If you say my last post, Beer In Ads #314: Brown Derby’s For Good Living, now you know why I chose a Brown Derby ad. I also came across this promotional film from the same year as the ad, 1937, which was called “For Good Living,” and sponsored at the time by Safeway Stores. It’s a silent promotional film, but after some cheesy introductions shows the brewery where Brown Derby is made. Really, there’s a lot of early brewery porn. Obviously the basic process of making and packaging beer hasn’t changed all that much in the 70+ years since this video was made, but the machinery sure has. At just under twenty minutes, it’s a pretty thorough virtual tour, and includes both bottles and cans being produced. After the tour, the final minutes show the planned “For Good Living” advertising campaign. It’s quite a time capsule. I think every brewer should watch it. I’d love to hear some of their thoughts on then vs. now.
Great film. (I always like seeing those old open “baudelot coolers” from that era).
Brown Derby was Safeway’s private store brand, and (as noted in the film’s intro) it was brewed by numerous breweries over the years all over the country – such as General, Huber, Eastern (NJ), Maier, Rainier, Pittsburgh, Queen City, etc. It was still being brewed and sold into the 1980’s, at least. at S&P breweries (General and Pearl).
The film’s location, the Los Angeles Brewing Co. which brewed it’s own Eastside and Old Tap brands, was where Karl Strauss was the brewmaster in the mid-1950’s. Pabst had bought the company in the early ’50’s (it’s 4th brewery, I guess, and their first on the West Coast) but they closed it soon after buying Blitz-Weinhard in Oregon in the late 1970’s.
That was amazing. Thanks, Jay. And, Jess, your notes were interesting, too.