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Beer In Ads #2145: Joan Fontaine For Pabst

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Tuesday’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 Joan Fontaine. She was “a British-American actress, best known for her starring roles in classic Hollywood films. Her big break came when she starred in “Rebecca,” along with Laurence Olivier. It was also the American debut of British director Alfred Hitchcock, and she was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award She didn’t win for “Rebecca,” however one year later, in 1941, she did win a Best Actress Oscar for “Suspicion,” co-starring Cary Grant, again directed by Hitchcock.

In the ad, she’s by her private pool, at her home in Brentwood, California, picking up a beer from the table while talking to presumably a guest. You can see several people around the pool, some in suits and dresses, while others are in swimsuits, so I suspect she was throwing a pool party at her home, or at least that’s what they’re trying to convey. Ms. Fontaine certainly isn’t jumping in the pool anytime soon, not wearing that rock around her neck.

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Beer In Ads #2144: Edward G. Robinson For Pabst

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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 Mr. & Mrs Edward G. Robinson. He was “a Romanian-born American actor,” and “is best remembered for his tough-guy roles as a gangster, such as his star-making film Little Caesar and Key Largo.” The Robinsons are enjoying some PBRs while playing backgammon in their home. There is some art on the while, which makes sense, since he was an avid collector and built up an impressive private art collection during his lifetime.

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Beer In Ads #2143: You Hear It Everywhere … “Finest Beer Served … Anywhere!”

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Sunday’s ad, and the first one for 2017, 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. I’ll be posting as many ads from this series as I could find all this month, but this first ad is something of a tease, showing ten of the ads to comes, which must have been originally a sort of ‘best of’ ad. But don’t despair if you can’t make out any of the stars in this ad, as I have larger versions of each of the photos shown here so that before January is over, you’ll know who each of them is, and why they were famous in the 1940s.

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Beer In Ads #2142: .. And It’s Double-Flavored, Too!

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Saturday’s ad, and the last one for 2016, is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, again from 1942. It’s another fairly odd cartoon with our two intrepid window washers, this time in white overalls with red shirts, up a flagpole, bouncing down. Another pun-filled ad again titled “‘DOUBLE-HOPPED’ is why it’s DOUBLE DRY .. and Double-Flavored, too!” The ad copy certainly suggests they were emphasizing the beer’s hop character, and then even mention the brewing process for this beer, or at least part of it, and it’s only slightly altered from the first of these I found three days ago. “Here’s how it’s DOUBLE-HOPPED to double your refreshment. 1. Hops are added in the brew kettles, the usual way. 2. Then, in a unique process, additional hops are suspended in tanks where the ale ages. Slowly, these tender young blossoms add their fragrance and flavor…giving double the tangy dryness, double the delicious aroma and distinctive flavor.” I don’t know how unique that was, it sounds pretty much like dry-hopping, though maybe it was unusual in the U.S. at the time. Or could simply have been adspeak hyperbole. But they’re not done, and end with this pun. “Hop To It and See!”

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Beer In Ads #2141: It’s Double-Dry

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Friday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, again from 1942. It’s another fairly odd cartoon with our two intrepid window washers, all in red, back again. This time they’re again jumping down off a building, but it must have been shorter since they’re not using buckets as parachutes. The pun-filled ad is again titled “‘DOUBLE-HOPPED’ is why it’s DOUBLE DRY .. and Double-Flavored, too!” The ad copy certainly suggests they were emphasizing the beer’s hop character, and then even mention the brewing process for this beer, or at least part of it, and it’s only slightly altered from the first of these I found two days ago. “Here’s how it’s DOUBLE-HOPPED to double your refreshment. 1. Hops are added in the brew kettles, the usual way. 2. Then, in a unique process, additional hops are suspended in tanks where the ale ages. Slowly, these tender young blossoms add their fragrance and flavor…giving double the tangy dryness, double the delicious aroma and distinctive flavor.” I don’t know how unique that was, it sounds pretty much like dry-hopping, though maybe it was unusual in the U.S. at the time. Or could simply have been adspeak hyperbole. But they’re not done, and end with this pun. “Hop To It and See!”

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Beer In Ads #2140: “Double-Hopped” Is Why

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Thursday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, again from 1942. It’s another fairly odd cartoon with our two intrepid window washers, all in red, trading in their overalls for bathing suits. This time they’re at the circus, and diving off the high diving board, into the tiny bucket of water and bouncing over to the carousel, landing on a pair of camels, having snagged two bottled of ale along the way. A trick dive, indeed.vThe pun-filled ad is titled “‘DOUBLE-HOPPED’ is why it’s DOUBLE DRY .. and Double-Flavored, too!” I don’t think I realized that Pabst had made an ale, and it was called “Pabst Blue Ribbon Double-Dry Ale,” no less. The ad copy certainly suggests they were emphasizing the beer’s hop character, and then even mention the brewing process for this beer, or at least part of it.

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Beer In Ads #2139: Hop … Hop … Hooray

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Wednesday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1942. It’s a fairly odd cartoon with two window washers, all in red, jumping off a building and using their buckets as parachutes, just so they get a couple of beer. The pun-filled ad is actually titled “‘DOUBLE-HOPPED’ is why it’s DOUBLE DRY .. and Double-Flavored, too!” I don’t think I realized that Pabst had made an ale, and it was called “Pabst Blue Ribbon Double-Dry Ale,” no less. The ad copy certainly suggests they were emphasizing the beer’s hop character, and then even mention the brewing process for this beer, or at least part of it. “First, you see, hops are added as usual, in the brew kettles. Then, in a unique and costly process, huge sacks of succulent young hop blossoms are suspended in the tanks as the ale ages.” I don’t know how unique that was, it sounds pretty much like dry-hopping, though maybe it was unusual in the U.S. at the time. Or could simply have been adspeak hyperbole.

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Beer In Ads #2138: Hamm’s Acid Trip

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Tuesday’s ad is for Hamm’s, from 1974. It was created as an iron-on t-shirt design by RoAcH studios. And typical of the designs of that time, it looks to me like what the Hamm’s Bear would see after he dropped acid, chased with a Hamm’s, of course. Sitting by a stream, beer mug in hand, leaning on a beer can that’s about the same size as a man, and bright, colorful flowers all around, and the rays of the run peeking above the top of the can. Dude….

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Here’s a slightly brighter image, though it’s also a lot smaller.

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Ballantine’s Literary Ads: Louis Bromfield

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Between 1951 and 1953, P. Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company, or simply Ballentine Beer, created a series of ads with at least thirteen different writers. They asked each one “How would you put a glass of Ballantine Ale into words?” Each author wrote a page that included reference to their beer, and in most cases not subtly. One of them was Louis Bromfield, who’s best known for as a conservationist and farmer.

Today is the birthday of Louis Bromfield (December 27, 1896–March 18, 1956), who “was an American author and conservationist who gained international recognition, winning the Pulitzer Prize and pioneering innovative scientific farming concepts.”

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His piece for Ballantine was done in the form of his reminiscences about his first Ballantine Ale, and why he continues to recommend it or serve it to friends:

Ballantine Ale is a breeze-tossed field of barley … a handful of sun-warmed aromatic hop leaves … a fusion of light and air and taste.

The golden sun, the warm rains, the richness of the earth itself … all lend their goodness to this delightful drink.

Ale itself is the very symbol of good fellowship, of rich and hearty living throughout centuries.

I have never known Ballantine Ale to be anything but wonderful. Friends and neighbors to whom I offer it tell they never really knew who ale should taste until they changed to Ballantine.

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