Thursday’s ad is for Blatz Beer, from 1950. The ad is sort of 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 doesn’t so much feature a person as a radio show, Duffy’s Tavern, a radio sitcom about the misadventures of bartender/bar manager Archie. Archie was played by Ed Gardner, who also wrote and produced the popular show during its ten-year run. Despite the ads showing Gardner in his role as “Archie,” I guess he wasn’t famous enough (maybe since it was radio no one knew what he looked like?). That’s also why it doesn’t use the “I’m from …” of “I’ve been to …” Milwaukee-focused opening line, and instead the show’s fictional bar serves Blatz as their exclusive beer. Also, I’m pleased to announce that this is the last Blatz ad in this series that I’ve found so tomorrow we’ll be returning to random beer ads.
Good finale to that blast from the past – none of your readers, save for some really OLD fart like Fred Eckhardt ever would have heard that show on the radio. 50’s TV couldn’t do the transition from radio, as they did with “Amos ‘n Andy”, “Lone Ranger”, & a few other radio staples (mostly soaps) from the 30’s & 40’s because of the supposed “morality of the day”.
“Cheers” broke the barrier on a bar-based TV show (which hasn’t been replicated since, because, unless it’s done it featuring upscale cocktails & craft beer, “trendy” food, & the associated chatter instead of working stiffs yakking over a beer, it won’t strike much of a chord. I’d bet big time that the “Cheeers” creators were insipred by “Duffy’s Tavern”.
I’d love to see a 20-40-something scriptwriter latch on to my idea & create a show to make fun of all the current pretensions . Farcical scenarios are infinite, & there are many capable actors around who can pull that stuff off, & it’d be a perfect show for a lot of celeb cameos (think Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman, Betty White, Joan Rivers, Jimmy Kimmel, et alii, plus “serious” actors like Clint Eastwood who are willing to do a comedic “cameo” gig)..