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 Douglas Fairbanks Jr.. He “was an American actor and a decorated naval officer of World War II.” He was, of course, “the only child of actor Douglas Fairbanks and his first wife, Anna Beth Sully.” Mostly for that reason, he was given an acting contract and started in supporting roles, but was elevated to starring by the late 1920s. He moved around a bit, changed studios, and live in the UK, with some of his most memorable parts being in “Morning Glory” (1933) with Katharine Hepburn, “The Prisoner of Zenda” (1937) and “Gunga Din” (1939).

In the ad, Fairbanks is deep sea fishing “off Catalina Island,” which is “located about 22 milessouth-southwest of Los Angeles, California.” Unseen hands deliver him full glasses and bottles of beer, as he smiles during what I presume is a break in the fishing action.

Sunday’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 General William Bendix. He “was an American film, radio, and television actor, who typically played rough, blue-collar characters. He is best remembered in movies for the title role in The Babe Ruth Story. He also memorably portrayed the clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in radio and television’s The Life of Riley. He received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for Wake Island (1942).”

In the ad, Bendix sits in a barcalounger in his San Fernando Valley home, with a pipe in one hand and a mug of beer in the other. There’s also a sandwich for him on an end table. So if there’s a television in front of him in that room, it’s a pretty perfect setting. This series, with the photos inside a round blue ribbon ran for a few years, and then they changed the format slightly, squaring the photos, getting rid of the ribbon frame, and changing up the text away from talking about where the people were in the photo. Below is the newer version of the same ad, from the mid-1950s, just for contrast.

Friday’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. Charles Boyer. He “was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era’s most highly praised, in romantic dramas such as The Garden of Allah (1936), Algiers (1938), and Love Affair (1939), as well as the mystery-thriller Gaslight (1944). He received four Academy Award nominations for Best Actor.”

In the ad, Boyer and his wife, Anglo-Scottish film actress Pat Paterson, are at the French Research Foundation, which Boyer co-founded, with a tray of beers, presumably for after they finish their research.

Thursday’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 Mrs. Gary Cooper. He “was an American film actor known for his natural, authentic, and understated acting style and screen performances. His career spanned thirty-five years, from 1925 to 1960, and included leading roles in eighty-four feature films. He was a major movie star from the end of the silent film era through the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood. His screen persona appealed strongly to both men and women, and his range of performances included roles in most major movie genres. Cooper’s ability to project his own personality onto the characters he played contributed to his appearing natural and authentic on screen. The screen persona he sustained throughout his career represented the ideal American hero.”

In the ad, Copper and his wife, socialite and former actor Veronica Cooper, are on holiday at Trail Creek Cabin in Sun Valley, Idaho, sitting by a roaring fire, sharing a beer.

Wednesday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1948. 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 Mrs. Winston Guest, whose full name was Lucy Douglas “C. Z.” Guest. She “was an American stage actress, author, columnist, horsewoman, fashion designer, and socialite who achieved a degree of fame as a fashion icon. She was frequently seen wearing elegant designs by famous designers like Mainbocher. Her unfussy, clean-cut style was seen as typically American, and she was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1959.” Her husband was Winston Frederick Churchill Guest, an “Anglo-American polo champion and a member of the Guest family of Britain.” They had married the year before this ad ran, so I’m not sure why he’s not in the ad, too. Perhaps he was busy playing polo?

In the ad, she’s at her “winter hone” in Palm Beach, Florida, on a patio by the pool, having a beer at a table with an unnamed guest.

Sunday’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 Miss Rosalind Russell and her husband Mr. Frederick Brisson. She “was an American actress of stage and screen, known for her role as fast-talking newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday (1940), as well as for her portrayals of Mame Dennis in Auntie Mame (1958) and Rose in Gypsy (1962). A noted comedian, she won all five Golden Globes for which she was nominated and was tied with Meryl Streep for most wins until Streep won her sixth award in 2007. Russell won a Tony Award in 1953 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Ruth in the Broadway show Wonderful Town (a musical based on the film My Sister Eileen, in which she also starred). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress four times throughout her career.”

In the ad, she’s with her husband, Frederick Brisson, who was a Danish-American producer and the son of actor Carl Brisson. Cary Grant introduced the pair, and was best man at their wedding. They’re not in their home, which is common for this series of ads, but instead are at the Racquet Club in Palm Springs, California. He’s chivalrously poured his wife her beer, and is in the process of opening his beer. But look closely behind the Hollywood couple. There’s a woman rowing a boat in the swimming pool behind them. That seems just a little bit odd, doesn’t it?