Interview with Martha Frankel, author of Hats & Eyeglasses: A Memoir

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Martha Frankel is the author of Hats and Eyeglasses: A Memoir, the co-author of Brazilian Sexy, and the executive director of the Woodstock Writers Festival.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Martha Frankel: I was a hippie pothead, so I came to drinking late. I might have been 28 or older. It was this weird liquor called Rock & Rye. It was a favorite at our local bar, the Boiceville Inn.  The most disgustingly sweet drink I’ve ever had.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

I saw my mother have one whiskey sour sometime in the early 1960’s. My father liked a shot of whiskey now and then, but he thought that more than two made you a shika (the Yiddish word for a drunk). We’re Jews, so we gambled instead of drinking. Although I’ve done both. My generation is lucky, because we broke the mold by being cross-addicted! We showed them.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

Very gingerly.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank or more less?

When my first book, Hats & Eyeglasses: A Memoir, came out, I thought life as going to change in every way. The great reviews were wonderful, but wait… that’s all? If I was particularly drunk I would check my Amazon number compulsively. And then I would drink directly from the bottle.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

A summer night at the Boiceville Inn, dancing to Donna Summer, sweat dripping, being young and carefree, thinking nothing bad could ever touch me.

What about the worst time?

All the worst times are exactly the same— drink till I feel good, then have two more, say stupid things, puke, wake up wishing I was dead. Rinse. Repeat.

Has drinking ever affected— either negatively or positively—any of your relationships?

I give everyone a wide berth— life is hard enough without being a judgemental bitch.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

As I said, I’m a Jew. I can guarantee that the rate of Jewish alcoholism has risen exponentially in the last 40 years. We used to be such teetotalers.

What do you like most about drinking?

That false sense of wellbeing.

How has alcoholism affected your life?

I watch, I listen, I learn.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

[The movie] “Days of Wine and Roses,” because they drank chocolate daiquiris, and I was young enough to believe that they were almost good for you.