I was doing some research on an old premiere nightclub/supper club/concert venue known as The Meadowbrook in New Jersey where I grew up. It seems to have hosted Sinatra, Dorsey Brothers, Duke Ellington and later Billy Idol, Ramones, INXS, Duran Duran, etc. Having historical significance, I found an old cocktail menu from the 1940s with the likes of the Grasshopper, Pink Lady, Rob Roy, but the one that caught my eye was the Frank Dailey, named after the owner. The menu gives no clue as to what is in it, but it was .60 cents when most of the other cocktails like a Manhattan, Martini or Clover Club were only .45 or .50 cents. So I am guessing it had something like cognac or brandy in it. I wonder if the Cocktail Kingdom Library might have something on it, but I am guessing it was a proprietary recipe and/or one exclusive to that club. Any idea where I might be able to find more clues?
There is a cocktail menu from the restaurant’s 1939 menu that also lists the Frank Dailey. But no ingredients. The drink may have made its way into a local newspaper or cocktail guide from the Cedar Grove, NJ area. Good luck!
Frank Dailey was clearly a touring bandleader in the 1930s. I’m finding many billing references in Northern and Northeastern US newspapers of the period—places like Minneapolis, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts. Here’s one from 1938:
The name of the band changed quite a bit, but always preceded by his name. There’s even a reference to a “Frank Dailey’s cocktail orchestra” (Montclair Times, Apr 12, 1940) which was probably a subset of musicians who performed during dinner service.
Here’s a Meadowbrook ad from the Montclair Times in 1938:
Haven’t found a recipe or description of the cocktail, but odds are pretty good it was yet another Martini, merely a renamed pre-existing drink, or a clunky and rudimentary variation on a pre-existing drink.
Wow fantastic, you dug a lot deeper than I did. Since he was a bandleader himself, I guess thats how he was able to get such top acts like the Dorsey Brothers, Sinatra & Duke Ellington into his club. It was like the Palladium or later CBGB of North Jersey in those days.