– but not, for a change, of the liquid variety. With the help of movie makeup artist Cass McClure (that’s him on the right), the Bum was transformed into a zombie as part of a photo shoot for his new book, Sippin’ Safari. A chapter entitled “A Zombie Zamboree: The Curse Of The Undead Drink” tells the story behind history’s most infamous tropical drink.
Many myths have sprung up about the Zombie since Don The Beachcomber invented it in 1934. For example, that it called for seven different rums (false: the original recipe lists only three); that Don would only serve two to a customer (true: film director Don Siegel quit drinking for life after sneaking a third Zombie one night at the Beachcomber’s); and that Don couldn’t have invented the drink in 1934, since a 1934 bar guide by Patrick Gavin Duffy had already printed a recipe (false: the recipe was inserted into later editions of the book, and bore little relation to Don’s original — which Sippin’ Safari reveals for the first time ever in print).
This photo is part of photographer Jonpaul Balak’s “making of” pictorial in the new issue of Tiki Magazine, which details how Cass and his assistant Elizabeth Villa Marin (left) spent five hours applying sculpted pieces of latex to the Bum. After the photo shoot, It took another two hours to get the makeup off again. Apparently they were unaware of a much quicker way to get the Bum to turn green: suggest that he get a job.