By: Henrylito D. Tacio
Published in its print edition on September 21 – 27, 2024
Alcohol is the most frequently abused drug in the world. It is a substance that has been discussed frequently in scientific literature and has been the focus of a large amount of research. Movies about alcoholism and alcoholics abound.
We know that alcohol causes drunkenness or disinhibition. We can only imagine how much alcohol factors into unintended pregnancy, marital disruption, child abuse, incest, automobile accidents, career disruptions, cheating, educational underachievement, extramarital sexual affairs, stealing, dishonesty, and the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. The list could go on and on.
From the earliest books of the Bible, no party was complete without wine: “A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry” (Ecclesiastes 10:19). A good party consisted of harp, viol, and other music – plus wine – said Isaiah: “let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die.”
“They have no wine,” Mary pointed out to Jesus, when they attended a wedding at Cana, and Jesus promptly performed the first miracle – turning water into wine to make the festivities complete.
One of the few amusing passages in the Bible follows – the bridegroom is chastised because everyone knows you should put your good wine first and then when everyone is drunk serve the rotgut, yet here the bridegroom had served the good wine last (John 2:1-9).
Wine (often with bread) was a symbol of hospitality that was routinely offered guests and was imperative when one wanted to do honor (Genesis 14:18; Judges 19:19). When Abigail wanted to placate David, she included wine among her gifts (1 Samuel 15:18).
Unknowingly, histories were also made due to alcohol. The Book of Lists recalled some of those events.
As Abraham Lincoln’s running mate in the 1864 election, Andrew Johnson campaigned incessantly across the United States, until he became totally exhausted and contracted malaria. When he awoke on March 4, 1865, the day of his inauguration as vice-president, he could barely get out of bed.
To fortify himself, he drank “medicinal” whiskey and quickly became intoxicated because of his weakened condition. When Johnson began to ramble drunkenly through his inauguration address, officials interrupted him and administered his oath of office.
Because he slurred his words and repeated his lines incorrectly, this took a considerable amount of time, after which Johnson launched into yet another bout of inebriated oratory. Finally, a Supreme Court justice mercifully led him away.
Here’s another one. In May 1918, during World War I, General Erich Ludendorff’s German troops reached the Marne River at Chateau-Thierry only 37 miles from Paris during the Third Battle of the Aisne River.
On the verge of capturing Paris, but after living without any luxuries for years, the German soldiers invaded France’s champagne provinces, where well-stocked wine cellars abounded.
Drunkenness quickly spread through the ranks; even the German military police joined the revelries. In the village of Fimses on the morning of May 30, the bodies of soldiers who had passed out littered the streets, making it difficult for trucks to drive through the town on their way to the front lines.
The intoxication and subsequent hangovers afflicting the Germans slowed their advance and halted it completely in certain sectors. This enabled the French and Americans to establish new defensive lines, counterattack, and end Ludendorff’s offensive, which proved to be the Germans’ last chance for victory in World War I.
Perhaps, not too many know that A Clockwork Orange was a product of intoxication. Even though his work sometimes deals with projected future worlds, English author Anthony Burgess develops his novels from his personal experiences.
For example, the brutal rape scene in the aforementioned novel was derived from an assault on his wife during the Second World War, which resulted in the death of their expected child. History records showed that while writing A Clockwork Orange, Burgess became so emotionally involved that he frequently had to calm himself by means of alcohol. As he admitted, “I had to write A Clockwork Orange in a state of near drunkenness, in order to deal with the material that upset me so much.”
In Hollywood, one of the most noted alcoholics was W.C. Fields. As in almost all of his films, he was intoxicated throughout the production of My Little Chickadee. After drinking from two to four martinis with his breakfast each morning, Fields arrived at the Universal Studios with “a cocktail shaker full of martinis.”
Apparently at his comic best when drunk, he consumed two bottles of gin each day during the filming of the movie.
However, Fields’s inebriated behavior often infuriated his co-star, the legendary Mae West, especially once when, in an overly affectionate mood, he prodded and pinched her generous figure and called her “my little brood mare.”
Although he often required an afternoon nap to diminish the effects of his drinking, Fields was never incapacitated by alcohol during his performance in the movie.
But let me remind you. “Alcohol is used by a majority of adult population and creates more problems than all other drugs combined,” points out Robert Elliott.#
