Wednesday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1943. This ad was made for the Rheingold Brewery, which was founded by the Liebmann family in 1883 in New York, New York. At its peak, it sold 35% of all the beer in New York state. In 1963, the family sold the brewery and in was shut down in 1976. In 1940, Philip Liebmann, great-grandson of the founder, Samuel Liebmann, started the “Miss Rheingold” pageant as the centerpiece of its marketing campaign. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The winning model was then featured in at least twelve monthly advertisements for the brewery, beginning in 1940 and ending in 1965. Beginning in 1941, the selection of next year’s Miss Rheingold was instituted and became wildly popular in the New York Area. Miss Rheingold 1943 was Sonia Gover. She was born in 1921 in Chicago, and married Joseph Gover in 1941, when she was 19. She worked as a model in the New York area and passed away in 1989. In this ad, from October, she’s on a hunting trip for yet another Miss Rheingold photoshoot, and in this one she’s trying out being a cheerleader for a football game. Although given her “Miss Rheingold” sweater, she’s actually cheering the end of the game because after an “afternoon at the stadium,” she’s most excited about is drinking a beer. Did they not serve alcohol at football games in the 1940s? Anyway, there’s another gem in the text. “There’s a flavorful tang to Rheingold that’s as welcome as a winning touchdown.” What poetry.
