Miss Charming's
Book of Bar Amusements
Great Reviews
Nineteen years ago, a well-known investment banker nicknamed Daddy Jack turned
a brandy snifter upside down over a stem less cherry and challenged onlookers
to get the cherry out from under the snifter and into a glass—without
touching the cherry! (Read on, as the answer will be disclosed later.) This
was the first bar trick “Miss Charming” ever witnessed. It was
on that night in Little Rock, Arkansas, that Cheryl’s fascination with
bar amusements began. After nineteen years of compiling and creating, she
brings us MISS CHARMING’S BOOK OF BAR AMUSEMENTS (Three Rivers Press,
2000), a bible of tricks collected over the years as a bartender all over
the world, not to mention amusements she gathered from cronies in crazy bars,
clubs, and parties along the way. The amusements in this book are not just
for bartenders and servers. While these folks find them valuable for entertaining
customers, the games are really intended for livening up parties, occupying
children, and impressing friends. Miss Charming’s Book of Bar Amusements
contains over 80 amusing diversions to go with any just about any libation.
Readers get detailed instructions, complete with illustrations, for performing
amusements with everyday objects usually found around bars—glasses;
coins and bills; straws, toothpicks, and matches; beer, wine, and liquor
bottles; and paper and pens. Also, all the tricks in this book are rated
for difficulty level, so anyone can learn how to master a wide variety of
entertaining tricks. Whether you’re out to break the ice with strangers
or impress your partners in crime, Miss Charming’s Book of Bar Amusements
is guaranteed to liven up your next soiree! As promised, here is the answer
to “The Cherry Challenge” (p.68): How it’s done: Centrifugal
force, of course! Holding the base of the glass, rotate the snifter around
and around in circles until the cherry spins around the inner rim. Lift the
snifter off the table and all the way over to the glass; when you slow the
rotation, the cherry will drop into the glass. Hint: For dramatic effect:
make hurdles using bar items for the cherry to travel over; drop the cherry
into a Manhattan; substitute an olive for the cherry and drop it into a martini;
or drop a cocktail onion into a Gibson (if you have good
aim).
About the author: After establishing herself
as resident expert in tricks, riddles, and magic on the cruise ship circuit,
Cheryl Charming became the Bar Trick/Magic Instructor at Walt Disney World,
where she taught a mandatory course for all bartenders and servers. She lives
in Florida.
