Today! We send Happy 140th B-day wishes to Ohio Author Earl Derr Biggers!

I’m sneaking in a extra blog this month as we reach a significant milestone in the world of Charlie Chan; celebrated Author Earl Derr Biggers’ 140th Birthday (August 26th, 1884!) Here are a few fun ways from my past blog archives to help us celebrate Charlie Chan Poppa’s birthday…TODAY!

With Music: Cab Calloway’s 1940 hit, “Chop Chop Charlie Chan”:

With Spirits: “Earl’s Daiquiri”: What better way to honor Earl’s 140th than with a libation invented specifically to toast his name. You’ll find this concoction only on Waikiki Beach at the Halekulani Hotel’s “newish” Earl’s Beachside Bar inside their famed House Without A Key Restaurant (Biggers stayed at the hotel when it was first only a group of cottages.) Perhaps order a “Table 97” cocktail for your guest, named after the table Earnest Hemingway sat on his honeymoon. Can you imagine Earl & Ernest hobnobbing over cocktails (probably talking about that damned nuisance across the pond; Sherlock, what’s his name?) Earls Daiquiri – Plantation 3-Star White Rum, Lime, Yuzu Citrus, Salted Demerara Syrup.

With food: “Charlie Chan Pasta”: This must be seriously delicious, because my May 2021 post on this has become one of the most frequently visited. Last I checked though the only place to find it is in The Philippine Islands or Honolulu, HI. Still, if you want to try this there are over 100 recipes on Youtube (from the quick & easy to the complex) by those trying to duplicate this delicacy!

With Travel: To “Seven Keys Lodge”: Originally named Baldpate Inn, after Earl Derr Biggers’ first successful mystery novel Seven Keys to Baldpate, 1913, (pre-Charlie Chan) the now Seven Keys Lodge is over 100 years old and was saved from extinction by owners Mark and Meredith Powell. The lodge, located in Estes Park, Colorado, offers gorgeous mountain views, great food and music, hiking trails and quaint sites nearby to visit (i.e. The Stanley Hotel from The Shining.) But for visitors familiar with Biggers’ first success, Baldpate, a trip to check out the “Key Room” is a must! Here you will find the world’s largest key collection. Some 30,000-plus keys from around the world, including: The Pentagon, Westminster Abby, Mozart’s wine cellar, Frankenstein Castle and so many others. Here’s a key room video prior to the lodge’s name change:

So, just a few ways to celebrate today’s 140th birthday anniversary of one of America’s first mystery authors Earl Derr Biggers, and his creation Detective Charlie Chan of the Honolulu Police Force. There’s lots more to see and do on the website at the Biggers’ Birthday link.

Earl Derr Biggers, (August 26, 1884 – April 5, 1933, Year of the Wood Monkey)

“Course food to eat, water to drink, and the bended arm for a pillow…that is an old definition of happiness in my country”

– Behind That Curtain (1928, Chapter 2)