Tuesday’s ad is entitled Friends Over For Tennis, and the illustration was done in 1949 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #31 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a group of apparently well-to-do people invited some “friends over for tennis.” I can’t imagine that even in 1949 that many people had their own tennis courts, so I ‘m not sure who this ad was directed at or why they though people might be able to relate to this situation. I suspect it may have been aspirational, since everyone thinks they’ll be wealthy enough to one day, though it’s probably only the 1% now who might, much less in the 1940s when wealth wasn’t nearly as consolidated.

Sunday’s ad is entitled Getting Ready For Summer, and the illustration was done in 1949 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #29 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a family is in the backyard early in spring. The women are in the yard doing actual work, pruning and planting, while the menfolk sit on the porch making sure their toys, put away over the winter, are ready to go for the first fishing trip of the new year. Seems like a fair distribution of labor, right?

Saturday’s ad is entitled Meeting Her Parents, and the illustration was done in 1949 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #28 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a young man is apparently meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time. He’s thoughtfully helping her move a table so her mother can set down a tray of beers on it. Once they’re married that will stop, of course, as dear old Dad just sits there while everyone else serves him. There’s only three beer bottles on that tray. I wonder who’s getting stiffed? Also, look closely at the magazine in Dad’s lap. It’s open to a page showing the same ad we’re looking at. How meta.

Friday’s ad is entitled Television Party, and the illustration was done in 1949 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #27 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a group of people watch a basketball game on one of those newfangled tee-vees. The ad ran in March of 1949, early in the NBA’s fourth season. The champions that season were the Minneapolis Lakers, who beat the Syracuse Nationals in the finals. Unless, of course, they’re watching March Madness. That year, the NCAA champion was Kentucky, who beat Oklahoma A&M 46-36 on March 26, 1949.

Thursday’s ad is entitled An Evening of Bowling, and the illustration was done in 1949 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #26 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, at least three couples, maybe more, are enjoying some beers during an evening of bowling. Surprisingly, beer and bowling do go together well, and it was a hugely popular game in the late forties. But even so, they seem to be throwing back quite a few.