Wednesday’s ad is entitled Gathered Around the Piano, and the illustration was done in 1949 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #25 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a trio of couples is having a sing-a-long around a piano, the karaoke of its day. They’re all drinking beer, which makes sense. I know I need a few before I’m willing to sing in front of other people.
I really like these ads. It’s a sign of how much the country has changed that nothing similar would possibly work today. Even in the 70s you might be able to do it, based on sports or watching tv say when everyone did that together. True, the images depicted in the 40s illustrations were idealizations, but people did react positively to them I’m sure, gave them hope. The country is quite different now, better in some ways though.
Gary
This “child of the 60’s” still is amazed at how OVERDRESSED folks in “casual occasion” ads were until the 70’s. The sad fact of life is that “image” still is worth far more than performance. Bleep “dress for success” & all similar psychobabble! I have no use for Financial DIstrict phonies in their 3-piece suits who’ve been ripping us working stiffs off for far too long! Long live the trades folks who get their hands dirty every day, & may the pampered menial white collars someday get a clue!!
Everyone dressed more formally then regardless of the work they did. Look at photos of the spectators of hockey games into the period you mentioned, men wore suits and ties and hats. And going to a hockey game wasn’t an upper class activity. Today, people dress way more informally but a good ticket costs an arm and a leg…
“Sunday best” was used in fact for many more occasions than today. It’s just social conventions, they change. The best example is the software moguls wearing t shirts and hoodies.
Gary
I’m just pleased to see that no one has yet started using the piano as a drink storage spot. Although that coffee table will probably show signs of distress after a few more glasses of beer get placed upon it. Funny how the people are so dressed up but appear to lack the common sense involved in using coasters.