolve around humanity’s survival after a devastating or cataclysmic event, fascinate me.

For the crew and passengers of the S.S. Minnow, their devasting event began with a 3-hour tour gone awry; a shipwreck on an uncharted tropical isle. Their plight promised mystery, adventure and intrigue, in between gaffes, pratfalls and absurdity.

How would they survive?

What secrets was the island hiding?

I loved the premise and, as an impressionable young kid, imagined myself as the 8^th castaway. I even (audio) tape-recorded episodes to play back later…

It’s a well-documented fact that many revered authors were drinkers.  Not teetotalers, but hardcore, slam-them-back, liver abusers.  And aside from the moderation argument, is there anything outwardly wrong with that?  The love of libation is not reserved for the creative elite, far from it, but the fascination with prominent figures, especially their quirks and idiosyncrasies, accentuates their vices, and often defines them.

The list of authors who drank reads like a who’s who of the literary world.  As far back as Absinthe or ‘green fairy’ drinkers like Oscar Wilde, to more recent day spirituous writers like Kerouac, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Chandler, and Hemingway to name a few, all indulged.  In common they were masters of their craft, lovers of the drink.  But did they also share a mutual belief in the inspirational power of the cocktail?

Let’s first consider a few select quotes from the masters themselves, perhaps revealing a glimmer…