Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #2180: Heineken Refreshes Humpty Dumpty

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Tuesday’s ad is for Heineken, from the 1970s. In the later 1970s, Heineken embarked on a series of ads with the tagline “Heineken Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach.” Many of the ads were in a sequential panel, or comic strip, format and they were intended to be humorous.

In this ad, a two-panel vertical format, the Mother Goose character Humpty Dumpty has already had his great fall, and is sitting on the grass beneath the wall he’s just fallen from with cracked noggin. He looks like he’s in pretty bad shape. And while “[a]ll the king’s horses and all the king’s men, couldn’t put Humpty together again,” one sip from a mug of Heineken and he’s good as gold, right as rain and fit as a fiddle. He’s even back on his wall, with a smile on the face of his now intact body, with a blue sky at his back. That’s some damn powerful beer.

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Beer In Ads #2179: Heineken Refreshes Shakin’ Stevens

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Monday’s ad is for Heineken, from the 1970s. In the later 1970s, Heineken embarked on a series of ads with the tagline “Heineken Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach.” Many of the ads were in a sequential panel, or comic strip, format and they were intended to be humorous.

In this ad, a three-panel format, the British rock ‘n’ roll singer Shakin’ Stevens — “the UK’s biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s” — can’t stop shaking. His real name is Michael Barratt, with his stage name adopted when his band changed its name to Shakin’ Stevens and the Sunsets. Somehow in the second panel he manages to hold a mug of Heineken to his lips and take a sip, which promptly cures him of shaking.

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Beer In Ads #2178: Heineken Refreshes Hedgehogs

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Sunday’s ad is for Heineken, from the 1970s. In the later 1970s, Heineken embarked on a series of ads with the tagline “Heineken Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach.” Many of the ads were in a sequential panel, or comic strip, format and they were intended to be humorous.

In this ad, a three-panel format, a hedgehog is about to cross the road. I suspect this ad ran in Europe, or possibly Great Britain, since there are no hedgehogs in the Americas. And perhaps like raccoons or skunks for us, they’re frequently being hit by cars trying to cross the road. But this smart hedgehog drank some Heineken, which magically supplied him with a safety vest to increase the odds of him (or her) making it to the other side of the road. Good luck Spiny Norman.

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Beer In Ads #2177: Heineken Refreshes King Kong

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Saturday’s ad is for Heineken, from the 1970s. In the later 1970s, Heineken embarked on a series of ads with the tagline “Heineken Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach.” Many of the ads were in a sequential panel, or comic strip, format and they were intended to be humorous.

In this ad, a three-panel format, King Kong is eyeing Fay Wray but seems confused in the first panel. So, in the second, he drinks from a tanker truck of Heineken, which causes them to become relatively the same size. What remains unclear is whether the beer made him smaller, or her larger. And while I admit that doesn’t make sense, the airplanes are the same size so it could have gone either way.

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Beer In Ads #2176: Heineken Refreshes Ceramic Mugs

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Friday’s ad is for Heineken, from the 1979. In the later 1970s, Heineken embarked on a series of ads with the tagline “Heineken Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach.” Many of the ads were in a sequential panel, or comic strip, format and they were intended to be humorous.

In this ad, a two-panel format, a frowning ceramic mug featuring an 18th century wigged Englishman wearing a black hat and a red coat with a frilly white shirt. But pour some beer down his neck, literally, and that frown turns upside down, into a full-fledged smile.

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Ballantine’s Literary Ads: James A. Michener

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Between 1951 and 1953, P. Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company, or simply Ballentine Beer, created a series of ads with at least thirteen different writers. They asked each one “How would you put a glass of Ballantine Ale into words?” Each author wrote a page that included reference to their beer, and in most cases not subtly. One of them was James A. Michener, who’s best known for Tales of the South Pacific.

Today is the birthday of James A. Michener (February 3, 1907–October 16, 1997), who “was an American author of more than 40 books, the majority of which were fictional, lengthy family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating solid history. Michener was known for the popularity of his works; he had numerous bestsellers and works selected for Book of the Month Club. He was also known for his meticulous research behind the books.

Michener’s novels include Tales of the South Pacific for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948, Hawaii, The Drifters, Centennial, The Source, The Fires of Spring, Chesapeake, Caribbean, Caravans, Alaska, Texas and Poland. His non-fiction works include Iberia, about his travels in Spain and Portugal; his memoir titled The World Is My Home, and Sports in America. Return to Paradise combines fictional short stories with Michener’s factual descriptions of the Pacific areas where they take place.”

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His piece for Ballantine was done in the form of a letter of recommendation:

Ale, as Ballantine brews it, is one of man’s noblest drinks, and I speak from more than a passing acquaintance with the great beers and ales of the world.

In Ballantine Ale one finds the refreshing thirst-quenching qualities so welcome on a warm day; but hidden in its amber depths is a goodness, a character, a strong satisfying flavor, found in no other brewed beverage.

I commend Ballantine Ale to you as a thirst-quencher, a lesiure-time glass eminently designed to promote sociability.

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Beer In Ads #2175: Heineken Refreshes The Ugly Duckling

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Thursday’s ad is for Heineken, from the 1977. In the later 1970s, Heineken embarked on a series of ads with the tagline “Heineken Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach.” Many of the ads were in a sequential panel, or comic strip, format and they were intended to be humorous.

In this ad, a three-panel format, the ugly duckling is crying over his treatment at the hands (or wings?) of the prettier ducklings, when he happens upon a can of beer floating in the pond. Taking a sip, he’s transformed in to a beautiful white swan. Talk about beer goggles.

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Beer In Ads #2174: Heineken Refreshes Medieval Tapestries

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Wednesday’s ad is for Heineken, from the 1970s. In the later 1970s, Heineken embarked on a series of ads with the tagline “Heineken Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach.” Many of the ads were in a sequential panel, or comic strip, format and they were intended to be humorous.

In this ad, a three-panel format, it resembles a medieval tapestry. In the first panel, and arrow’s heading straight for our ancient soldier’s head. But in the second, he has a mug of beer, which by the third panel has turned the arrow into a rubber-tipped suction cup arrow, saving his ass and causing him to smile.

Heineken-1970s-tapestry

Beer In Ads #2173: Harry Von Zell & Bill Goodwin For Pabst

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Tuesday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1950. 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 two celebrities, Harry Von Zell and Bill Goodwin. Von Zell “was an announcer of radio programs and an actor in films and television shows. He is best remembered for his work on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, and for once mispronouncing President Herbert Hoover’s name on the air, a slip that was exaggerated on a later comedy record album.” And Goodwin “was for many years the announcer and a recurring character of the Burns and Allen radio program, and subsequently The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on television from 1950-1951. Upon his departure, he was replaced by Harry von Zell.”

In the ad, the pair of announcers are at a bowling alley, enjoying some beer while throwing a few games. They’re both wearing some pretty audacious bowling shirts, pretty much the only way for a 1950s man to wear any color. Harry’s taking a break and pouring himself a beer, while Bill’s about to (hopefully) knock down some pins.

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Beer In Ads #2172: Larry Hughes For Pabst

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Monday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1950. 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 Larry Hughes. He was the national champion in archery for 1941, using newly developed aluminum arrows. Unlike almost every other Pabst celebrity in this series, there’s very little information about Hughes out there apart from a few simple mentions of him on archery websites. For example, on the efforts of Doug Easton to pioneer aluminum arrows, Abbey Archery has this to say:

1939 saw Doug move to yet another larger facility in Los Angeles. It was at this new facility that Doug began his search for an alternative to the wooden arrow. One of the first set of metal arrows made by Doug during the first year in this new building was given to local champion archer Larry Hughes. Larry shot these arrows very successfully in tournaments until 1941, when Larry won the National Championship with these new metal arrows. However, World War II was now in full force, and aluminum was no longer available for anything that was not war related. This effectively ended Doug’s efforts to perfect the new arrow until the end of the war.

In the ad, Hughes appears to be at an archery range, perched on a ledge, with a beer in his hand. Next to him, from a chair, his drinking buddy is apparently shooting from the clubhouse lounge. But on closer inspection, he’s just holding the arrow in his hand and sighting it, with no bow. I guess somebody’s had a few too many beers, and they took away his bow.

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