Monday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1948. In 1949, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” In this ad, American film, stage, and television actress Veronica Lake, syas that when she has a popular movie, that lots of invitations come pouring in, and so does the Rheingold Extra Dry.
Sunday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1948. In the early 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” In this ad, American actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr., declares that to relax he drinks a lot of Rheingold Extra Dry.
Saturday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1958. In the early 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” In this ad, American television personality, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist Ed Sullivan, is portrayed as a busy newspaper columnist, but at least he has Rheingold Extra Dry to drink after work.
Friday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1958. In the early 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” In this ad, American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete and author Bob Hope, is getting a pour of Rheingold Extra Dry from another Bob Hope who’s inside the television, and threatening to “ad lib all night about it.”
Thursday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1954. In the early 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” In this ad, American actress Shelley Winters, compares recording her voice and hearing the authentic playback, to Rheingold Extra Dry. Yeah, it didn’t make much sense to me either.
Wednesday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1952. In the early 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebreties to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” In this ad, American actor and filmmaker John Wayne, discusses his love of Autumn and Winter, and how his favorite beer for those seasons is Rheingold Extra Dry.
Tuesday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1954. In the early 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebreties to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” In this ad, English actor David Niven, discusses his love for Rheingold Extra Dry.
Monday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1953. In the early 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebreties to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” In this ad, German actress and singer Marlene Dietrich, supposedly lover to drink Rheingold Extra Dry whenever she’s in New York.
A favorite British television show of mine was The Secret Life of Machines, by Tim Hunkin, whose birthday is today, January 1, 1950. Hunkin is “an English engineer, cartoonist, writer, and artist living in Suffolk, England. He is best known for creating the Channel Four television series The Secret Life of Machines, in which he explains the workings and history of various household devices. He has also created museum exhibits for institutions across the UK, and designed numerous public engineering works, chiefly for entertainment. Hunkin’s works are distinctive, often recognisable by his unique style of papier-mâché sculpture (made from unpainted newsprint), his pen and ink cartoons, and his offbeat sense of humour.” Given that his show, three seasons between 1988-1993, was about how machines work, it’s surprisingly low-key and minimalist, but quite fascinating. And often very funny.
Anyway, in 1977, Adnams Brewery, commissioned Hunkin to create a poster of their brewery in Suffolk. Hunkin remembered. “I spent a month drawing it and so enjoyed the experience that I moved out of London to Suffolk where I’ve lived ever since. I didn’t even drink much of the beer at the time. Before drawing it, I don’t think I had ever appreciated how the combination of words and drawings can make conveying information much clearer and simpler. I was able to dramatically cut the text about the brewing process by having it integrated with the drawing of the vats and pipes. I think all journalists should be taught to draw.”
I have a couple of books by Hunkin that are filled with detailed doodle drawings with loads of text like this, and they’re great, so I’d love to see what he wrote in this poster although the biggest file of the poster I could find wasn’t quite big enough to read it all.
Or you can see it full size here.
Sunday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1952. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, one of many that used Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (at least I think this is one that did) features a pelican, with another one in the background with four bottles of Guinness in his bill, being chased by a zookeeper. And at the bottom is this simple poem:
The Pelican, that feathered freak,
Is famed for his capacious beak.
Guinness provides the reason why —
His bill is for a week’s supply!
