Eugene O'Neill was often so drunk that he could not remember which train he had boarded, or why. Over the years, he developed a novel method for dealing with the shakes:

"O'Neill would prop himself against the bar. The bartender, who knew him well, would place a shot glass in front of him, toss a towel across the bar, as thought absentmindedly forgetting it, and walk away.

"Hanging the towel around his neck, O'Neill would grasp both the glass of whiskey and one end of the towel in his right hand, while he clutched the other end of the towel with his left. Using the towel as a pulley, he would laboriously hoist the glass to his lips."