Hail Mary Goodnight!
Let’s raise a glass (containing a new cocktail created in her honour) to Mary Goodnight, one of the most misunderstood Bond girls and a truly relatable gay icon.
When gay men struggle to identity with the Alpha Male hero, we tend to latch on to the main female character. Mary Goodnight is one such character.
In Fleming’s later Bond novels, Mary Goodnight is the 00-section’s secretary. The character first appears in On her Majesty’s Secret Service but gets to go out into the field with Bond in The Man With The Golden Gun.
The actress who played Mary Goodnight on screen, Britt Ekland, displayed a typically Goodnightean (it’s a word now, alright?) fortitude, appearing at the office door of Cubby Broccoli with her mind made up. She told him in no uncertain terms: “I want to play Mary Goodnight”.
Ekland had done her homework. She was dressed as she thought a secretary would be dressed: demurely. Her blouse, sweater, long skirt and hair in a bun did not go over well. Cubby told he that the film would only use the character’s name and the screen Mary Goodnight would bear little resemblance to that of the novel. Even so, Ekland was adamant she wanted to be Goodnight and she got her wish.
The Goodnight brought to screen life by Britt Ekland often appears towards the lower end of fans’ rankings, something which has always befuddled me. Yes, she gets stripped of some of her agency (and most of her clothing) in the finale, but that doesn’t make her less admirable. Yes, she falls back into Bond’s arms without much resistance (“Darling, I’m tempted…”) but we’ve all given into temptation despite our better judgement.
I would venture that Goodnight is one of the most relatable Bond girls, for gay men at least. She even gets shoved in a closet at one point.
To celebrate Mary Goodnight, I decided to make a new cocktail in her honour. I started with a classic cocktail recipe, the Mary Pickford, named for the actress and co-founder of United Artists, the company which would go on to produce the Bond films. A Mary Pickford is made up of light rum, pineapple juice, grenadine and Marashcino (cherry) liquer. I swapped the rum for Mekhong, a Thai spirit, reflecting the Thailand settting of the film. The result is a fun drink which still deserves to be taken seriously, like Goodnight herself.
Take:
40ml Mekhong
40ml pineapple juice
5ml grenadine
5ml Maraschino
Shake with large ice.
Strain into a cocktail glass.
Serve in a car boot.
Optional: Solex agitator.
This cocktail is one of the 7 included in the Roger Mooreathon for UNICEF taking place on 3rd June 2022. Details here: https://www.licencetoqueer.com/blog/rogering-for-unicef
Read more of my thoughts about Mary Goodnight in the queer re-view of The Man With The Golden Gun: https://www.licencetoqueer.com/blog/queer-re-view-the-man-with-the-golden-gun
Information about Ekland’s casting from Bond Girls: The Women Of James Bond by Maryam D’Abo and John Cork.
