Wednesday’s ad is another one for Ballantine Ale, from 1963. In an ad series somewhat similar to the Blatz series, the “Ale Man” in the ad is a famous person, although more marginally famous tending more toward the manly fame. In this one, the ad features the appropriately named Ray Manley, who was a photographer known for his landscapes of Arizona, making him “a man with a thirst for a manlier brew.”
Tuesday’s ad is another one for Ballantine Ale, also from 1962. In an ad series somewhat similar to the Blatz series, the “Ale Man” in the ad is a famous person, although more marginally famous tending more toward the manly fame. In this one, the ad features political scientist, novelist, and non-fiction writer Eugene Burdick, who was also fond of scuba diving, making him “a man with a thirst for a manlier brew.”
Monday’s ad is another one for Ballantine Ale, also from 1962. In an ad series somewhat similar to the Blatz series, the “Ale Man” in the ad is a famous person, although more marginally famous tending more toward the manly fame. In this one, the ad features John W. Harvey, owner of the Elliot Bay Lumber Co., making him “a man with a thirst for a manlier brew.”
Sunday’s ad is another one for Ballantine Ale, also from 1962. In an ad series somewhat similar to the Blatz series, the “Ale Man” in the ad is a famous person, although more marginally famous tending more toward the manly fame. In this one, the ad features Alec Cushing, who built the Squaw Valley Ski Resort, making him “a man with a thirst for a manlier brew.”
Saturday’s ad is another one for Ballantine Ale, also from 1962. In an ad series somewhat similar to the Blatz series, the “Ale Man” in the ad is a famous person, although more marginally famous tending more toward the manly fame. In this one, the ad features Elliot Burch, who trains horses, making him “a man with a thirst for a manlier brew.”
Friday’s ad is for Ballantine Ale, from 1962. In an ad somewhat similar to the Blatz series, the “Ale Man” in the ad is a famous person, a well-known yachtsman of the time, William “Bill” Snaith, sailor of the Figaro III, which can be seen in the ad. Snaith was also, according to the copy, “a man with a thirst for a manlier brew.”
Thursday’s ad is for Blatz Beer, from 1950. The ad is sort of part of Blatz’s “I lived in Milwaukee, I ought to know” series from the later Forties and Fifties that featured prominent celebrities, sports figures and famous folks from Milwaukee claiming to know “Blatz is Milwaukee’s Finest Beer” because they lived there, or near there, at some point in their lives. This one doesn’t so much feature a person as a radio show, Duffy’s Tavern, a radio sitcom about the misadventures of bartender/bar manager Archie. Archie was played by Ed Gardner, who also wrote and produced the popular show during its ten-year run. Despite the ads showing Gardner in his role as “Archie,” I guess he wasn’t famous enough (maybe since it was radio no one knew what he looked like?). That’s also why it doesn’t use the “I’m from …” of “I’ve been to …” Milwaukee-focused opening line, and instead the show’s fictional bar serves Blatz as their exclusive beer. Also, I’m pleased to announce that this is the last Blatz ad in this series that I’ve found so tomorrow we’ll be returning to random beer ads.
Wednesday’s ad is for Blatz Beer, from 1949. The ad is part of Blatz’s “I lived in Milwaukee, I ought to know” series from the later Forties and Fifties that featured prominent celebrities, sports figures and famous folks from Milwaukee claiming to know “Blatz is Milwaukee’s Finest Beer” because they lived there, or near there, at some point in their lives. This one features well-known actor Pat O’Brien, who was born and raised in Milwaukee.
Tuesday’s ad is for Blatz Beer, from 1951. The ad is part of Blatz’s “I lived in Milwaukee, I ought to know” series from the later Forties and Fifties that featured prominent celebrities, sports figures and famous folks from Milwaukee claiming to know “Blatz is Milwaukee’s Finest Beer” because they lived there, or near there, at some point in their lives. This one features actor William Gargan, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, but like many of the Blatz spokespeople, he’s visited Milwaukee.
Having lived on this side of the pond my whole life, I’d never encountered Bamforth’s comic postcards until very recently. The Bamforth company is still in business, but apparently was founded in 1904 as a photography and film studio to make picture postcards, and by the end of the First World War was producing 20 million postcards each year. In 1910, they started creating the comic art postcards. Over the next 90 years, approximately 50,000 comic designs were published, with most of them by just four staff artists — Douglas Tempest, Arnold Taylor, Philip Taylor and Brian Fitzpatrick — along with a few additional freelance artists, like the well-known Donald McGill. According to their history, “by 1960 Bamforth Postcards had become the world’s largest publisher of comic postcards.”
Bamforth’s Postcards were the market leader throughout the twentieth century. Their artists poking fun at every aspect of human activity. They commented on politics, fashion and the changes in social activity and perhaps most famously they invaded the toilet and the bedroom. Sex, in various guises and disguises, was the main subject from the start of the genre.
While sex and being “cheeky” may have been their main focus, beer also figured prominently in quite a few of their postcards.
Quite a few were part of their seaside series, meant to be sent home from vacations.
And still others were just odd.
I’m sure there were many more involving beer, and there were also quite a few depicting pub life. Just poking around eBay and the web, I found a few beer-themed postcards, which you can see in the slideshow below. Enjoy.