The Golden Age of Wit and Booze: Bon Vivants

Where have all the bon vivants gone? Where are the classy, witty, smarmy wiseasses with bright eyes, sharp minds and streaming cigarettes? Who decided that they should be replaced with sad, bony alcoholics with DUI's and streaming cigarettes? Because, well, whoever made that decision - I don't like you. Bad move.

Ah, bon vivants. The good-lifers. Definitively, those known as bon vivants enjoy the 'good things' - mostly good food or drink. But, I, myself, me, personally, chose those known for their humor, intelligence, general badassery, as well as their love of good drink. Here are those particular ridiculous people, in no particular order of ridiculousity.

Truman Capote:

"A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That's why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet."

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“Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it.”

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“It's a scientific fact that if you stay in California you lose one point of your IQ every year”

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“The good thing about masturbation is that you don't have to dress up for it”

Alice Roosevelt Longworth:

Teddy Roosevelt's oldest daughter and self-proclaimed hedonist

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Wedding of the Year 1906

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Thug life.

Dorothy Parker:

"I don't care what is written about me as long as it isn't true."

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"Brevity is the soul of lingerie."

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"I'm not going to be famous. My name will never be writ large on the roster of Those Who Do Things. I don't do anything. Not one single thing. I used to bite my nails but I don't even do that anymore."

Tallulah Bankhead:

The Woman I Wrote This Post For. Seriously, I love her. Anita Loos once said of her "She was so pretty that we thought she must be stupid." She was not.

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“Here's a rule I recommend: Never practice two vices at once”

“I read Shakespeare and the Bible, and I can shoot dice. That's what I call a liberal education.”

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"Codeine....bourbon..." - Tallulah's last words

“I thought I told you to wait in the car.”

-on seeing a former lover for the first time in years

Roger Moore. Ok, maybe not a bon vivant on the same level as these other guys and gals, but I just feel like this picture truly captures the essence. Besides, he's (a) Bond.