The Mary Pickford cocktail was first mixed at Havana’s Hotel Nacional de Cuba for actress Mary Pickford.
The drink combines white rum, pineapple juice, maraschino liqueur and grenadine. Its pink color and tropical flavor reflect Havana’s influential hotel-bar culture during the 1920s. The cocktail is named for Mary Pickford, the celebrated American silent-film star, although accounts differ about which bartender created it and the exact circumstances of its first service.
A common mistake is to confuse it with the El Presidente, another Havana classic that uses rum and vermouth but is not pineapple-based. The Mary Pickford is also distinct from the Hemingway Special, which uses grapefruit and lime. Because grenadine recipes vary, some versions are much redder or sweeter than others, but white rum and pineapple remain the characteristic foundation.