Jamaica Ginger - Cultural References

Cultural References

• Jamaica ginger ("Ginger Jake") is a plot element in two episodes of The Untouchables, an American TV series.
• "Ginger Jake" also makes an appearance in the movie Quid Pro Quo, where "wannabes" (people who would like to be disabled) are helped by Ginger Jake to become disabled.
• Sara Gruen's 2006 novel Water for Elephants also refers to Jake and the paralysis afflicted one character.
• The Three Terrors—Stephin Merritt, LD Beghtol, and Dudley Klute—performed Jake Walk Papa at their 2003 extravaganza Intoxication at The Bowery Ballroom, New York.
• In the novel The Black Dahlia, the protagonist reveals early on that his mother went blind and fell to her death after drinking jake, leading to his resentment of his father for purchasing it.
• The character Eddie, played by Walter Brennan in Howard Hawks's To Have and Have Not, is a "rummy"--an alcoholic—whom Brennan endows with a peculiar gait that may be meant to suggest jake leg.
• Savannah, Georgia-based Baroness (band) recorded a song called "Jake Leg" for its album Blue Record.
• In the novel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet the main character purchases Jamaica Ginger in order to gain access to a jazz club when he was a minor.