Friday’s ad is for Blatz Beer, from 1951. The ad is part of Blatz’s “I lived in Milwaukee, I ought to know” series from the later Forties and Fifties that featured prominent celebrities, sports figures and famous folks from Milwaukee claiming to know “Blatz is Milwaukee’s Finest Beer” because they lived there, or near there, at some point in their lives. This one features flamboyant performer Liberace, whose full name was Władziu Valentino Liberace. He was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee.
From seeing all these recent Blatz ad posts, I’ve come to realize that Milwaukee holds 2 badges of indistinction courtesy of Miller & Blatz:
1. Clear beer bottle capital of the USA; &
2. X-shaped top label (who copied whom?) capital.
Sad to say, the Liberace Museum in Vegas closed a few years ago – the “boomer bluehairs” of the type who would have liked Liberace are more into Barry Manilow, Wayne Newton, & Barbra Streisand (LOL)