"Just in case they don't win, I brought my own Oscar," said Cindy Miller, pulling a gold statuette out of her purse. (Don't ask). She sipped a "Silver-tini" - a special vodka martini with silver candy around the rim - and held it up to the light.
"Hey, the Oscars only happen once a year," she said. "Look at the prisms. It's sweet and smooth."
Cawley's, a neighborhood institution, is around the corner from South Madison Avenue, the location of the home where the characters played by Cooper, Robert De Niro and Jackie Weaver lived in the film.
The bar's Eagles-themed Oscars party drew Silver Linings extras and Madison Avenue residents, some of whom have become local celebrities of sorts. The film was nominated for eight Oscars.
"It's a story we can tell for the rest of our lives," said Jamie McCloskey, whose former home was used for the bathroom scene where Bradley finds his wife Nikki (Brea Bee) with another man. "It has been an incredible experience for the neighborhood. David O. Russell and the crew, it was like they were our friends."
The wildly successful rom-com has made blue-collar Upper Darby the Astoria, Oregon of "The Goonies," the Wilmington, N.C., of "Blue Velvet," the Preston, Idaho, of "Napoleon Dynamite," the Dyersville, Iowa, of "Field of Dreams."
You get the idea.
Business has been booming at nearby Llanerch Diner, where Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence shared a bowl of raisin bran. In a weird meta moment Sunday night, the Cawley's crowd found itself watching a TV-news segment from the diner, which hosted its own Oscar party with champagne toasts.
"I got to talk to Bradley Cooper while I was sitting out on the porch eating lunch. It was fun," said Joe Clay, whose home was the house that De Niro chases Matthew Russell into.
At the bar, they scarfed down cheesesteaks, meatball sandwiches, roast pork and homemade ziti - but, sadly, not the famous "homemades," the pasta made by Madison Avenue resident and "Silver Linings" extra Anne Cappelletti, 86, who hosted a big Italian dinner for Russell and the film crew. She's Heisman Trophy winner John Cappelletti's mom.
When Cooper appeared on screen, the bar cheered. When Lawrence won best actress shortly before midnight, it felt like the Eagles scored a touchdown.
They gave out "Silver Linings" mini-footballs and raffled off commemorative DVDs and the Cooper cutout.
"It's for freakin' Cooper," Dave Miller grumbled as he thumbed through his raffle tickets and drank a Blue Moon. "I thought it was a 50-50. Show me the money!"
Delaware County residents Lisa Edmunds and her mother, Helga Hurban, sidled up to the bar and recounted their parts as extras in "Silver Linings," including the tailgate scene outside Lincoln Financial Field.
"In the bar when they were cheering at the TV, I was one of the patrons. It was huge. You didn't see me?" Edmunds laughed.
"Silver Linings" didn't win best picture, but Christine Higgins Gavigan, a bartender and cook at Cawley's, didn't mind. Her childhood home, where her mother still lives, was selected as the Solatanos' home in the film.
"It's our silver lining," she said.
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