Monday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1949. In the later 1940s, Pabst embarked on a series of ads with celebrity endorsements, photographing star actors, athletes, musicians and other famous people in their homes, enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. This one features Mr. and Mrs. F. Warren Pershing. He was the son of General John Joseph “Black Jack” Pershing, and the only one of his children who survived a fire at his home in the Presidio in 1915. “He graduated from Yale University in 1931. On April 22, 1938 he was married to Muriel Bache Richards at St. Thomas Church in New York City. During World War II he enlisted as a Private in the United States Army. He asked for no special privileges and to be treated like any new recruit.” Despite this, he eventually attained the rank of Colonel. He also “served in the Second World War as an advisor to the Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall. After the War he continued with his financial career and founded a stock brokerage firm, Pershing & Company.
In the ad, Pershing and his wife Muriel, or “MuMu,” are in their Narragansett, Rhode Island home with a tray of beers between them. Although I must say she doesn’t look particularly happy to be there.
