Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #4487: Miss Rheingold 1959 Wins Election With More Votes Than Ike

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Monday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1958. This ad was made for the Rheingold Brewery, which was founded by the Liebmann family in 1883 in New York, New York. At its peak, it sold 35% of all the beer in New York state. In 1963, the family sold the brewery and in was shut down in 1976. In 1940, Philip Liebmann, great-grandson of the founder, Samuel Liebmann, started the “Miss Rheingold” pageant as the centerpiece of its marketing campaign. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The winning model was then featured in at least twelve monthly advertisements for the brewery, beginning in 1940 and ending in 1965. Beginning in 1941, the selection of next year’s Miss Rheingold was instituted and became wildly popular in the New York Area. Robbin Bain was Miss Rheingold for 1959. She was born in August of 1938, in Flushing, New York, and grew up in Bronxville. Before being elected, she was a successful model, appearing on the covers of national magazines and on television. She was also commercial artist, portrait painter and aspiring actress, performing in summer stock She appears to have been married three times, first to Arno Schefler in 1962, then to Alexander Gaudier, and finally to Edward V. Mele, whom she remained married to until his death in 2003. He started a manufacturing company that became the largest maker of jewel boxes in the world. As far as I can tell, she’s still alive and living in North Palm Beach, Florida. She also did some TV, appearing on To Tell the Truth and the Today Show. In this newspaper item, from December 30, 1958, with the headline “Miss Rheingold Wins Election With Bigger Majority Thank Ike.”

And there was another article using the same photo from December 20, but highlighting that she was the 20th Miss Rheingold.

Beer In Ads #4486: Robbin Bain Elected Miss Rheingold 1959

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Sunday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1958. This ad was made for the Rheingold Brewery, which was founded by the Liebmann family in 1883 in New York, New York. At its peak, it sold 35% of all the beer in New York state. In 1963, the family sold the brewery and in was shut down in 1976. In 1940, Philip Liebmann, great-grandson of the founder, Samuel Liebmann, started the “Miss Rheingold” pageant as the centerpiece of its marketing campaign. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The winning model was then featured in at least twelve monthly advertisements for the brewery, beginning in 1940 and ending in 1965. Beginning in 1941, the selection of next year’s Miss Rheingold was instituted and became wildly popular in the New York Area. In this ad, Robbin Bain is announced as the new Miss Rheingold for 1959. She was born in August of 1938, but I’ve been unable to find out much else about her. She appears to have been married three time, first to Arno Schefler in 1962, then to Alexander Gaudier, and finally to Edward V. Mele, whom she remained married to until his death in 2003. He started a manufacturing company that became the largest maker of jewel boxes in the world. As far as I can tell, she’s still alive and living in North Palm Beach, Florida. She also did some TV, appearing on To Tell the Truth and the Today Show.

Beer In Ads #4485: Miss Rheingold 1959 In Matching Blue Dresses

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Saturday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1958. This ad was made for the Rheingold Brewery, which was founded by the Liebmann family in 1883 in New York, New York. At its peak, it sold 35% of all the beer in New York state. In 1963, the family sold the brewery and in was shut down in 1976. In 1940, Philip Liebmann, great-grandson of the founder, Samuel Liebmann, started the “Miss Rheingold” pageant as the centerpiece of its marketing campaign. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The winning model was then featured in at least twelve monthly advertisements for the brewery, beginning in 1940 and ending in 1965. Beginning in 1941, the selection of next year’s Miss Rheingold was instituted and became wildly popular in the New York Area. In this ad, from the Fall of 1958, it’s just one-half of a doubletruck ad, and shows the finalists standing in park wearing matching dresses, white gloves and handbags. From left to right, the six finalists for Miss Rheingold 1959 are Robbin Bain, Emily Banks, Penny Peterson, Gretchen Foster, Sondra Goss, and Audrey Garcia.

And here’s a cropped close-up with more muted colors:

Beer In Ads #4484: Which One Will Be Miss Rheingold 1959 Doubletruck In Color

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Friday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1958. This ad was made for the Rheingold Brewery, which was founded by the Liebmann family in 1883 in New York, New York. At its peak, it sold 35% of all the beer in New York state. In 1963, the family sold the brewery and in was shut down in 1976. In 1940, Philip Liebmann, great-grandson of the founder, Samuel Liebmann, started the “Miss Rheingold” pageant as the centerpiece of its marketing campaign. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The winning model was then featured in at least twelve monthly advertisements for the brewery, beginning in 1940 and ending in 1965. Beginning in 1941, the selection of next year’s Miss Rheingold was instituted and became wildly popular in the New York Area. In this two-page ad, from the Fall of 1958, it has the headline “Six Pretty Girls In Search of Your Vote! Which One Will Be Miss Rheingold 1959!” One one side, it shows the six finalists for Miss Rheingold 1959: Penny Peterson, Robbin Bain, Audrey Garcia, Sondra Goss, Gretchen Foster, and Emily Banks. And other other side, it shows the finalists standing in park wearing matching dresses, white gloves and handbags.

Beer In Ads #4483: Which One Will Be Miss Rheingold 1959 Doubletruck

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Thursday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1958. This ad was made for the Rheingold Brewery, which was founded by the Liebmann family in 1883 in New York, New York. At its peak, it sold 35% of all the beer in New York state. In 1963, the family sold the brewery and in was shut down in 1976. In 1940, Philip Liebmann, great-grandson of the founder, Samuel Liebmann, started the “Miss Rheingold” pageant as the centerpiece of its marketing campaign. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The winning model was then featured in at least twelve monthly advertisements for the brewery, beginning in 1940 and ending in 1965. Beginning in 1941, the selection of next year’s Miss Rheingold was instituted and became wildly popular in the New York Area. In this two-page ad, from the Fall of 1958, it has the headline “Six Pretty Girls In Search of Your Vote! Which One Will Be Miss Rheingold 1959!” One one side, it shows the six finalists for Miss Rheingold 1959: Penny Peterson, Robbin Bain, Audrey Garcia, Sondra Goss, Gretchen Foster, and Emily Banks. And other other side, it shows the finalists standing in park wearing matching dresses, white gloves and handbags.

Beer In Ads #4482: Which One Will Be Miss Rheingold 1959 In Color

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Wednesday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1958. This ad was made for the Rheingold Brewery, which was founded by the Liebmann family in 1883 in New York, New York. At its peak, it sold 35% of all the beer in New York state. In 1963, the family sold the brewery and in was shut down in 1976. In 1940, Philip Liebmann, great-grandson of the founder, Samuel Liebmann, started the “Miss Rheingold” pageant as the centerpiece of its marketing campaign. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The winning model was then featured in at least twelve monthly advertisements for the brewery, beginning in 1940 and ending in 1965. Beginning in 1941, the selection of next year’s Miss Rheingold was instituted and became wildly popular in the New York Area. In this ad, from the Fall of 1958, it has the headline “Six Pretty Girls In Search of Your Vote! Which One Will Be Miss Rheingold 1959!” It shows the six finalists for Miss Rheingold 1959: Penny Peterson, Robbin Bain, Audrey Garcia, Sondra Goss, Gretchen Foster, and Emily Banks.

And here’s a close-up of the portraits of the finalists.

Beer In Ads #4481: Which One Will Be Miss Rheingold 1959

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Tuesday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1958. This ad was made for the Rheingold Brewery, which was founded by the Liebmann family in 1883 in New York, New York. At its peak, it sold 35% of all the beer in New York state. In 1963, the family sold the brewery and in was shut down in 1976. In 1940, Philip Liebmann, great-grandson of the founder, Samuel Liebmann, started the “Miss Rheingold” pageant as the centerpiece of its marketing campaign. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The winning model was then featured in at least twelve monthly advertisements for the brewery, beginning in 1940 and ending in 1965. Beginning in 1941, the selection of next year’s Miss Rheingold was instituted and became wildly popular in the New York Area. In this newspaper ad, from the Fall of 1958, it has the headline “Six Pretty Girls In Search of Your Vote! Which One Will Be Miss Rheingold 1959!” It shows the six finalists for Miss Rheingold 1959: Penny Peterson, Robbin Bain, Audrey Garcia, Sondra Goss, Gretchen Foster, and Emily Banks.

Beer In Ads #4480: Miss Rheingold 1959, TWA Proudly Delivers A Precious Cargo

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Monday’s ad is for “TWA Airlines” and “Rheingold Beer,” from 1958. This ad was made for the Rheingold Brewery, which was founded by the Liebmann family in 1883 in New York, New York. At its peak, it sold 35% of all the beer in New York state. In 1963, the family sold the brewery and in was shut down in 1976. In 1940, Philip Liebmann, great-grandson of the founder, Samuel Liebmann, started the “Miss Rheingold” pageant as the centerpiece of its marketing campaign. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The winning model was then featured in at least twelve monthly advertisements for the brewery, beginning in 1940 and ending in 1965. Beginning in 1941, the selection of next year’s Miss Rheingold was instituted and became wildly popular in the New York Area. In this newspaper item, from September 1958, was actually for the airline Trans World Airlines or TWA headlined “TWA Proudly Delivers a Precious Cargo.” But it’s the next subheading that make it relevant here, “… the California candidates for Miss Rheingold 1959!” and shows the six finalists for Miss Rheingold 1959 (Robbin Bain, Penny Peterson, Gretchen Foster, Audrey Garcia, Emily Banks, and Sondra Goss) standing and waving from the airplane gangway ladder with, presumably, the pilot and flight attendant at the bottom of the stairs.

Beer In Ads #4479: Miss Rheingold 1959, Goodwill Girls Abroad

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Sunday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1958. This ad was made for the Rheingold Brewery, which was founded by the Liebmann family in 1883 in New York, New York. At its peak, it sold 35% of all the beer in New York state. In 1963, the family sold the brewery and in was shut down in 1976. In 1940, Philip Liebmann, great-grandson of the founder, Samuel Liebmann, started the “Miss Rheingold” pageant as the centerpiece of its marketing campaign. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The winning model was then featured in at least twelve monthly advertisements for the brewery, beginning in 1940 and ending in 1965. Beginning in 1941, the selection of next year’s Miss Rheingold was instituted and became wildly popular in the New York Area. In this newspaper item, from November 23, 1958, headlined “Goodwill girls abroad,” and is a follow-up story about the trip to Europe taken by Miss Rheingold 1958, Madelyn Darrow, along with the six finalists for Miss Rheingold 1959 took in September and October. In the main photo, from left to right, there’s Robbin Bain, Penny Peterson, Madelyn Darrow, Miss Rheingold 1958, Gretchen Foster, Audrey Garcia, Emily Banks, and Sondra Goss.

The Battle Of The Little Bighorn

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The Battle of the Little Bighorn is arguably one of the most famous battles in American history. The battle began today, June 25, 1876, and concluded the next day. It was “known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the ‘Battle of the Greasy Grass,’ and commonly referred to as ‘Custer’s Last Stand,’ [and] was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which resulted in the defeat of U.S. forces, was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876. It took place on June 25–26, 1876, along the Little Bighorn River in the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana Territory.”

The 1896 Chromolithograph.

History aside, it’s also considered to be one of, if not the very first, item of American breweriana created. It was used as a promotional item, a framed chromolithograph of a painting of “Custer’s Last Fight” by lithographer Otto Becker, who based it on an earlier oil painting by Cassilly Adams. Anheuser-Busch gave them to customers who carried their Budweiser beer. It was created in 1896, twenty years after the battle took place and also twenty years after Anheuser-Busch was founded.

Here’s a history of it from the National Museum of American History:

Considered one of the most reproduced lithographs of its time with over 150,000 copies distributed to saloons and dining establishments, this print was used as an advertising promotion for Budweiser Beer. This chromolithograph on paper is based on the Cassilly Adams painting that was inspired by the narrative of the battle by a scout named Curley. The original painting by Adams was completed in 1888 and sold to John Ferber who owned a saloon in St Louis, Missouri. Adolphus Busch acquired the painting along with a saloon when the owner couldn’t pay his bills for the sum of $35,000 in 1892. Eager to have the original copied for advertising, he commissioned the Milwaukee Lithographic Engraving Company. Their artist, Otto F. Becker, produced a 24X40 inch painting that was then divided into six sections and given to other artists to create the color plates used to produce the 1896 advertising prints.The restored Becker painting hangs in the St. Louis board room of Anheuser-Busch, Incorporated. The original Adams painting was destroyed by fire on June 13, 1946. Versions of the advertising print vary according to margin size and legend content, but the first run edition resulted in 15,000 prints. There have since been 18 subsequent editions totaling over 1 million copies according to Anheuser-Busch. The colored print depicts the battle between General Custer’s troops and Indian warriors at Little Big Horn. Custer is featured at center waving a saber and dressed in a fringed buckskin. The remaining cavalry officers, with the exception of Custer’s brother Tom, are dressed in military uniform. Indians are armed with scalping knives, tomahawks, clubs, spears and rifles. The dead appear in foreground, with several identified in the bottom margin. The background depicts a peaceful landscape. Custer’s medals and banners are depicted in lower left margin while a mounted Indian poses beside a monument in lower right margin. Text below the image advertises the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Assn.

This is a reproduction created by Anheuser-Busch in 1936.

Below is a description of the reproduction from an auction website selling a copy of it.

Custer’s Last Fight / Anheuser-Busch / Budweiser. 1936.
Twenty years after the Battle of Little Bighorn, Anheuser-Busch appropriated this image by Otto Becker to promote Budweiser, a beer founded the same year as the fight. Depicted at center is General Custer, brandishing a saber and holding a gun. While the other officers appear in military uniform, both he and his brother are wearing fringed buckskin. The majority of the dead appear in the foreground, the most famous of which are noted in the text below. Also shown are the General’s various medals and banners alongside a small scene of a Native American on horseback in front of a monument. The original painting was a gift by Anheuser-Busch to the Seventh Regiment of the U.S. Cavalry.