I'm sure that I'm not the only one that has noticed that booze plays a major role in "Columbo". Everyone is constantly making themselves drinks. Also once in a while making other people drinks, but mostly it's for themselves.

Everyone has a fully-stocked bar, ice buckets are everywhere.

In another discussion here, our Irene DeMillo mentions Dr. Flemming's cool bar in his office. (I think we see him using that bar in two different scenes. Also we see him drinking at his home in at least three scenes.)

But back to the office, I just love the drinking part. Next time you watch it, look at him drinking after giving Columbo his drink. He REALLY enjoys that booze. Also something interesting is that a little later when they're sitting down, Flemming makes a gesture with his drinking hand and quite a bit gets spilled.

Something I always kind of wondered about is how he guesses Columbo is "a bourbon man". Does that mean something or is it just small talk? Something similar, in "Murder by the book", when Columbo asks Franklin for "a drop of Bourbon", Franklin mutters, "Bourbon" in a way that suggests something but I don't know what.

I could go on forever, but I'll end with a question: was that an accurate depiction of how routinely people drank at that time, or was it just something that looks good on TV (which I think it did)?

I've always liked the way Franklin says that word, but I don't know what it's meant to be telling you either. Is he surprised at that choice or just interested?

I'm sure everyone has noticed that Columbo himself is a little inconsistent about whether he drinks or not. In PRESCRIPTION: MURDER and MURDER BY THE BOOK he's glad to be offered bourbon, but in RANSOM FOR A DEAD MAN, you at least get the FEELING that he doesn't drink, in that final scene ("You make me feel so decadent!") and in LADY IN WAITING he not only tells Peter he isn't drinking at that moment, but it SOUNDS like he says "I don't drink." In FRIEND IN DEED and ANY OLD PORT you find out he drinks beer (though some people don't entirely think of that as "really" drinking).

While not directly related to the topic, if I'm recalling correctly, Paul Galesko and Hassan Salah would be the only murderers in the first forty five episodes whom we could know with certainty did not drink; whereas it's implied with Salah, Paul says very forthrightly that he is not a drinker.

yes interesting observation. I'll add that at least one victim didn't drink, that would be Mr. Vincent Pauley.

And probably "health nut" Clifford Paris. He lectures his friend Hathaway (in a friendly way) about his martini drinking, so either he doesn't do it at all or he's cut down a lot.

yeah he is all over the place on whether he drinks or not. A couple of times, he refuses at first but then decides he's off duty and accepts the drink.

(One of the funnier little moments of that kind is in BLUEPRINT, when Elliott Markham offers him a drink, but all he can think of is cigars, because he's scared to smoke one after his scene with the John Fiedler character.

(One of the funnier little moments of that kind is in BLUEPRINT, when Elliott Markham offers him a drink, but all he can think of is cigars, because he's scared to smoke one after his scene with the John Fiedler character.

i'll throw in an impossible quiz question: what drinks were Mark and Kay drinking at the beach house? Answer coming tomorrow!

I'm looking for my disc to confirm and I can't find it, but I'm quite certain it looked like a Bloody Caesar, but suspect it was actually a Bloody Mary.

Incidentally, I always love the clinking of the ice cubes in the glasses, it always adds just that extra element to the scene.

Thanks for a fun topic Clay!

One recurring theme the series seemed to have in relation to alcohol was "the woman under the influence", so to speak.
Victoria Hayward, Ruth Stafford and Joanna Clay all had the same problem of drowning away their sorrows in alcohol.
One scene I've always thought was well done in "Last Salute To The Commodore" is when Joanna is staggering around the club in an almost drunken hysteria, while Sgt. Kramer and Mac attempt to question her. I love the unique movement of the camera in that sequence, and Joanna's final, miserable response to Columbo's question, "Where have you been?"
For being one of the funniest episodes, that scene stands out as quite poignant, as well as the scene after the commodore's death is confirmed, where Charles Clay is addressing his wife's drunkenness.

yes female alcoholism definitely a theme. I like how Ruth Stafford tries to get her guests to drink with her.

There's a funny scene in "Ashes to ashes". The actress was Sally Kellerman, but I don't remember how her character fit into the story. Anyway, there's a scene where they are talking and she's not paying attention to the conversation because she's busy staring at the bar.

Close enough! According to the script, they were drinking bullshots, which Google tells me is a gross-sounding variant of the Bloody Mary with BEEF BULLION instead of tomato juice. umm, eww...

thanks for playing!

by the way, the sound really stands out in that scene, with the surf and the gulls, it makes it one of the best scenes in the series.

Yes, I agree on the sounds in that scene, particularly as you mentioned the surf and the gulls. I always enjoy that scene as well.

I meant to remark about this before, but, yes, that is interesting about Vincent Pauley and Clifford Paris, two victims who didn't drink, but both for quite different reasons (of course, as you mentioned, Grant, Clifford may not have avoided alcohol completely).
One thing about Vincent Pauley I had always found sort of interesting is that whenever Joe offers him a drink, he simply responds with, "No, thank you" or, "I'll pass", never really explaining the matter of his diabetic condition. I've wondered if his discreet responses were merely a matter of pride, or perhaps a safety precaution, not wanting Joe to be aware of any possible weaknesses that could be exploited (especially given the fact that their "relationship" was one ripe for double-crosses, as Pauley well knew from the beginning).

You have to bear in mind that this show was produced during the "Sinatra" era, where smoking and martini's were the social rule. For me, it was Columbo's on-again off-again propensity for drinking that amused me.

I know that the NEGATIVE REACTION actor (whose name is a little tricky on some websites) had a very public drinking problem and recovery. (Even though I haven\'t seen in in quite some time, he did a TV movie about the subject, even though he didn\'t literally play himself.) So when he tells Columbo \"I\'d offer you something, but I\'m not a drinker,\" it\'s kind of significant.

Probably one of the best lines about the killer\'s drinking habits versus Columbo\'s drinking habits is at the end of RANSOM FOR A DEAD MAN, but I won\'t spoil it for anyone who\'s never seen it, or hasn\'t seen it in a long while.

I noticed that when watching the episode today. I'd seen him on the D Cavett show recently talking about it, the era when he had a beard, so realised today, seems to be a reference to real life.

On general drinking, growing up watching tv and nearly everyone had a bar in their living room, seemed like my family home was lacking such a thing!