Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Powered by Genesis

Historic Beer Birthday: Bernard “Toots” Shor

May 6, 2025 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

toots-shor
Today is the birthday of Bernard “Toots” Shor (May 6, 1903–January 23, 1977). He “was best known as the proprietor of a legendary saloon and restaurant, Toots Shor’s Restaurant, in Manhattan. He ran three different establishments under that name, but his first – and most renowned – was located at 51 West 51st Street. He was known as a saloonkeeper, friend, and confidant to some of New York’s biggest celebrities during that era.”

toots-shor-cheers

This is his biography from his Wikipedia page:

Shor was born in Philadelphia to Orthodox Jewish parents – his father of Austrian descent from Germany and his mother from Russia. He and his two older sisters were raised in a home above the family candy store in South Philadelphia. When Shor was 15 years old, his mother was killed by an automobile while she sat on the stoop outside their home. His father committed suicide five years later. Shor attended the Drexel Institute of Technology and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania before working as a traveling shirt-and-underwear salesman.

toots-shor

Here’s a short biography from Find–Grave:

Restaurateur. He was the owner and colorful host of Toots Shor’s Restaurant, a New York City landmark for over 30 years. Born in Philadelphia, he moved to New York as a teenager during the Prohibition era and gained a reputation as a speakeasy bouncer, guardian, and manager. In 1940 he opened his own restaurant and lounge at 51 West 51st Street in Manhattan; although the food was mediocre, its strong drinks and oversized circular bar quickly drew the crowds. The greats of the sports world, stage, screen and politics all hung out here. In one famous anecdote, mob boss Frank Costello and Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren politely raised glasses to each other across the dining room. Shor was gruffly friendly to everybody from shoeshine boy to newsstand guy, to Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra, and Jackie Gleason (who always ate there for free). Being called a “crumb-bum” by Toots meant you’d earned his praise; in contrast, his most bitter insult was to call someone “just a piece of raisin cake”. His personal motto was “I don’t care if I’m a millionaire, as long as I can live like one”, and his spendthrift ways and generosity to his regulars often left him in debt. The original Toots Shor’s closed in 1959 and reopened two years later at 33 West 52nd Street; this location was abruptly shut down in 1971 for income tax evasion. Toots’ last business ventures were failures and he died broke, but not before leaving a legendary mark on New York nightlife.

toots-shor-banner

Wikipedia continues with the story of Shor’s restaurants:

Shor went to New York City in 1930 and found employment as a bouncer at the Five O’Clock Club, which served as his introduction to celebrities. He later worked at several other nightspots: The Napoleon Club, Lahiff’s Tavern, the Ball & Chain, the Madison Royale, and Leon & Eddie’s. He became a man about town in Manhattan after opening his own restaurant, Toots Shor’s, at 51 West 51st Street. While the food there was known to be “nuttin’ fancy” – standard American, sports-bar fare such as shrimp cocktail, steak, baked potato – the establishment became well known for who frequented there and the manner in which Shor interacted with them.

Shor was a raconteur and a master of the “needle,” jibes or quips directed at the famous. Celebrity alone was not enough to receive first-class service in Shor’s restaurant. According to David Halberstam in his book The Summer of ’49, guests had to observe the unwritten “code” which prevailed in Shor’s establishment. Charlie Chaplin, who was not privy to that code, was made to wait in line. When Chaplin complained, Shor told him to entertain the others who were waiting in line. One day, Hollywood boss Louis B. Mayer complained about waiting twenty minutes for a table and said, “I trust the food will be worth all that waiting.” Shor replied: “It’ll be better’n some of your crummy pictures I stood in line for.” Once while standing outside his restaurant with Frank Sinatra and a crowd of screaming fans being held back by police, Toots pulled out a dollar bill out of his pocket and said to Frank, “Here, kid, go across the street and buy me a paper.” At the Opera with friends during the intermission Toots declared, “I bet I’m the only bum in this joint that doesn’t know how this thing ends.”

In one incident, Shor outdrank comedian Jackie Gleason, famously leaving Gleason on the floor to prove the point. (At Toots’ funeral, the coffin had a spray of red roses with a card which read, “Save a Table for 2,” signed: Jackie Gleason.)

shor-jackie-gleason

Shor cultivated his celebrity following by giving them unqualified admiration, loyal friendship, and a kind of happy, boozy, old-fashioned male privacy. Those whom Shor really liked were called “crum-bums”. Shor reputedly said that he didn’t care if he was a millionaire – so long as he could live like one.

In 1959, Shor sold the lease for his 51st Street restaurant for $1.5 million to William Zeckendorf.[2] The following year, he opened at a new location at 33 West 52nd Street and tried to emulate the decor and atmosphere of the original. The then–Chief Justice, Earl Warren, considered Toots one of his closest friends. “The Chief” showed up to be photographed with a shovel full of dirt when Toots broke ground on Toots’ 52nd street “joint”.

In 1971, authorities padlocked the doors of the 52nd Street restaurant for nonpayment of federal, state, and local taxes totaling $269,516. He vowed to open again in three weeks, but 18 months passed before his restaurant at 5 East 54th Street opened. For a variety of reasons, however, his famous clientele never returned with their former regularity.

Hank Sanicola, Toots Shor and Frank Sinatra 1947
Music manager Hank Sanicola, Toots Shor, and Frank Sinatra in 1947.

And this is from the Wikipedia page for Toots Shor’s Restaurant:

Toots Shor’s Restaurant was a restaurant and lounge owned and operated by Bernard “Toots” Shor at 51 West 51st Street in Manhattan during the 1940s and 1950s. Its oversized circular bar was a New York landmark. It was frequented by celebrities, and together with the 21 Club, the Stork Club, and El Morocco was one of the places to see and be seen. Joe DiMaggio often went there to eat, and that helped make it famous. Toots was said to do personal favors for Joe as well, at no cost.

Jackie Gleason always ate there for free. Other notable guests included Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Orson Welles, Yogi Berra, and Ernest Hemingway (Berra and Hemingway allegedly met there).

toots

While the food at Toots Shor’s Restaurant was known to be “nuttin’ fancy” — standard American, sports-bar fare such as shrimp cocktail, steak, baked potato — the establishment became well known for who frequented there and how Shor interacted with them. Shor was a raconteur and a master of the “needle,” jibes or quips directed at the famous. Celebrity alone was not enough to receive first-class service in Shor’s restaurant. According to David Halberstam in his book The Summer of ’49, guests had to observe the unwritten “code” which prevailed in Shor’s establishment. Charlie Chaplin, who was not privy to that code, was made to wait in line. When Chaplin complained, Shor told him to entertain the others who were waiting in line. One day, MGM head Louis B. Mayer complained about waiting twenty minutes for a table and said, “I trust the food will be worth all that waiting.” Shor replied: “It’ll be better’n some of your crummy pictures I stood in line for.”

In a famous incident, Shor outdrank Jackie Gleason and left him on the floor to prove the point. Somewhat notoriously, wives were not welcome in Toots’s saloon; it was known, in the argot of the day, as a place of “booze and broads,” where ballplayers, actors and politicians mixed. Baseball players were especially welcomed; in particular, Shor admired Mickey Mantle; he also adored Joe DiMaggio. Shor always ensured that DiMaggio got first-rate service without being hassled or asked for autographs by restaurant staff, other patrons, or fans. Another prominent figure who frequented Shor’s restaurant was famed trial attorney Edward Bennett Williams.

Toots Shor cultivated his celebrity following by giving them unqualified admiration, loyal friendship, and a kind of happy, boozy, old-fashioned male privacy. Those whom Shor really liked were called “crum-bums”. Shor reputedly said that he didn’t care if he was a millionaire—so long as he could live like one. Shor was rewarded after a fashion with a mention in the 1954 Bing Crosby film, “White Christmas.” Bing comments to Rosemary Clooney, while both are raiding the restaurant refrigerator of the Vermont inn where they are staying, that the food is not as fancy as Toots Shor’s.

In 1959, Shor sold the lease for his 51st Street restaurant for $1.5 million. The following year he opened at a new location at 33 West 52nd Street and tried to emulate the decor and atmosphere of the original. The then-Chief Justice, Earl Warren, considered Toots one of his closest friends, and “The Chief” showed up to be photographed with a shovel full of dirt when Toots broke ground on his 52nd street “joint.”

MCDTOOT EC004
The round bar at Toot’s Shor’s place.

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun Tagged With: Bars, Celebrities, History, New York

Historic Beer Birthday: W.C. Fields

January 29, 2025 By Jay Brooks

wc-fields-logo
Today is the birthday of W.C. Fields (January 29, 1880–December 25, 1946). His full name was William Claude Dukenfield. He “was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer. Fields’ comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist, who remained a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs and children.

His career in show business began in vaudeville, where he attained international success as a silent juggler. He gradually incorporated comedy into his act, and was a featured comedian in the Ziegfeld Follies for several years. He became a star in the Broadway musical comedy Poppy (1923), in which he played a colorful small-time con man. His subsequent stage and film roles were often similar scoundrels, or else henpecked everyman characters.

Among his recognizable trademarks were his raspy drawl and grandiloquent vocabulary. The characterization he portrayed in films and on radio was so strong it was generally identified with Fields himself. It was maintained by the publicity departments at Fields’ studios (Paramount and Universal) and was further established by Robert Lewis Taylor’s biography, W.C. Fields, His Follies and Fortunes (1949). Beginning in 1973, with the publication of Fields’ letters, photos, and personal notes in grandson Ronald Fields’ book W.C. Fields by Himself, it was shown that Fields was married (and subsequently estranged from his wife), and financially supported their son and loved his grandchildren.”

w-c-fields-hat

Known as “The Great One,” William Claude Dukenfield was better known to the world by his stage name, W.C. Fields. Born in Darby, Pennsylvania, on January 29, 1880, Fields created a hard-drinking, sarcastic, egocentric persona that was so convincing he became one of the most famous drunk misanthropes who ever lived. He famously said that a man should “never work with animals or children,” and carefully cultivated the perception of a curmudgeon, but in real life he was a devoted father and grandfather.

His entertainment career began in vaudeville, where he made a name for himself as a juggler and comedian, and later took the act on Broadway, before making his first short films in 1915. He eventually made around 45 films, the most of famous of which were “Tillie’s Punctured Romance,” “The Fatal Glass of Beer,” “My Little Chickadee,” “The Bank Dick” and “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break.” Most of his most memorable quotes come from his films, though they’ve become entwined with his public persona, making it difficult to separate his roles from the man.

w-c-fields-and-mae-west
Fields with Mae West.

Fields’ screen character often expressed a fondness for alcohol, a prominent component of the Fields legend. Fields never drank in his early career as a juggler, because he did not want to impair his functions while performing. Eventually, the loneliness of constant travel prompted him to keep liquor in his dressing room as an inducement for fellow performers to socialize with him on the road. Only after he became a Follies star and abandoned juggling did Fields begin drinking regularly.[59] His role in Paramount Pictures’ International House (1933), as an aviator with an unquenchable taste for beer, did much to establish Fields’ popular reputation as a prodigious drinker. Studio publicists promoted this image, as did Fields himself in press interviews.

Fields expressed his fondness for alcohol to Gloria Jean (playing his niece) in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: “I was in love with a beautiful blonde once, dear. She drove me to drink. That’s the one thing I am indebted to her for.” Equally memorable was a line in the 1940 film My Little Chickadee: “Once, on a trek through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew…and were forced to live on food and water for several days!” The oft-repeated anecdote that Fields refused to drink water “because fish fuck in it” is unsubstantiated.

On movie sets Fields famously shot most of his scenes in varying states of inebriation. During the filming of Tales of Manhattan (1942), he kept a vacuum flask with him at all times and frequently availed himself of its contents. Phil Silvers, who had a minor supporting role in the scene featuring Fields, described in his memoir what happened next:

One day the producers appeared on the set to plead with Fields: “Please don’t drink while we’re shooting — we’re way behind schedule” … Fields merely raised an eyebrow. “Gentlemen, this is only lemonade. For a little acid condition afflicting me.” He leaned on me. “Would you be kind enough to taste this, sir?” I took a careful sip — pure gin. I have always been a friend of the drinking man; I respect him for his courage to withdraw from the world of the thinking man. I answered the producers a little scornfully, “It’s lemonade.” My reward? The scene was snipped out of the picture.

There’s no doubt that regardless of how much Fields drank, he certainly created a reputation and persona around it. And while he seems to have favored whiskey, gin and other spirits, he did love his beer, too. Below are some quotes I’ve collected by Fields, the first group being quotes he said, or were attributed to him, while the second group are quotes from films he appeared in, and thus easier to verify.

WC-Fields-Fatal-Glass-Beer

Personal Quotes

  • “I never drank anything stronger than beer before I was twelve.”
  • “Everybody has to believe in something … I believe I’ll have another beer.”
  • “If I had to live my life over, I’d live over a saloon.”
  • “I never drink water; that is the stuff that rusts pipes.”
  • “I drink therefore I am.”
  • “There are only two real ways to get ahead today — sell liquor or drink it.”
  • “I like to keep a bottle of stimulant handy in case I see a snake, which I also keep handy.”
  • “I must have a drink of breakfast.”
  • “I never worry about being driven to drink; I just worry about being driven home.”
  • “It was a woman who drove me to drink, and I never had the courtesy to thank her for it.”
  • “A woman drove me to drink and I didn’t even have the decency to thank her.”
  • “Fell in love with a beautiful blonde once. Drove me to drink. And I never had the decency to thank her.”
  • “Now don’t say you can’t swear off drinking; it’s easy. I’ve done it a thousand times.”
  • “Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water.”
  • “Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.”
  • “I never drink water. I’m afraid it will become habit-forming.”
  • “What contemptible scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch?”
  • “I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol and wild women. The other half I wasted.” [Note: Tug McGraw has a similar quote attributed to him.]

wcfields-cup

Film Quotes

  • Ouliotta Delight Hemogloben: “Do you think he drinks?”Mrs. Hemogloben: “He didn’t get that nose from playing ping-pong.”
    — From “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break,” 1941
  • Receptionist: “Some day you’ll drown in a vat of whiskey!”The Great Man: “Drown in a vat of whiskey. Death, where is thy sting?”
    — From “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break,” 1941
  • The Great Man: [Suffering from a hangover] “Somebody put too many olives in my martini last night!”Stewardess: “Should I get you a Bromo?”

    The Great Man: “No, I couldn’t stand the noise!”

    — From “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break,” 1941
  • Egbert Sousé: “Ten cents a share. Telephone sold for five cents a share. How would you like something better for ten cents a share? If five gets ya ten, ten’ll get ya twenty. A beautiful home in the country, upstairs and down. Beer flowing through the estate over your grandmother’s paisley shawl.”Og Oggilby: “Beer?”

    Egbert Sousé: “Beer! Fishing in the stream that runs under the aboreal dell. A man comes up from the bar, dumps $3,500 in your lap for every nickel invested. Says to you, “Sign here on the dotted line.” And then disappears in the waving fields of alfalfa.”

    — From “The Bank Dick,” 1940
  • Egbert Sousé, to his bartender: “Was I in here last night, and did I spend a twenty dollar bill?”Bartender: “Yeah.”

    Egbert Sousé: “Oh, boy. What a load that is off my mind. I thought I’d lost it.”

    — From “The Bank Dick,” 1940
  • Cuthbert J. Twillie: “During one of my treks through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew. Compelled to live on food and water … for several days.”
    — From “My Little Chickadee,” 1940
  • Cuthbert J. Twillie, nursing a hangover: “I feel as though a midget with muddy feet had been walking over my tongue all night.”
    — From “My Little Chickadee,” 1940
  • Whipsnade: “Some weasel took the cork out of my lunch.”
    — from “You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man,” 1939
  • S.B. Bellows: “Meet me down in the bar! We’ll drink breakfast together.”
    — From “The Big Broadcast of 1938,” 1938
  • Businessman: “You’re drunk.”Harold: “Yeah, and you’re crazy. But I’ll be sober tomorrow, and you’ll be crazy for the rest of your life.”
    — From “It’s a Gift,” 1934
  • Quail, to a valet: “Hey, garcon. Bring me a drink.”Valet: “Water, sir?”

    Quail: “A little on the side…very little.”

    — From “International House,” 1933

wc-fields-intl-house
W.C. Fields in “International House.”

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun, Related Pleasures Tagged With: Celebrities, Film, History

Beer In Ads #4409: Miss Rheingold 1957 Meets Ethel Merman

April 12, 2023 By Jay Brooks

Wednesday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1957. 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. Margie McNally was elected as Miss Rheingold 1957. She was born Margaret McNally on June 24, 1935, and grew up in Flushing, Queens, New York. She became a model and later married automobile publisher Robert E. Peterson in 1963. Together they had two sons, but the died tragically in a plane crash at ages 10 and 11, and thereafter she became active in charities for youth causes. In 1994, they opened the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles, which is still open today. She passed away in 2011, at age 76. In this extra ad outside the normal series, also from June, Miss Rheingold 1957, Margie McNally, is appearing beside of well-known actress and singer Ethel Merman, who at the time was starring on the Broadway musical Happy Hunting, who also just happened to choose Rheingold as her favorite beer.

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Celebrities, History, Rheingold

Beer In Ads #4408: Miss Rheingold 1957 Meets Imogene Coca

April 11, 2023 By Jay Brooks

Tuesday’s ad is for “Rheingold Beer,” from 1957. 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. Margie McNally was elected as Miss Rheingold 1957. She was born Margaret McNally on June 24, 1935, and grew up in Flushing, Queens, New York. She became a model and later married automobile publisher Robert E. Peterson in 1963. Together they had two sons, but the died tragically in a plane crash at ages 10 and 11, and thereafter she became active in charities for youth causes. In 1994, they opened the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles, which is still open today. She passed away in 2011, at age 76. In this extra ad outside the normal series, also from June, Miss Rheingold 1957, Margie McNally, is standing on a street, outisde of a store window, shaking hands with famed actress and comedienne Imogene Coca. Behind them in the window is this month’s series ad featuring McNally on a golf cart.

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Celebrities, History, Rheingold

Beer In Ads #3830: My Favorite Beer

August 27, 2021 By Jay Brooks

Friday’s ad is for “Rainier Beer,” from 1977. This ad was made for the Seattle Brewing & Malting Co., who made Rainier Beer, and was later known as the Rainier Brewing Company of Seattle, Washington. This is another one featuring actor Mickey Rooney in the foreground. He’s wearing a Royal Canadian Mounted Police uniform and the print ad was also in support of a television commercial, as well.

Below is a better image used in the ad, but is also a bit smaller.

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Celebrities, History, Video, Washington

Beer In Ads #2596: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Hal March

March 31, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Saturday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1957. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features American comedian and actor Hal March, along with Miss Rheingold for 1957, Margie McNally. “March was best known as the host of The $64,000 Question, which he helmed from 1955 to 1958.” In this ad, March claims that answering the $64,000 Question is hard, but it’s easy to choose your favorite beer, Rheingold Extra Dry.

Rheingold-1957-hal-march

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Celebrities, History, Rheingold

Beer In Ads #2595: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Ray Bolger

March 30, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Friday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1957. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features American actor, singer, and dancer Ray Bolger. “He is best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow in MGM’s classic The Wizard of Oz (1939). He was also the host of his own television show, The Ray Bolger Show.” In this ad, Bolger is set fir an evening of fun with a record on the record player and the only beer he pours, Rheingold Extra Dry.

Rheingold-1957-ray-bolger

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Celebrities, History, Rheingold

Beer In Ads #2594: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Leo Durocher

March 29, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Thursday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1940. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features American professional baseball player, manager and coach Leo Durocher. “He played in Major League Baseball as an infielder. Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,009 career victories, second only to John McGraw in National League history. Durocher still ranks tenth in career wins by a manager. A controversial and outspoken character, Durocher had a stormy career dogged by clashes with authority, the baseball commissioner, umpires (his 95 career ejections as a manager trailed only McGraw when he retired, and still rank fourth on the all-time list), and the press. Durocher was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.” In this ad, Durocher is pouring himself a Rheingold Extra Dry, declaring “it’s a hit.”

Rheingold-leo-durocher

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Baseball, Celebrities, History, Rheingold, Sports

Beer In Ads #2593: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Shep Fields

March 28, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Wednesday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1956. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features American band leader Shep Fields. He “was the band leader for the ‘Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm’ orchestra during the Big Band era of the 1930s.” In this ad, Fields is lumped together with all New Yorkers, who inexplicably “are sound judges of food and drink,” and therefore choose to drink the “quicker quencher,” Rheingold Extra Dry.

Rheingold-1939-shep-fields

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Celebrities, History, Music, Rheingold

Beer In Ads #2592: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Victor Borge

March 27, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Tuesday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1956. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features Danish and American comedian, conductor, and pianist Victor Borge. In this ad, Borge shows off his prize chicken, saying he has a lot in common with it, and then sayings he also has a lot in common with humans, too, and specifically “a liking for” Rheingold Extra Dry.

Rheingold-1956-victor-borge

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Celebrities, History, Music, Rheingold

Next Page »

Find Something

Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

Recent Comments

  • Amanda Alderete on Beer Birthday: Jack McAuliffe
  • Aspies Forum on Beer In Ads #4932: Eichler’s Bock Beer Since Civil War Days
  • Return of the Session – Beer Search Party on The Sessions
  • Scoats on Beer Birthday: Scoats
  • You're Not From Around Here - Food GPS on The Sessions

Recent Posts

  • Beer In Ads #4974: Vancouver Bock Beer & Sandwiches May 19, 2025
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Frederick Metz May 19, 2025
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Josephus Petrus Van Ginderachter May 19, 2025
  • Historic Beer Birthday: John Hinchliffe May 19, 2025
  • Beer Birthday: Sabine Weyermann May 19, 2025

BBB Archives