Thursday’s ad is for Bass Ale, from 1937. 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 managed to somehow put banners on the bottom of a group of biplanes as they were taking off. Or maybe while they were already in the air — he is carrying a ladder and an umbrella after all — though I’m not sure how that would have worked all the same.
