Millionaire No. 2 cocktail history

The Swank Millionaire No. 2 cocktail recipe is essentially the same recipe as William T. Boothby’s Millionaire No. 3 cocktail, published in 1934:

Millionaire, No. 3

• Rum 1/4 jigger
• Apricot Brandy 1/4 jigger
• Sloe Gin 1/4 jigger
• Grenadine 1 dash

Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass and serve

Hon. William T. Boothby’s 1934 “Cocktail Bill” Boothby’s World Drinks and How to Mix Them, contained four Millionaire cocktail recipes on pages 115-116: Millionaire, Millionaire No. 2, Millionaire No. 3, and Millionaire Royal.

This version of the Millionaire cocktail is close to the Charlie Chaplin cocktail, which also contains Sloe Gin and apricot brandy. The Charlie Chaplin does not include Jamaican Rum, but does include lime juice and simple syrup. It has been widely reported that the Charlie Chaplain cocktail was invented in 1920 at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Interestingly, it was about the same time (1921) that Charlie Chaplin starred in The Idle Class, where Chaplin’s role was described as “a millionaire cocktail expert.”