Thursday’s ad is for Bass Ale, from 1939. Bass Ale was one of the beers that helped push me away from the regional lagers I grew up drinking in Eastern Pennsylvania, and toward more flavorful beers. Jazz clubs in New York City in the late 1970s frequently carried Bass, and I really liked how different it tasted, compared to what I was used to. In this ad, another one from the “Great Stuff This Bass” series,” they’re also employing another regular character from this time period, “Bill Sticker,” who in this ad just hung a banner in front of a backdrop in the middle of the performance of a play in a fancy theatre. The orchestra is still playing so it’s still going on, but a few in the audience are even clapping for Bill.

And this is the same ad reproduced many years later.